My mom is feeling better now – still sore, struggling to sleep and has flashes in her vision, but she is smiling again. I think she was lucky to be the first operation as she said when she was brought down after, having thrown up on herself and looking like death, all the other patients started to panic. I simply can't imagine being there for an operation and having to show up early, then lay in a ward for hours and hours as others are taken first and come back looking worse and worse.
The panic would get to me.
Cover Art: Curbizzle
Chapter 18
There was screaming, there was gunfire and there were no shortage of targets for him to rip and tear through – which made Grimm's goal of not harming anyone really quite difficult. He ducked under the swing of a bladed spear, ignored Remy's comment that it was a "Naginata, actually" and sent a wave of tentacles at the other huntress to buffet her away. The prehensile and unnaturally strong limbs could have pierced through her body, raised her into the air and ripped her in two, but he let them slap and smack at her instead like fleshy clubs.
The reward for his kindness was that her friend came and cut through two with some horrific weapon that appeared to be an amalgamation of a hammer with a chainsaw blade on the end of it. The sharp bits dug into his skin, ripped through and lopped two of his tentacles off about halfway down their length. The pain was enough to make his eyes water.
"Bastards!" Remy screeched inside him. The parasite was far more attuned to the limbs than he was. "Ow – ow. We're trying to be nice!"
"This isn't a nice world, Remy," he whispered. "Everyone here is so quick to turn to violence."
To be fair, his home world was little different when he hadn't been in disguise and mingling among the other students, but things had been dialled up to eleven here. Probably because of the war and its stakes. He couldn't fault Ozma and Beacon wanting to prevent his mother ending the world – as shocking as that was to even consider. What did mom get from that? Why would she want to end the world, and with it, her own life? There were times he regretted agreeing to go along with Cinder at all. He should be back in the Grimmlands looking after her and tyring to make her feel better, but he'd wanted to impress her by being a good son and now here he was.
His inner thoughts earned him a blow to the face from a huntsman's knee. Grimm cartwheeled back using his remaining tentacles on the ground to keep him flipping and vaulting over a smouldering tank. He landed among three Atlas soldiers who tensed in absolute panic.
"You may want to relocate," he said politely.
The wrecked APC suddenly rocketed toward them, launching by what he could only assume was a Semblance. Two of the soldiers ran but the third wouldn't have made it and stood in the path of the vehicle, frozen in horror. Tentacles slashed and tore through metal with horrific screeching sounds. Light passed through as the vehicle crashed down on either side of them and skidded by.
"I said," Grimm repeated, wrapping a tentacle around the soldier's waist and lifting them up. "It's time for you to leave." He tossed the poor soul away, though he'd aimed well enough that he landed among and on top of some other soldiers and not hard, unrelenting concrete. "And you," he snapped at the huntsman who came through the burning wreck. "Have a care for where you aim in future."
The huge, bulky man had the grace to blush. "Didn't see 'em," he muttered.
"We'll not be lectured by a monster!" the woman beside him shouted. "Don't listen to him, Frederik. He's a Grimm no matter what he looks like!"
"I am indeed a Grimm," Jaune – or Grimm, he supposed now – said. Cinder might have delighted in sowing confusion among the ranks but that wasn't his style. Besides, he neither intended nor needed to kill anyone here. "But I am quite capable of reason. Would you be open to negotiations instead of violence?"
"We don't make deals with Grimm!"
"A shame. Your world might be a better place if you did."
He'd bought time enough with his talk to cut his palms open. Blood seeped from his unnaturally hard skin and splattered down onto the ground, and two large shapes began to rise up behind him. While soldiers froze, the huntsmen and huntresses surged forward and attacked him, rightly guessing that it would stop if they killed him first.
Ducking and weaving but mostly relying on his tentacles and brute strength to keep him out of trouble, Grimm let the few cuts he received as they broke through his defences help him further. Where blood fell, puddles rose up in dark black. When the naginata's blade cut his side, he let the open wound spill out onto the floor.
"Stop!" one of them shouted. "You're making it worse – kill the Grimm first! Don't let them overwhelm us!"
They had the way of things, as expected of professionals, but he was no stranger to shedding blood. Grimacing in pain, he stabbed his own tentacles into his stomach, ripped out chunks of flesh and scattered them wide and far. Where there had once been two Grimm emerging, now there were thirty, and the number continued to grow. The soldiers had opened fire again, now into the masses around them, sparing the Nevermore high above that was desperately trying to regenerate its wounds.
"I'm trying to keep them hurting anyone but it's hard," Remy said. "You and your damn morals, Jaune."
"You talk a big game, Remy, but I know you're softer than I am."
"I blame you for that!"
The huntsmen were overwhelmed with Grimm that were free to attack them more viciously. Having to split their attention between defending themselves, the soldiers and attacking him, they opted for the first two. Preservation of lives had ever been their way. Up above, the Nevermore flapped its giant wings and buffeted nearby buildings. It didn't surprise him that Cinder had it taking off, or that she'd abandon him. She wasn't aware he could unsummon the Nevermore out from under her if he really wanted.
In doing so, he'd likely kill them all, and he wasn't convinced that all of them deserved it. Mercury and Emerald were simply following orders, while Cinder might yet be redeemed.
"You're barking up the wrong tree there. Not your Cinder, not your problem."
"You know I'm too stubborn not to try." He grinned and let some more blood fall. It would be next to impossible to take to the sky on anything smaller than the Nevermore he'd summoned. The soldiers' gunfire would rip anything smaller apart. Luckily, he knew Vale well, and its less-advertised secrets. "Up for a little experimentation, Remy? I have something in mind…"
"Hah. Sure. Blow their minds."
/-/
Warchief remained locked to the screens but had not given any orders for minutes now. He didn't dare to think he knew how to lead huntsmen, not when they were older and more experienced than he. Letting them attack as they wish was what mattered, and he took the time to watch and hopefully learn something.
Grimm was happy to give him things to chew on.
After fighting off the huntsmen and huntresses and buying time for his Nevermore to escape, and after summoning more Grimm to attack everyone, he began to summon something behind him. Warchief watched, wondering what this new large creature would be. It was too long to be a Beowolf or Ursa, and when its length stretched out narrowly he called it – King Taijitu.
He was wrong.
They were all wrong.
The Grimm that formed was nothing he'd ever seen in his life, and he was sure that no one ever had. It was long and thick like a worm, with a flat-headed, triangular shaped snout not unlike a shark's. Its maw featured little in the way of teeth that he could see, but rows upon rows of flat, almost human-like molars. It had thick plating on its head and neck, but none on its body spanning ten metres behind it. A clear weak spot. It had no legs or arms, no claws or spikes, and it honestly looked like someone had spent all their attention on the head and just ignored the body. Its red eyes were locked behind bone grates almost like the bars of a jail cell, shielding and protecting them.
Grimm Jaune leapt up onto its back and slid under its bone helmet – there was apparently space enough there for him to hold onto something, and its sloped armour fanned up and over him, shielding him from the front and sides. Too convenient to be chance. It was design.
It had to be.
The thing coiled and reared up, then, to Warchief's shock, shot downward. Its tail flailed up behind it, coiling and giving it more strength as it bit into and through the ground, cracking the road open and exposing the rock and more below. On softer ground, it dug far quicker, puncturing through the crust and vanishing underground with remarkable speed.
Warchief was out the truck and running to the edge of the hole the moment it was gone. Soldiers ran with him. The great chasm was now a dark tunnel, with water spraying wildly out of a pipe that had been cut through. One of the soldiers angled his torch down and whistled.
"It cut through that much so quickly? What the hell."
What the hell indeed. The thing had eaten through the concrete and tarmac well enough, but he couldn't believe it had excavated an entire tunnel in seconds. "No. It's the Mountain Glenn tunnels. He dug his way to those and used them to escape. He knew about them." Frustration bled into his voice. "Help everyone else deal with the Grimm. Get any survivors and injured to safety and let the fire crews through to deal with the building. Someone get me onto General Ironwood."
"Sir!"
"Sir!"
They saluted and fled. Warchief looked down into the tunnel and asked himself if he really wanted to go down. The answer was so obviously no that he didn't. He didn't have to be a tactical genius to know there might be an ambush and fighting something that was entirely armoured on its head wasn't going to be easy when all you could target was the head thanks to the narrow tunnels.
"Ironwood here. Report."
Warchief jumped at the sound in his earpiece. He still wasn't used to this. Not fully. "They managed to escape, sir."
"All of them? How? We had the element of surprise."
"Grimm was more powerful than we expected. It turns out he can design and create completely new Grimm on the spot." He let that sink in, the versatility and the potential risks involved. "On the bright side, we've split them up. Cinder took to the air with who we think was Null and Ashari, while Grimm was forced to retreat into the Mountain Glenn tunnels."
"Finally, some good news. I'll talk to Ozpin about sending huntsmen down there. Don't take my men – they're not trained for it. How many losses so far?"
Warchief signalled a soldier over and posed the question to him. The woman scratched her chin nervously. "That's the thing, sir," she said. "As far as I can tell, and I have my whole squad looking, we didn't suffer any losses at all."
"None?" he asked, echoing Ironwood's own surprise through the line. "Are you sure?"
"Sure as I can be, sirs." She saluted. "A few knocks and bumps, plenty of bruises and one has some light burns from where an APC went off and singed him, but every single person Grimm tore into… well… they're fine. He disabled them but didn't kill anyone. Didn't even draw blood on us."
A Grimm that did its best not to harm people. Warchief bit his lip even as General Ironwood took over and began shouting out orders. He looked back to the hole underground.
Was he being serious about negotiating…?
Ironwood and Ozpin would never do that, they'd never accept it, but if there was an iteration out there who was prepared to talk, then maybe he should get the chance.
"Warchief!"
"Uh. Y-Yes, sir?"
"Was there any sign of our third party?"
"None, sir. Not a whiff of anything. If they were here at all, they didn't care to show themselves."
"Then return to Beacon under escort immediately. You're not needed for clean-up and staying any longer puts you at risk."
"Yes sir."
/-/
Jaune and the rest of Team JNPR didn't have much trouble catching up with Yang and Blake. That was because they'd inevitably run into White Fang members and had been slowed down dealing with them. The four of them arrived just in time to see Yang clothesline one masked faunus and kick another away, then turn to them.
"Hey, good of you guys to show. Sorry we dragged you into this."
We? More like Blake. Jaune flashed her a tight smile as he and the others charged into the fray. The White Fang were desperate and angry, but they weren't well-trained. When even he was able to stand head and shoulders above them in terms of skill, you knew it was bad. Ren, Nora and Pyrrha might as well have fought with their hands tied behind their backs.
"Where's Magnis?"
"Ahead. Blake is trying to catch up with husbando-"
"Shut up, Yang!" Blake yelled. "And you can stay here!" she spat at him. "I don't need your help."
His specifically? Jaune sighed and watched Blake sprint ahead again. Yang shrugged an apology his way and gave chase, leaving Team JNPR to finish mopping up the remains. He knew Blake didn't mean his team – she meant him – and she was as wound up about all the relationship nonsense as he was. Not in the same way obviously. It was ironic to think that even if he and her might once have had the chance of being a thing, seeing so much evidence of it had as good as shot that possibility down.
"Jaune, go after them." Pyrrha said. "We'll handle things here."
"Are you sure?" He received a nod in response and sprinted off after Yang and Blake. Following Pyrrha's orders didn't bother him any, and he trusted his teammates to be able to handle things alone. Who he didn't trust was Blake if she found herself face-to-face with a White Fang variant of himself.
Magnis was already fighting ahead of them – he could tell from all the bodies along the corridor. Jaune jumped over a groaning faunus left behind by Yang and pushed through a door about to slam shut, arriving just in time to see Blake skid to a stop in front of a man dressed in black with red hair.
"ADAM!" she screamed.
"Blake…"
Adam Taurus. Jaune knew of the man thanks to the information provided by Fate to Winter. All those reports he'd had to stay up writing had been put to good use, with General Ironwood giving them dossiers of everyone he thought important and dangerous enough to be a threat. Adam Taurus had been on the list, and the information they had said he was a very dangerous man. One that Blake apparently knows. Good of her not to mention that.
Dangerous or not, he was alone against him, Yang, Blake and Magnis so Jaune wasn't feeling too worried. He sincerely doubted Adam's iteration would be fighting them either, as there was indeed another Jaune, but he was kept in an iron-barred cage on his knees. He had a metal collar around his neck and another linking his wrists together and then to one of the bars. His clothing was filthy, his skin much the same, and Jaune could swear some of those splotches were bruises.
Was this his iteration or had he captured someone else's?
Apparently, he wasn't the only one with that question. "Did you seriously torture your own ally?" Magnis asked. "Didn't Jinn tell you of the war like she did me?"
"Hmph. The blue-skinned woman who spoke of gods and gifts?" Adam scoffed. "Yes, she spoke to me. Spoke of my cooperation with this human and my place in this war. What of it?"
"That doesn't look like cooperation." Yang said. "Looks like you're treating him no better than an animal."
Beneath his mask, Adam's lips stretched into a cruel smile. "Isn't that what he is? An attack dog summoned to fight alongside me. A weapon. Do you let your weapons run amok, human? No. You keep them sheathed until you need them. Contained."
Good analogy for unfeeling metal but Jaune wasn't the only one feeling disgusted about this. At least this increases the odds the Jaune will be on our side. Ugh. I can't believe I just thought that.
"Leave Adam to me." Blake said. "He's mine."
"Blake-" Magnis spoke. It was a bad idea.
"NO!" she yelled, glaring his way. "Whatever the Blake in your world is, I'm not her. You don't get to say what I can and can't do. You don't get a say here!"
"Do we?" Jaune asked loudly. "I'm from your world and I happen to think a one-on-one duel here when, you know, the fate of Remnant lays in the balance, is a pretty dumb idea."
"You don't get a say either!" Blake snapped.
"Yeah, but I do as your partner." Yang said, gripping Blake's elbow. "Pull your head out your ass, Blake. You're upset about the Jaunes. I get it. Now there's a White Fang Jaune and you're even more pissed off. Running in alone isn't the way to fix that."
Adam snorted and pointed his own sword, long and red, at the caged Jaune. "Don't call him a member of the White Fang. A coward and a pacifist has no place in our organisation. He's not even faunus. His very existence makes a mockery of everything we've worked for – everything we've bled for."
Not a faunus? It was true he didn't have ears, but Jaune had guessed the features would be something else. Not every faunus had them. Apparently, he was wrong on both accounts. Maybe he wasn't a White Fang member at all. Maybe he was just unlucky to be summoned by Adam. Whatever the case, the news actually seemed to perk Blake up. She took a deep breath and let it go, standing taller and nodding once to Yang, who finally released her.
Maybe it was the idea of a White Fang Jaune that had her up in arms. It seemed she'd wanted to be the first to see that, and maybe even to fight them. Did she think it would be some murderous anti-human bigot like Adam? He supposed it was possible if they'd been summoned to Salem's side. Blake's fears hadn't been too wild.
"Surrender, Adam," Yang said. "You're outnumbered and honestly, Magnis could probably take you on his own."
Said man tipped an imaginary hat. Jaune couldn't hide his own grin. It didn't hurt as much as it did when people praised Magnis. When they held Knight up as an example of strength it bothered him because he could never reach that. Even if he trained for a thousand years, he couldn't surpass the limits of the human body like he could. Magnis was different, though. He was more realistic, both as a huntsman and as something to work towards.
"You could join us." Blake said. Jaune and Yang both turned to stare at her, but she continued anyway. "If you spoke to Jinn then you know what's at stake, Adam. If Salem wins, everyone dies. Human, faunus, it won't matter to her. I know you disagree with the way things are done – I do too – but surely you can see we're all on the same side here."
This wasn't part of the plan, and he just knew General Ironwood would have a fit. Then again, Blake made a good point. Adam might have been a terrorist, but he was an inhabitant of Remnant. He stood to lose everything if Salem won.
It's better he be on our side than against us. I'm not sure we can trust him, but Ozpin would probably rather an untrustworthy ally than another enemy.
Chuckling, Adam asked, "You want me to renounce the White Fang and join you in running away to Beacon, Blake?"
"You wouldn't have to renounce them. You wouldn't even have to leave. I'm saying we fight together – for Remnant." Blake reached out a hand to him. "After, you can go back to the White Fang. Or maybe you can even work a deal with Ozpin for helping us stop the end of the world. What's the other choice? Work with Salem? She's going to destroy Menagerie and the faunus just as much as she will humanity."
"You would have me work with Ironwood."
"Only for a while. Only until Remnant is safe-"
"Remnant will never be safe while people like him run around, Blake. Not for us – not for our kind – or have you forgotten that after betraying us?" He sneered and swept his sword before him. "I will never work with that man. I will not bow to human rule."
"Not even to save the world!?" Jaune yelled.
"A world ruled by humans and where faunus suffer. I would rather death than another hundred years of slavery."
He was insane. Stupid, even. Jaune growled and brought his sword and shield up, while Blake's arm fell, and Yang readied her gauntlets. They'd tried. Hell, Blake had given it her best and made a lot of sense. It wasn't her fault if Adam was so stubborn he'd rather kill everyone than work with humans even the slightest bit. If he was going to work with Salem, he had to be dealt with.
Magnis wasted no time in attacking. He struck Adam head on, locked blades and forced him back with all his might. Adam skipped and skidded, parried a blow from the right and only just caught the shield as it came around and nearly took his head off. Magnis might as well have had two weapons for how he kept using his shield, and Adam only had the one sword. He fired buckshot from his sheath, but Magnis had forewarning thanks to Fate's knowledge, and so he took the brunt of it on his aura and breastplate and kept coming.
Blake and Yang rushed in to help him, but Jaune did not. Aside from not being the strongest among them, he wasn't sure Magnis needed help or would appreciate having to navigate three extra fighters. Adam was already using Yang and Blake against him, pushing them in Magnis' way, and the more Jaune watched, the more he was convinced they were making things harder instead of easier.
He jogged over to the cage instead, knelt in such a way as to keep it between him and the fight, and looked at the person inside. It was him, obviously, but you could have mistaken it. He looked bloody and beaten, even more so close up, with one eye shut from a huge swelling above it, and the other bloodshot. His lip was split and had begun to scab over, giving him a permanent grimace.
They'd been prepared for an armed and dangerous White Fang Jaune, a faunus supremacist who would stand beside Adam and look to commit genocide. None of them had expected this, and he felt like such an asshole right now.
"I'm going to get you out. Are you okay?"
The Jaune inside shrugged one shoulder. He very clearly was not okay, and the question felt stupid the moment it passed his lips. Rather than apologise, Jaune started using the edge of his shield to hammer down on the padlock. The material of his sword was too thin and flexible and might even snap, but Crocea Mors' shield was a thick and heavy piece of equipment.
It took a few tries, more than he would have liked, but he was eventually able to drive the heavy metal down and break the mechanism. The hoop snapped and fell through, and the lock itself tumbled down, still sealed but broken. Setting it aside, and extending a little trust, Jaune pulled the cage door open and reached inside.
The captive rattled his second set of chains. "Adam has the key," he rasped.
"They'll get it off him soon. Here, have some water." He held his flask out to the mirror copy's lips and gently tipped it back. The Jaune closed his eyes and drank greedily, taking great big gulps and letting some run down his bruised cheeks. "Take as much as you need. We're going to get you back to Beacon. Are you okay with that? No problems working alongside us?"
The Jaune let go of the water and shook his head. "None at all. Please, I want to get out of here. Adam is… He's insane. He's nothing like my-" He cut off with a grimace.
"Your world's Adam?"
"Yes. Nothing like him."
A quick look back showed that the fight was slowly turning in their favour again. Adam kept trying to target Yang, but Magnis was placing himself between them. Blake was by far the most aggressive, yet Adam wasn't taking any killing blows on her. Either way, it was only a matter of time until the rest of his team arrived, and then Adam would find himself in a six against one. He wouldn't stand a chance.
"Don't worry. We'll have you out soon."
"Thank you. I-" The Jaune in the cage gasped. "Behind you!"
It was too late, as something hard and metal slid in front of Jaune's neck and under his chin. He was yanked back suddenly, choked as the bar tightened against his neck and he was pulled into someone's chest. Crocea Mors was left on the floor, his feet scrabbling against them as he tried to push the bar away.
"Ah, ah," a voice whispered in his ear. "Let's not make this any harder on either of us. We're one and the same after all – though I very much doubt you'll believe me when I say that."
Another iteration. Shit. Did the White Fang have two-? Had he hurt his team? Jaune gargled out some nonsense as the man dragged him away from the cage. The Jaune within tried to shout out to the rest but was too quiet, and it didn't much matter when the one holding him hostage did so anyway.
"Ahem! Hello? Attention? So rude." He cleared his throat. "STUDENTS!"
The combat came to a sudden pause. Adam backed away, panting for breath and grateful for the pause, while Magnis kept his focus on him, and Yang and Blake turned to look. Their eyes widened. If Jaune had been capable, he'd have uttered an apology for getting captured.
"That's better. I'll have to remember to thank Glynda for that one. Good to finally have your attention, girls." he said in a louder voice. "You'll notice that I have an assistant here helping with today's lesson, which, if you hadn't guessed, will be on hostage negotiation."
"Headmaster…" Yang whispered.
"Miss Xiao-Long. Miss Belladonna. Glad to see you've made it to today's lesson on time. And you, fine sir with his back to me. Adam, too. You could certainly use a lesson or two in how to treat your subordinates, I fear. Luckily, you'll have time to learn that because he and I shall be walking out of here, or you shall all say goodbye to young Mr Arc here." He tightened the cane, and Jaune's feet kicked helplessly. "And last I checked this is the only Jaune Arc who won't be handily brought back to life in his own world, so I dare say his value matches that of a misanthropic faunus like Adam, hmm?"
"You helped Ruby." Yang said. "Why are you fighting us now?"
"As one of my best students, Miss Xiao-Long, I think you are in a position to work that out on your own. After all, I wouldn't be much of a teacher if I answered all the questions for you. So," he said, smiling politely over Jaune's right shoulder. "Jaune Arc – the real Jaune Arc – for Adam Taurus. I'll even let you keep the caged version of me since Adam doesn't seem capable of looking after him. Generous, I know, but I always have a soft spot for my lovely students. Now, do we have a deal…?"
Headmaster Arc enacting his own plans – but how much is he planning and how much is he casually bullshitting his way through? That's always been the question, and a big part of why in this story I haven't been giving you his PoV. In professor arc you always knew what he was thinking, how much he was panicking and what strokes of luck he was relying on.
I wanted to show here what he looks like to the outside world. Why people genuinely believed he was a mad genius, and never realised just how in over his head he was.
Next Chapter: 26th March
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur
