I decided to follow up on my plan to write short chapters for Salems knight: the beginning. Gotta say I miss mama Salem and the way she was with jaune when he was growing up. Luckily I'll be able to delve into the moments between them with those short chapters and fill up some of the holes in this story. Oh before I forget, TalonlbnLaAhad I would like to answer your question but if I did I'd be ruining a big character moment that I have planned for the future so I'm sorry but your gonna have to wait for those answers.
Now that all that's out of the way let's get into the main story.
Days like this were the most peaceful in his opinion, the new comic of X-ray and vav and lounging on the dorms floor. Nearly three weeks after the talk with Ozpin the dorms had been fixed thanks to the two teams working together. Throughout those weeks jaune and Blake had went on two more missions and eliminated three new spots the fang had been congregating at.
The jobs were easy enough and truth be told jaune had been expecting some sort of trap to happen once the fang caught wind of their objective. He wasn't sure if feeling a sense of disappointed was right but there it was. All it took was a stronger fighter to turn the tables on the fang and worse was that there wasn't even an effort to stop him...or at least not a serious effort.
Jaune couldn't help but feel sorry for all those faunus he killed especially since the higher ups either weren't doing anything or were afraid to do something to protect them. That shouldn't have been the case since he knew that Adam was here and that beast wouldn't run from a fight. Some part of him just wished to announce to the world that it was he who had been slaying the fang just to force the bull faunus out of hiding so he could end their little rivalry but that would bring up to much trouble on his end.
Jaune flipped the page and continued to read until his friendly fellow nerd sprawled out on his back with hers. "I'm bored" ruby drawled. Jaune chuckled lightly when ruby crawled her way up his back and rested her chin on his right shoulder "entertainment me" she whispered.
He knew ruby too well to disregard her quest for entertainment and luckily he had just the idea for this situation. It happened too quickly for ruby to react to and the next thing she knew jaune was on top leaning over her. Ruby finally understood what it felt like to be prey to a predator and just like the law of survival of the fittest, she had lost.
She tried with all her might to get away but jaune wasn't about to let her go and when she tried to fight him off she came to realize he was just to strong.
Yang, weiss and Nora were returning to their dorm to get their leader because weiss wanted to head to the docks to scope out the transfer students that were arriving. The door opened and the three girls witnessed ruby with tears in her eyes as jaune tickled her side's. The small girl in red had been laughing for a while and when jaune stopped to look at his teammates she used her semblance to get away.
Everyone's attention turned to the door that led to the bathroom and watched as it slammed shut. After a few minutes of silence ruby opened the door and walked back into the room "I almost lost it there for a minute". Weiss's face scrunched in disgust "ruby too much info" she chastised.
Jaune rolled over and laid on his back before lifting up his comic once more. Yang looked from ruby to jaune "we weren't interrupting anything were we"? Jaune couldn't help but notice the fake smile yang wore and the scarlet red eyes that seemed to watch his every move.
A smile spread across jaunes face "I was just teaching ruby what happens when you make a wish without thinking of the consequences". Nora knew the moment she said what she wanted yang would be very very angry at her so she did it anyways. "It looks like you gave her some hands on experience" she said with a wide smile even when yang gave her a death glare.
Ruby may have been young but even she had understood what Nora meant. Jaune sat up so he could face his friends "Yeah well ruby's-" jaune turned to ruby in time for blue eye's to meet silver. He didn't have to think about it because he already knew only one word that truly described ruby. Jaune smiled softly as he finished his sentence "-special".
Ruby's eyes widen before they shot down to her feet as she fidgeted in place. It was barley visible but there was a small smile that graced her face when jaune called her special. "Jaune quit joking around already" weiss interrupted "we're trying to go to the docks to see the new transfer students coming for the vytal festival". Jaune sighed as he stood up "orders received vice captain".
Once jaune was ready the two nerds followed the heiress out of the dorms to bullheads landing pad. "Why is ruby coming with us" weiss asked clearly unsure as to why someone from another team was joining them. Jaune put his hand on top of ruby's head "I don't see anything wrong with hanging out with a friend in the city, do you"?
Weiss wanted to keep their little reconnaissance mission within the team but knew jaune wasn't planning to change his mind about bringing ruby. The heiress sighed in frustration "fine, whatever let's just go already". The team plus one walked up the ramp and entered the first bullhead they could find that was free to go to vale.
The girl's began chatting amongst themselves when jaunes scroll let out a ping. Jaune took his time reading through the message he just received before letting out a sigh "Weiss there's gonna be a change of plans". The heiress looked like she wanted to strangle him "what could be more important than being with your team to scope out our competition"?
He couldn't really say it was because of work since earlier he and Blake announced they had the day off. "It's a secret" he finally said after thinking about it for a good moment. Weiss obviously wasn't very happy with his answer and it showed on her face.
Jaune pushed his hand through his hair "I'm sorry but I promise I'll make this up to you guys". Weiss looked to their team to see if any objected to letting their team leader run off on his own. Yang crossed her arms and smiled "just let him go, besides I could always use more favors without a debt".
When no one else seemed to mind letting him go weiss had no choice but to give in "fine but I'm definitely going to make sure you work hard for ditching us" she said. The bullhead landed and the five hunters in training disembarked from their ride and grouped up for a few parting words. "We'll meet back at the dorms later tonight and I'll fill you in on any information we gather" said the heiress as jaune turned to leave.
"I'm already looking forward to it vice captain" jaune said as he gave her a two finger salute "later" he yelled as he took off. Yang put one hand on her hip and sighed as she watched her team leader and partner shrink into the distance. "That guy I swear, it's like he's become a hundred times more busy since we started at Beacon" yang complained.
Ruby agreed whole heartedly because before today jaune would only spend time with her or any of their friends during school hours. Weiss shrugged "there's nothing we can do about it since it's his choice, besides we got things to do of our own". The girls agreed with weiss and left to go see the new transfer that would be arriving.
/
Elsewhere
Jaune came to a stop at the one place he considered home in all of vale...juniors bar. As strange as that sounds he couldn't help but feel fond of this place since it provided a place for him to work and learn about the underworld he was living in. Jaune decided it was best to not delay the inevitable and pushed forward into the bar.
During the day juniors bar operated as more of a restaurant then a club except without the quality food. Jaune quickly entered through the front door and made his way to the bar where junior was normally standing at. "I'm here" jaune announced as he took a seat at the bar "so, you said this was urgent so what am I dealing with"?
Junior slid a glass cup over with a small slip of paper sticking out from underneath. Jaune placed his hand on the cup but didn't lift it up "trouble found its way here?
Junior nodded "second floor, VIP area".
Jaune let out a sigh before quickly taking the slip of paper out from under the cup while standing back up. The movement was done so quickly that you wouldn't have noticed anything unless you were sitting next to the person. Jaune slipped the paper into his pocket before drinking the contents of the glass cup "wish me luck".
Junior gave a slight nodded before taking the glass cup jaune finished off. The blonde rushed up the stairs and into the VIP lounge that was located just behind the Dj's booth. It was here that he came face to with a person he hadn't seen in a while and who he promised to meet up with when he had free time...vernal.
If it was just vernal alone he wouldn't have felt so bothered but the fact Roman and neo were there as well made him nervous. The door clicked shut before jaune found his way to a empty seat at the table they all shared. Jaune linked his fingers before eyeing vernal "there better be a damn good reason why I'm here sitting with vales most wanted".
Vernal lifted her hands up in a mock surrender "hey don't look at me I'm not the one who called this meeting". The confusion showed on jaunes face but before anyone could answer the door opened once more and several others entered the room. Emerald, cinder and some grey haired guy came in next followed by Ren and a bull faunus jaune knew all to well.
When Adam and jaune locked eye's with one another they both switched to battle mode. Cinder didn't really understand what happened all of a sudden but jaune had flew out of his chair and shot out his left hand to stop Adam from drawing out his sword before striking with his right fist. When Adam realized he'd been stopped he let go of his sheath and used his left hand to stop jaunes punch.
Despite not being the closest of allies mercury and emerald moved to defend Adam but we're blocked by neo and vernal. "That's enough" cinder yelled angrily. Jaune felt something hook around his hoodie and with great force pulled him away from the terrorist before cinder moved in to stop him.
Jaune unhooked the end of Romans cane before standing back up "cinder explain NOW". Cinder turned away from Adam and looked to the blonde in front of her "I don't take orders from you jaune, you'd do well to remember that". "Fine I'll put this another way" jaune pulled out his scroll and pulled up the headmaster contact "talk now"!
Cinder wasn't sure if jaune was bluffing or not but she wasn't about to push her luck "Adam works for our mistress, he's one of us now". Jaune couldn't believe his ears but decided to put his scroll away to hear the full story. Adam on the other hand couldn't understand "he works for her as well"?! Cinder nodded "he's working undercover on our behalf".
Jaune huffed angrily "don't get your facts twisted cinder I don't work for you either". Emerald glared his way but jaune ignored cinders pet and focused on the obvious leader of this band of villains. Time had passed since he last saw his three companions but just how much had changed throughout the years was the real question.
Tensions were high but eventually cinder and vernal managed to get everyone to calm down enough to sit at the same table. Jaune never took his eyes off Adam and the same was in reverse but even so cinder explained how Adam came to join their team. Jaune had never really had a problem with Salems plans for the future but something was still off "I get the gist of why Adams here but why am I here as well"?
Cinder looked like she was trying to understand the hardest problem in the world when she spoke "I need your help".
"With"?
Cinder looked to Adam and the bull faunus reached into his jacket and pulled out something very familiar. The familiar envelope touched the table and was slid over to the blonde so he could inspect it. Jaune opened it and looked at the contents within revealing the photos of all the dead shop owners who had died over the last few months thanks to the fang.
Jaune placed the envelope on the table and looked back to cinder "I don't see how I can help you with people that are already dead". Cinder tapped her nails against the table in irritation "the people who gave this to us have been interfering in our plan's for this city and I need you to help stop them". If only she knew who she was asking he thought "sorry but your asking the wrong guy for this" he said sliding the envelope back to Adam.
"You don't get to refuse since this is a order from master Alec" cinder said angrily. Jaune chuckled "I serve Salem and although I respect master for all he's done for me I won't be helping you with this. Whatever your doing in this city is doing more harm then good when you put faunus like him in positions of power" he said as he motioned to the bull faunus.
Adam growled in anger "what I'm doing is giving back to the people who need it the most, my people". Jaune slammed his fist on the table "no what your doing is forcibly taking what isn't yours and forcing your bullshit on humankind". Adam went to stand up but cinder forced him back down before turning to jaune "look we made a deal with the fang to help the faunus gain a stronger standing in this kingdom for their full support in our mission".
"What you did was sign up a bunch of terrorist to do what they do best, terrorize normal people just trying to live their lives" jaune returned. The rest in the room watched the debate go on for several minutes before Adam once again stood up "this is a waste of time, we should just deal with this ourselves". For once jaune couldn't agree more with the faunus but cinder wasn't having it "if we could we'd have done it already but instead we're getting warehouse full of bodies and nothing to show for it".
There was a lot that jaune took notice of but the fact cinder was being so open about it while never truly telling him what their plan was only meant one thing, she didn't trust him. He already kinda figured that out since Nora and Ren always danced around the issue whenever he asked but to see it here amongst the team he was originally part of only reaffirmed his suspicions. Eventually jaune got tired of the whole thing and cut cinder off "look I'll be straight with you cin I'm not going to help you cause I got my own things to do".
The room went quite as cinder stood up but instead of yelling she took a deep breath "fine I guess I'll deal with this problem on my own". With those final words cinder left the room and was quickly followed by mostly everyone else except vernal. Jaune turned to the brunette with a raised brow "your not planning to convince me to help you guys right"?
The brunette smiled "naw but you owe me some drinks and I think now is as good a time as any to collect". Jaune chuckled lightly "yeah I guess your right".
Done.