Disclaimer: See prologue.


Chapter 6:


The following day, noon.

Jaune and his team woke up and went to start their day. The morning was fairly uneventful, the only noticeable things of today were that in their classes the professors welcomed the other academies' exchange students that would be attending Beacon for the duration of the Vytal Festival, and that he had a few comments about his new fashion, namely his ring.

Fortunately he managed to make it appear as a late gift from his family congratulating him for having passed Beacon's Initiation and managing to be a team leader, that it was some kind of family tradition he added afterwards.

The sister teams then met with the rest of Team SSSN and various other teams Overall it was a peaceful morning, even Team CRDL behaved!

Against all odds it seemed that Cardin had a change of heart and became more studious, not at Weiss levels of course, but enough to make up for his less than stellar beginnings. Jaune even remarked that the former bully tried to emulate his behavior and leadership, even going to lengths to make his teammates behave appropriately. He wouldn't lie to himself, Jaune felt quite proud to be a source of inspiration. Why, he felt like he could very well count the Winchester as a good friend one day if he kept this up.

Really, everything would have been set up for Jaune to have a relaxing day through lunch right now.

That is if it weren't for Team RWBY's suspicious behaviors or this team from Haven.

They kept him on an unnoticeable edge.

On the outside they acted as perfect model students, if but for the only male member, one Mercury Black being some kind of brat whose real only defining traits being his silver hair. Oh and his mechanical legs, according to his Spiritual Sense.

And it would have been it if it weren't for the green haired girl of the team, an Emerald Sustrai, being a self-aware kleptomaniac fond of stealing other people's wallets or other belongings. Fact being clearly known to her team and endorsed by their team leader, as long as nobody were none the wiser.

There also was another member, a black haired girl in twin tails whose name he overheard was Mint. Nothing much besides that. Honestly she'd be the most normal of the team if she weren't that odd. She had that way at looking at people as if she entertained the thought of using them as pincushion... Even if he knew intellectually that she virtually couldn't harm him, he had despite himself shivers thinking about the crooked smirks she aimed his way.

The team leader herself, named Cinder Fall, was a complete unknown to him. Besides what his Spiritual Sense told him of her, her personality was impossible to decipher. Her real personality that was. Outwardly she was polite, composed, and made sure to blend into her surroundings while paradoxically parading her existence around like a proud peacock. She was especially good in dissimulating her intentions.

And if he'd hazard a guess, he would say that she had been trained in the ways of infiltration. Basically, she had all the markings of an intelligence worker, or as it is most commonly called, a spy.

'Or at least something along those lines...' He thought mid-chew at lunch while keeping a spiritual "eye" on her. Luckily, it seemed she wasn't able to discern his extrasensory abilities. 'Hmm... Let's take advantage of the crowd and try a little experiment, something to spook her.'

He took direct control of the Astral Projection he had set to follow the suspicious Haven's team from afar and guided it towards them. He saw through its eyes they were currently eating their lunch while talking of various mundane subjects, like any students would have done. Except that Mint girl, it seemed she was mute, or so he gathered. Now to know if that was true and not a facade... He hadn't a clue besides watching her twenty four seven.

He walked the projection through their table closer to her while amping his Spiritual Sense up to eleven to not miss any details as he ate and talked with his friends like nothing special happened.

He got even closer, still no reaction. He tried to interfer with her line of sight, nothing of note. It definitely looked like she couldn't see him.

So to make sure she wasn't faking it he slowly and steadily sent more Qi to his projection, but safer this time, as it was way under the threshold for it to manifest in the physical plane. Then he cocked the projections fist and struck. He stopped his astral fist right before it even grazed her nose.

And nothing. No startled movements, no blinks, no reactions whatsoever. And from what he could ascertain through his Spiritual Sense, she had no physiological developments either. Her heartbeat didn't spike, her breathing stayed the same, heck she hadn't even sweat from any kind of sudden stress. Either she was the best actress on this side of Remnant or…

'She can't detect my Astral Projections... Good... Good! It'll give me an edge on her and will allow me to gather more information.' He had a brief smile behind his cup of water. 'I've got you Miss Fall...'


Later the same day, after classes...

'This is the time...' Thought Jaune as every students filed out of Professor Port's class. Team RWBY clearly not losing time in doing so. 'According to what I overheard through my projection, they're going to begin their "plan" right now...'

He and his team followed the girls of RWBY on the road to their respective dorm rooms. Team JNPR chatted with each other while the members of their sister team were uncharacteristically silent and focused. One could even say tensed.

'Now the question is do I just content myself with shadowing them or do I speak up... Decisions, decisions...'

Jaune kept thinking about which choice to make while walking to his dorm room.

The sister teams finally all arrived at destination and went to their separate respective rooms.

Upon entering, Jaune quickly put down his school stuff, picked a set of civilian clothes and headed to the bathroom. He thought he'd fairly inconspicuous but Pyrrha was quick to notice though.

"Are you going somewhere Jaune?" She asked as he exited the bathroom.

"Hmm? Oh, yes. I have some errands to make in the city." He answered while buttoning up his dress shirt.

"I see... Do you by any chance need some help? We could go as a team? That is if it's alright with you two." She asked Nora and Ren.

Ren shrugged while Nora was more vocal.

"I'm okay with it!" She exclaimed in her usual overjoyed tone.

Pyrrha then looked at Jaune in askance.

"I'm thankful but really don't bother, it's not going to take me long and I'll go faster on my own." He saw her disappointed face and the closed expressions on the two childhood friends. "Though I wouldn't say no to a team outing this weekend." They instantly perked up at this. "I've heard of this new amusement park in Central Vale. What do you guys say?"

"That would be grand..." Pyrrha answered with a warm smile.

"I'm all okay for it Fearless Leader! A day at the park! A day at the park!"

Her cheerfully mood was contagious.

"It would appear that I'm outnumbered..." Joked Ren with a discreet smile. "I would be glad to." He finished with a bow.

At this Team JNPR planned their weekend and Jaune then went on his own mission.


A while later, in Vale...

Jaune was currently doing his most favorite extracurricular activity of all time, hopping from roof to roof. It was unnecessary to point out that this was pure sarcasm of course, for Jaune felt a certain amount of frustration.

'I swear,' he grumbled mid-jump, 'these girls are more troublesome than they should be...'

He was following Blake and Sun from an elevated position, the two Faunus having decided to "infiltrate" a White Fang recruitment, after having dispatched some low powered Astral Projections to the rest of Team RWBY and two members of Team SSSN, the leader and his partner having decided to join the party, because why not, to keep an eye on them.

'Still I feel somewhat bad for Weiss...'

As he followed the would be Faunus spies, he saw through his projection that Ruby had left Weiss on her lonesome to run after the heavily armed Atlesian girl of before, Penny. He considered the thought of splitting their attributed projection to keep an eye on both girls of Team RWBY each but then dismissed the thought. Weiss would be safe staying put at the CCTS tower, otherwise known as the Cross Continental Transmit System, and he didn't want to thin out even more his already stretched mental power by making yet another Astral Projection.

Speaking of Penny, it appeared that Ruby discovered her true artificial nature but didn't think much of it. In a heartwarming moment his fellow team leader announced that she didn't care if Penny weren't, as she put it, made of squishy bits.

Jaune had to admit that he felt quite ashamed of himself at this. He was so focused on what the mechanical girl was that he forgot about the person behind the nuts and bolts.

'I was so focused on the tree that I overlooked the forest...' He would think afterwards in self-depreciation.

After a few more moments he finally stopped on a roof having a clear view of the building Blake and Sun looked for and where the White Fang chose to held their rally.

He aimed his sight down the streets and saw the two would-be infiltrators join the line of other Faunus interested to enter the White Fang's rally. A couple of minutes later they were inside, and would have been out of his sight if he hadn't had the forethought of making their assigned Astral Projection following them.

What he saw inside didn't fill his old soul with much joy.

'This is a sad world we're living in...' He sighed. 'I just hope a majority of these Faunus are just here by curiosity and aren't planning to actually join them...'

Blake and Sun were now in the middle of the crowd, there were Faunus all over the place, on the ground, in the balconies, Jaune thought that at least a good portion of the Faunus population of Vale were here. The muttering of the Faunus stopped when a fully-masked man with tattoos stood and started speaking before a large sheet proudly painted with the White Fang's emblem, a bloody wolf with claw marks. What really worried Jaune was what his Spiritual Sense told him the sheet hid from everyone.

"Thank you all for coming. For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for for so long!"

He pointed at a location out of view on the stage and from it could be heard footsteps, only after a few seconds the source made itself know. One Roman Torchwick.

"Thank you, thank you! Please, hold your applause!"

What followed was a lame attempt to warm up the crowd from the thief.

But what caught Jaune's attention from his projection's place in the air wasn't the thief's attempt to warm up the suspecting crowd but the person that followed him and stayed a bit to the side. A young woman whose overall theme screamed ice cream and who, according to his Spiritual Sense, had a familiar energetic signature.

'Is it me or she has... But yes! She definitely does have the same energy signature as the mute from Cinder's team, Mint!' He got close enough to her to properly look at her. 'And now that I take a closer look she does have physical similarities... So my hunch was right. Cinder does prepare something and Torchwick, that girl and the White Fang are part of it... But what does she wants to do!? What's her aim..?' He mentally grumbled. 'I'll have to keep a really close eye on her...'

While he had that thought Roman finished his speech and snapped his fingers, signaling to one of the White Fang's soldiers backstage to lower the large sheet with their emblem, revealing the object Jaune knew was hidden behind it. A real life mecha.

"Whoa, that's a big robot..."

"How did he get that?"

He heard Sun and Blake respectively say in awe and fright at the sight of the walking tank.

Torchwick was quick to capitalize on the shock produced at the sight of the Paladin and went on to sell to the Faunus present a place in the White Fang.

"...But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?" He cockily asked with a grin.

This invigorated the crowd, its sudden movement making the two infiltrated Faunus uneasy.

"We should get out of here." Said Blake.

A White Fang's member could be heard rallying the crowd forward forcing the two to follow the flow.

"Welp!" Agreed Sun with a bit of panic in his voice.

From outside on his position atop a neighboring building Jaune frowned at the sight.

'I have to find a way to bail them out of here... But how..? I can't very well go in there metaphorical guns blazing-'

But his thoughts stalled when he saw Blake suddenly aiming her weapon and took a shot at a junction box, plunging the room in darkness and making a run for it through a window with Sun in tow.

As the two Faunus ran into the street and onto the buildings opposite of his position on the building overlooking the warehouse Jaune was left in his thoughts.

'Well… That works too I guess.'

Suddenly through his projection he saw Torchwick jumping into the Paladin and following the two escapees by bursting a hole through the warehouses wall.

'Ok got to go now.'

At this Jaune made his projection follow the thief and the two Faunus while he leaped the gap between the building and the warehouse, ran on the length of its roof and followed after them.

'Got to step on it...'

From what he could see through his projection following them and positioned in the air Blake and Sun were heading towards a highway, the mecha's pilot hot on their heels.

In the midst of the run he heard through all of his Astral Projections that Blake had called the rest of her team for back-up.

'It's quicker than it looks like!' He thought as he dashed at full speed, swerving between and over the buildings in his way. A sudden feeling of dread took place in his heart. 'Wait, the highway...'

As Jaune got closer he saw the stolen Paladin had just begun to enter the highway, it was going full speed and before it, were cars.

'Oh no... The cars! The bastard's going to ram into innocent bystanders without a care!'

He pumped more Aura into his legs, leaped over the hardlight barrier, passed both Blake and Sun, a couple of cars were one had notably a family with young children, which just the thought of them being harmed made his blood boil, and ran full speed towards the mecha. As he was just about to collide into it, Jaune slided below the frame of the heavily armored and armed vehicle, pooled every bit of Aura he could spare into his arms and legs, focused his Telekinesis onto the Paladin's frame, gathered a maximum amount of Qi and jumped below it, carrying it and its pilot in the air as soon as his hands made contact on the frame, way above the highway, and far from the cars and their passengers.

"What the-?" He heard Torchwick exclaim within and through the speakers. "How come I'm suddenly flying!?"

Once he reached the zenith of his jump, Jaune aimed at an empty safer spot far from any civilians, and launched the pile of metal with all strength using all his powers and abilities. The mecha became a literal meteorite as it careened through the air and impacted the ground and formed a crater, denting the heavy-duty military grade plating and doing a number on the thief's internal organs. Meanwhile Jaune took advantage of his throws inertia to land atop the highways railing, allowing him a clear view of the mecha.

All under the eyes of Blake and Sun.

"Jaune!?" Exclaimed Blake.

"Dude what was that!?" Added Sun.

He looked back at them and it was clear from his face that he wasn't in the best of moods.

"You are the most troublesome children that I have ever seen in my life..." He said dryly with a deadpan.

"I beg your pardon?" Said Blake outraged.

This made the Cultivator shake his head in disappointment.

"Never mind..."

Any answer the cat eared Faunus could have given were ignored when he heard movement from the Paladin. He also felt his projections getting closer to him and saw through them that the rest of Team RWBY were nearing their positions.

"Gotta deal with him I guess... Sigh..."

He jumped down, aiming his fall right at the Paladin and cocked his reforged fist reinforced with Aura for an extra kick, and crashed into the top of the mecha's frame bringing it down again.

"Will you stop doing this!" Roared Torchwick, clearly frustrated by all this happenings.

Jaune jumped down on the ground before him and crossed his arms, head tilted to side.

"Any chance you surrender peacefully?"

For all response he got a salvo of missiles forcing him to back off in a single leap at a safer distance.

"I guess that answers the question… Sigh..."

"Jaune..!" A high pitched voice said.

He perked up at this and looked back, seeing the leader of Team RWBY, Ruby, running toward him.

"Yo Rubes... Fancy seeing you there." He greeted his fellow team leader and good friend with a wave, while keeping an eye on Torchwick who tried to shake his Paladin loose from the deep hole Jaune put him in.

"Jaune! What are you doing here!?"

"Oh you know, I was taking a stroll through Vale or something like that. Though I feel that I should be the one to ask you that. What's Team RWBY doing here involved with Roman Torchwick and the White Fang of all things, again?"

"Erm, err... You see... It's because- Wait! How come again!?"

"The docks..." He said dryly with an eyebrow raised.

From the Paladin came a flow of swears, attracting their attentions when the frame lifted from the ground only to fall back down with a pitiful sound of stressed metal.

"Wait, you knew about this!?"

"You weren't really the most inconspicuous what with the big Dust explosion and all..."

"Eh, eh..." She awkwardly chuckled.

A shout from behind caught their attention.

"Ruby!"

It was her sister followed by the rest of RWBY.

"Jaune? What are you doing here?" She said when she realized who stood at her little sister's sides.

"Sigh... I've been hearing this too much lately..."

"Well can you blame us?" Stated more than asked Weiss. "Your presence is quite the surprise."

"Yes, yes... I'll get to that later, for now let's focus on our resident thief currently inside of a bona-fide mecha, who is managing to get himself out from his hole..." He pointed with his thumb at back aimed at the standing Paladin.

"Right! C'mon Team RWBY! Let's go! Don't worry Jaune, we'll take care of it."

"Oh..? Alright then, let's see how you girls can coordinate with each other as a team..." He said by taking a step back and waving at the mecha.

With a nod Ruby and her team marched forward in a formation.

What followed was an entertaining spectacle of moves and team combos. Jaune for his part contented himself to watch on the sides with his arms crossed, but ready to interfere at any time.

'They're well coordinated with each other, I'll give them that much. Huh, interesting way to make use of Weiss's Dust and Yang's Semblance... They'll definitely be engaging opponents at the festival. Though all of this is more a display of acrobatics than anything... True, it's expected from Huntsmen to awe civilians for taking their minds off from the Grimm to lower negativity, Team JNPR does have a few moves like this, but focusing only on showy moves means that they'll lack proper methods to expediently take down foes when pressed for time...'

All went fairly well until Yang decided to jump on top of the Paladin to unleash an onslaught of shotgun blasts from her gauntlets, Ember Celica. Torchwick obviously wasn't enjoying the treatment as Jaune could see the thief was being knocked around inside the Paladin's cabin.

Torchwick having enough to be treated as a ragdoll suddenly drove his mecha through a couple of pillars, with Yang taking the brunt of it. As the bombastic blonde was falling from a third pillar Torchwick, who had backed away, was about to assail her with a closed fist from the Paladin, but the metallic punch was stopped by another blonde dead on its tracks.

It was Jaune who, upon seeing what was happening to Yang, had ran to cover the space between his former position and his current one, and stopped the punch from connecting. Instinctively sparing Yang from another neck breaking punch and saving the pillar, and the citizens driving on the highway supported by it, from destruction.

The last part especially angered him.

"I think that's quite enough, Mister Torchwick. Surrender." He added with a heavy amount of Killing Intent, his eyes glowing blood red. Jaune was getting pissed, and the traits of Xiao Long he inherited were more than willing to deliver punishment. And for once, Jaune Arc agreed wholeheartedly. "I won't give you another chance..."

"What the-!? W-what are they f-feeding you at that cursed school!?" Exclaimed the thief as he surprisingly managed to overcome the Killing Intent's fear inducing abilities, as he tried to dislodge the Paladin's fist from Jaune's hold.

"I'm not hearing a surrender..." For all response he got another salvo of missiles, forcing him to back off. "Very well, the hard way it is then..."

Jaune finally unsheathed Crocea Mors and took a proper defensive position with his shield, it was time to see how will fare Pyrrha's teachings in live action, Cultivator style. No. As a Huntsman Cultivator.

"Hum, Jaune..? Do you need help?" Asked Ruby from the sidelines, clearly worried about her best male friend.

"No I'll be alright, just make sure to intercept any stray shots that could threaten the highways' pillars. Though you might want to contact Professor Goodwitch, or there'll be a reckoning..." This got a squeak out of the reaper who quickly fumbled into her pockets to get her Scroll, and at this he launched himself at the mecha with a burst of Aura.

While for the external world time passed normally, from Jaune's point of view it slowed to a crawl. Allowing him to analyze in more depth the walking tank before him.

'So. How am I going to go about it...' He thought while his his eyes and Spiritual Sense were working double time, scanning every pieces and corners of the metallic contraption that moved at a snail's pace. 'Team RWBY and I earlier already did quite a number on the frame of the Paladin. Yang got rid of one of its arms and various servos at its joints are damaged, and I notice a certain amount of structural weaknesses. At this point its real threat comes from its armaments... So if I evade them while striking those various key points it should be a piece of cake...'

Thus he did as planned. With another burst of Qi and Aura enhanced speed, he evaded the coming missiles and by infusing Crocea Mors' blade with the same energies he struck at the remaining arms joints at the elbow, then as he passed behind the Paladin he did turned on his side and slashed at the left knees of the mecha.

The whole thing toppled over from the sudden change in its center of mass. Suffice to say that the self-proclaimed gentleman-thief had quite a few choice words at this development, words that were enough to make the more innocent or cultured members of Team RWBY blush.

"Still not surrendering Torchwick?"

To show his discontent the thief sent yet again another salvo of missiles towards Jaune.

'This is really starting to give me a feeling of déjà vu...' He thought while backflipping over a few missiles that were snipped before they could impact the pillar behind him. 'Alright, time to wrap this up I guess...'

He surged forward to the last arm that Torchwick used to uselessly try to stand back up with and severed it at the shoulder. Then, seizing the opportunity, Jaune quickly grabbed the remaining limb and took advantage of the Paladin's reduced weight to flung it and its pilot around in a circle. As he gained more and more torque Jaune then finally jumped and slammed the mecha hard on the ground. Bursting the frame open and dispersing all its components to the four winds. Leaving one dazed Roman Torchwick sickened by the rotating motion.

All under the eyes of Team RWBY whose each member looked at him gobsmacked.

"Since then noodly VB got this strong?" He heard Yang murmur low enough so only her partner could hear her, or so she thought.

Blake could only lightly shrug her shoulder and look on without a word.

"Well that was... Enlightening." Said Weiss blandly.

"Yeah…" Responded her partner with team leader.

As Jaune was watching over the downed form of Torchwick who slowly but steadily regained consciousness, he couldn't help but to have a wry frown on his face at their words.

'Maybe I went a little bit overboard...'

The thief looked around until his eyes landed on Jaune who stood before him, the point was Crocea Mors aimed at him.

"Ah shit..." Lamented the thief.

"Indeed... I think this is the moment where you surrender and make your way to a most uncomfortable cell..."

To the surprise of the girls, Torchwick started to laugh, they believed him to have lost it.

"Well kid, I personally think I'll be on my way-"

But before he could finish his gloating Jaune did a hard right swipe at the air to their side, revealing in a burst of glass-like shards the small form of Torchwick's partner or whatever she was, who was sent flying from the unforeseeable blow. Under the shocked eyes of Team RWBY and Torchwick.

"Nice try, but not much can escape my notice..." Jaune dryly said to the criminal duo. "Team RWBY, watch over him while I take care of her." He ordered in a no-nonsense tone as he made his way to the recovering walking ice-cream theme.

The girls were quick to do as said and with their weapons raised encircled the thief, who couldn't help but to be gobsmacked at the sight of his partner's Semblance failing her for the first time in what felt like forever. With Blake securing his hands behind his back with the help of the reinforced ribbon of her Gambol Shroud.

The young woman looked at him with anger in her eyes, she must have not appreciated for him to surpass her Semblance's abilities. He let out a burst of air from his nose.

"So, not a chance that you surrender peacefully? Mind you I offered the same chance to your associate and suffice to say that it didn't work out so well for him to turn down my offer..."

For all of answer she lunged at him. Not one to be deterred by such display of aggressivity, and frankly wanting to wrap this up as quickly as possible, Jaune decided to return the favor.

She was barely in mid-air that she found herself back on the ground in a prone position as she was suddenly assailed by a wave of Killing Intent.

'There that should be enough- Hmm?' As he thought that would have been enough to cow the young woman, she proved more resilient when she took a knee and looked at him defiance. 'Huh, that's impressive. Let's see how she'll fare with this output...' He increased the amount of Killing Intent he projected at her. At first she seemed to fall back down until she shook herself up took a knee again, this time sending him a taunting smirk, her eyes shifting colors. 'Little minx... What do you think of this!?' He dialed up his Killing Intent to the maximum. His eyes glowing blood red and his surroundings beginning to frost over. The immediate witnesses in the form of Team RWBY and Torchwick could feel a portion of it that leaked from his control.

"W-w-what the hell is he doing..?" Shivered Torchwick.

The girls weren't having a good time either.

"J-jaune..?" He heard Ruby start. "W-what is h-happening..?"

On Jaune's sides he could see that while the Killing Intent seemed to have a few effects on his opponent, her willpower was strong enough to resist the mind-altering effects of it. Not only that, but he also hear the slight fright in Ruby's tone. He had to cut it off.

As soon as he stopped emitting his Killing Intent, he could see everyone recovering from its effects. Sadly it didn't seemed that the young woman before him had changed her mind.

"Any chance that you had a change of heart?" He asked hopeful even if he knew it was for naught.

She wordlessly growled and resumed her lunge toward him faster than earlier, it appeared that she now concidered him a threat big enough to warrant going all out.

Unfortunately for her even her top-speed couldn't hope to rival his enhanced cognition.

'So let's see what kind of surprise a little minx like her could hide...' He let out a focused burst of Spiritual Sense toward her. 'Hmm? She fights nasty that one, there's a rapier hidden within the shaft of her parasol. Gotta watch out for that...'

Letting his perception of time flow back to normal, he intercepted her strike by letting her parasol slide on the flat of his shield and retaliated with a strike to her back.

She managed to go with the blow and rolled back on her feet, launching a leg swipe at the back his knees, in an attempt to make him stumble. But when her leg made contact it felt for her like if she had struck a reinforced wall, catching her by surprise and making her Aura flare on impact.

Capitalizing on her confoundment and his enhanced speed he launched a kick of his own at her, and unlike her he managed to not only knock her breath out of her, but he also made her fly toward a pillar, damaging even further her Aura from the kick and the impact.

As she got back on her feet, she heaved deeply to regain her breath. Now she looked at him with hatred.

"I know what you're thinking..." She huffed at this. "No really I do, that's understandable, I would think the same in your position. However I can assure you that I'm way more than you can chew..." She rolled her eyes. "If you don't believe me just take a look at your associate." Her eyes carefully drifted toward Torchwick who shook his head when their eyes crossed. "Last chance..."

She looked back at him and sent him a frown and then disappeared to the eyes of all but him.

"The hard way it is then..." He sighed. 'Enough, the gloves are off.'

Suddenly he dashed in a burst of Qi and Aura reinforced speed shield first at a spot before him, catching by surprise the female criminal who hadn't considered she'd be the one caught off guard.

As he rammed with the force of a truck at her by infusing his shield with Qi and Aura, she barely had the time to use the unfolded part of her parasol as a shield.

Unfortunately for him she had the foresight to reinforce the parasol with her Aura. Unfortunately for her the impact not only took a big chunk of her Aura but sent her careening yet again into another pillar. Winding her and almost making her puke from the impact as she hit the ground.

She was running on fumes and they both knew it.

Nonetheless she wasn't going to go down without putting a fight. Behind the cover of her parasol she unsheathed her blade and, as she dashed back at him, she closed her parasol to strike at his unprotected sides.

He purposely let the hit connect, knowing that it will have no effect.

The blade pierced his clothes were his stomach should be under the shocked and scared eyes of the girls of Team RWBY. But to her surprise it didn't had the feeling of piercing the tender skin and rupturing the organs of a person but it felt as if she had struck a living block of metal, the force of the strikes going up her arm, straining her muscles and bones.

"My turn." Jaune said with finality.

As he said this she widened her eyes and brought up her parasol in an attempt to shield herself as he brought down Crocea Mors, the reinforced higher quality blade biting through the thin materials of her parasol, slicing it in two, making her let go of the remaining part in her shock, leaving her front unprotected. Then he did a swipe back that broke through her Aura, ripping her clothes and slashing her torso, leaving a trail of blood in the wake of his slash.

She went down in a gasp.

"Neo!" Torchwick exclaimed in concern.

He tried to stand back up and to flung himself at Jaune only for the bindings behind his back to pull him back on the ground, the weapons of the girls aimed at his face. Yang's eyes glowing red.

"Try that again buster..." She growled.

"I swear if she dies-!"

"Relax. I went easy on her from the beginning." Jaune interrupted him. He knocked off the rapier from her hand and reached down to lift the disarmed newly named Neo upright from her collar. She was clearly conscious and weakly clutching at her wounded front, looking at him in fright. "I could have gone all out from the get go, but she wouldn't have survived... However she's still very much alive, after all the authorities might have need of her and of your cooperation."

"Neo..." Torchwick breathed out in relief.

The young woman looked at him with regretful eyes.

"It's okay kiddo, you did your best... There's just too many monsters in this world..." He tried to joke with a weak and bitter half-hearted laugh.

"What?! You think we're the monster!?" Yang exclaimed astonished by his gall.

"Not you goldie. Oh I'm sure you're in a category of your own, but I meant him..." He pointed at Jaune with a tilt of his head.

"Hey! That's not nice!" Exclaimed Ruby.

"Didn't you hear what he just said!? He could have easily killed her!"

"But he didn't because he's a good guy!"

"Oh please, if he went easy on her it's to use her against me! He just admitted it!"

"He isn't a monster!"

Jaune dismissed the thief's words and huffed in good humor.

"Don't worry Rubes, I don't take offense."

All of a sudden he looked at a point in the sky, catching everybody's attention.

"Seems our back-ups are finally here."

Point in fact, the hum of thrusters could be heard and soon enough a couple of Bullheads made their appearance.

The lead Bullhead touched down and from it came out their Deputy Headmistress, Professor Goodwitch, followed by a couple of Huntsmen and Atlas soldiers. She quickly yet thoroughly did a inspection of the situation and made her way toward her charges. The others securing the scene.

"Students. I had the run-down from Miss Rose's call earlier but I'd like an explanation on how you managed to apprehend Roman Torchwick and his associate while causing so much property damages in downtown Vale..." She asked in her patented no-nonsense tone.

"Oh it could have been much worse..." Jaune said looking pointedly at Blake.

"What do you mean..?" She asked anticipating his answer.

"The people Blake... The innocents bystanders in the cars on the highway that Torchwick was about to ran into. Certainly harming a lot in the process and very possibly killing a few too." Her eyes widened and the cat ears behind her bow flattened on her head, the eyes of the rest of Team RWBY going downcast. "Though the real perpetrator is of course him..." He added with a deadly glare at the captured thief who gulped.

"And how do you fit in all of that Mister Arc?"

"Shouldn't we secure the criminals first?"

"Yes of course." She nodded and then turned to the people who stood at attention behind her. "Secure Mister Torchwick and his associate and apply some first-aid on her, we wouldn't want her to bleed out." The soldiers saluted and the Huntsmen nodded. After a few moments the two criminals were restrained with Aura-suppressing cuffs and led inside separate Bullheads. She then turned back toward Jaune with an eyebrow raised. "Well?"

He turned his head to Ruby who startled at the attention.

"I'll let her begin, it's her operation after all..." He dryly said as she squeaked in surprise. 'It's highly time you learn accountability for your actions.'

However to his surprise and impression she seemed to be caught off guard for but a moment, then with a deep breath she squared her shoulders and faced Professor Goodwitch with a level head and resolute eyes.

'Eh, eh.. I guess she wasn't put into Beacon in advance and made the leader of her own team for nothing. Atta girl.'

"Well Professor Goodwitch, ma'am, it's like this..."

And so she spent a good dozen of minutes explaining to the Deputy Headmistress how they ended up in this situation.

After that Ruby finished her explanation, and Professor Goodwitch told them they'd be interviewed in more details back at Beacon, the professor told the all-girls team to head to her Bullhead in wait.

As the girls made their ways with conflicted yet relieved faces, Professor Goodwitch turned back to Jaune. Only to be caught by surprise at the way his eyes appeared to have aged and what he told her afterwards wasn't what she expected to hear, especially from one of her students in such a mature manner.

"I need to speak with you and the Headmaster. I have reasons to believe that Beacon is compromised by what I believe are at least infiltrators... Or worse."

This made her eyes widen at the news but she professionally held back any other reactions.

"Very well." She nodded. "Let us get back to Beacon."

Thus they both headed to the Bullhead with Team RWBY within and after the site was secured by the Atlas soldiers for further investigations, they made their ways back to Beacon, the criminals on their ways to Ironwood's flagship to be detained and interrogated.

On their way the atmosphere was tense inside the Bullhead. The girls were both elated to have caught Torchwick and his associate named Neo, not believing they had managed such a feat in their first year at Beacon, even if true Jaune helped them, and also were just realizing how much bad it could have went for the people caught in the crossfire if Jaune hadn't been there to intervene.

Jaune for his part was fairly relaxed. Of course he wondered how much he will have to reveal to his professors, intellectually he knew that they'd at least require a few evidences to his claims. But he was fairly confident that he could reason with them.

'Shouldn't be that difficult to convince my professors that one of their students uncovered a link connecting exchange students affiliated with Roman Torchwick and the White Fang...' He closed his eyes with his arms crossed and his back against the Bullhead's hull, seemingly in a relaxed position. After a few moments he let out a suffering sigh. 'It's not going to be that easy, isn't..?' He used his Spiritual Sense to glimpse at his professor who was busy typing on the Scroll tablet that seemed to never be to far from her. 'Sigh... I guess I'll have to yet again wing it. So much for being known for my strategic mind...'

A couple dozens of minutes later, their Bullhead arrived at Beacon. Professor Goodwitch told Team RWBY to head back to their dorm room and to await future summonings concerning their improvised investigation and subsequent capture of the two criminals. As they watched the girls walk away from them, the Deputy Headmistress invited Jaune to follow her toward Beacon's central tower where was located the Headmaster's office.

After a few moments of silent walking they arrived at the tower and boarded an elevator. Taking the lift yet again in silence if but for the elevator music.

'That's not awkward at all...' He idly thought.

Finally the elevator arrived at the last upper floor and opened. Revealing Beacon's Headmaster, Professor Ozpin's office. The man was turned to a window his back facing them, looking at the world lying before him. A few seconds of silence later Professor Goodwitch cleared her throat.

"Hmm?" He turned toward them, his eyes landing first on his co-worker, briefly on Jaune, then back at her. "Oh my apologies, I was lost in my thoughts." Then to Jaune. "Welcome Mister Arc."

Jaune nodded at the welcome. Then flared his Internal Energy for them to see and, more importantly, to feel.

"Hello Headmaster Ozpin, we need to talk."


A/N:

Boom drop the mike. I bet a few of you didn't foresee this chapter ending like that.

Yep, now things are going to steadily move away from canon. Finally...

So, what did you all think about this chapter? Did Jaune handle the situation too slowly? Too quickly? How were the fight scenes? Well paced? Too rushed?

And how about the way he took down Neo? I'm fairly confident with this scene but there could be things that escaped my notice.

I've got nothing much more to say about this chapter. Besides the fact that events will now start to go a much different way than they should have gone.

By the way, I might change the unofficial update schedule from now on. With my other story, Jaune Arc - The Magecraft User, I'm kind of starting to stretch myself out. I might maybe alternate the weeks I update. This week was ICH, the next will be MU, and the following week ICH again and so on and so forth. I stress that I might do it this way, I'll have to see. Ideally I would have liked to keep doing things the same way but, well, real life and all that... No matter what I'll keep you guys posted, either through a temporary A/N, but I don't really like to do that, or through a message on my profile (more likely). Either way I will inform you.

Fyr out!