Jaune Arc

Stretching, shrinking, heating, cooling, the whole works. Jaune was ready for the experience and managed to stay on his feet as he exited Raven's portal.

He crouched, trying to figure out where he was. Trees surrounded him, the cool pre-dawn air buffeting the canopies slightly.

He took his scroll out, hoping Raven had put him somewhere near Beacon. The device took a few seconds to turn on and then locate him.

Emerald Forest, 30km from Beacon Academy, the display read.

Jaune planned his approach. He knew his teammates and friends would've gone straight to Ozpin. He checked RWBY and his team's locations. They seemed to be in their rooms, as Jaune had expected.

Ozpin wouldn't have let them search for him, and would've sent someone more experienced. He scanned the school, looking for where all the staff were. They all were stationary in different rooms, but there was one person missing: Glynda.

Figures, she's pretty damn good. I should hurry back before she digs too deep trying to find me.

He couldn't just barge in and tell the whole story. Raven had told him that Ozpin and her weren't on the best of terms, and Jaune did not want to get Ozpin involved.

He could just say he escaped from the Bullhead and made his way back to Beacon using his scroll. He scooped up some dirt and smeared it all over his clothes, making sure there were deep dirt stains.

He lessened the aura on his chest and made some shallow cuts, enough for blood to stain his shirt to give the impression he was hurt. He really needed to sell the impression he had fought hard.

His appearance ready, he activated the Gravity Dust in his shoes and pushed off the forest floor. He flew forwards and up, flying over the trees. His aura was continually being sapped, but that was his intention.

He reached the apex of his jump and started slowly falling back to the earth. He jumped back, his forward momentum carrying him dozens of meters with each jump. Every jump carried him farther, and he kept this up, aura flowing into the dust like water.

He finally covered the distance to the Beacon cliffs, sliding across the tree-less plain at the foot. Bending his legs, he sprang up, reaching for any footholds and pushing off of them. The low gravity helped him gather speed as he practically flew across the cliff face.

He pulled his sword out, stabbing it into the top of the cliff, swinging his body around the edge and sliding to a halt.

Wish someone was filming that.

Jaune deactivated his boots, aura at 35%, almost fully red.

That Gravity Dust is really hungry, but it figures, I just did sprint across the forest and up a cliff.

He trekked his way to Beacon using the map on his scroll, feeling as if he truly had fought his way out of an airship.

Pyrrha Nikos

The next morning

Pyrrha felt the rays of sun on her face and turned away instinctively, trying to sleep in. She wasn't a morning person and any sleep she could get before Nora loudly awoke everyone.

Her mind was blissful for about five seconds before the worry came crashing back down upon her, sleep evaporating under the emotion.

Jaune!

She sprang up, heading to the bathroom to freshen up and change. She was going to head up to Ozpin's office to check on the search for Jaune.

She had comforted herself with Jaune's promise that he would get back safe. Falling asleep had been hard, but her trust in Jaune had helped.

She turned the door handle to the bathroom. It didn't budge.

She tried again, trying to determine if it was stuck or something.

"You really want to be in here with me, is that it Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha froze. That was Jaune's voice.

"Jaune?"

"Unless you know someone else who sounds like me." Jaune sounded upbeat, cheerful even.

"Jaune, what, how, when, are you okay?!" Pyrrha was conflicted, and the confusion caused her brain to short out.

"Hey, hey, calm down. You don't want Nora up yet. Wait a bit, I'll be right out."

Pyrrha moved back and stared at the door. Jaune had somehow made his way back to Beacon. After being kidnapped by two of Vale's most wanted. From an airship hundreds of feet in the air.

The door opened and Jaune stepped out. His clothes mere dirty and ripped, dirt smeared all over. The shirt was bloodied, but it was old and dried. There were no scratches on him and he looked okay, so she figured that his aura was okay.

"You must have quite a few questions, Pyrrha."

What an understatement.

"I indeed do have some questions Jaune. Have you told Ozpin you're back? He sent Glynda out to search for you!"

Jaune looked slightly guilty. "No, I came in here first. Wanted to get cleaned up and catch up with you guys first."

"You should get changed first. Your clothes are an absolute mess." Pyrrha herded him over to his wardrobe and made him take his clothes and change in the bathroom.

While was changing, Nora, and by extension Ren, had woken up. Pyrrha put a hand over Nora's mouth and quietly explained Jaune's arrival into her ear, silencing the boisterous girl.

Nora had nodded and sat silently, a rare thing for her. Ren was calm as usual, as if Pyrrha had told him the morning paper had come in.

Jaune stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in his usual hoodie and jeans.

"Morning guys, glad to see you're up." He walked over to his bed and took a seat, facing them.

Everyone was silent, the three of them staring at Jaune, waiting for him to start talking.

"Alright, so guys, I am so sorry. I would've fought back against Torchwick while we were on the highway, but Weiss was in danger. I didn't want to risk a battle, not with both Neo and Torchwick there. I had to go with them."

They continued to stare at him. He rubbed his eyes, composure dropping slightly.

"Look guys, I did what I thought was best at the time. I know all of you were worried about me, but honestly, I was fine. They didn't dare harm me, not until their mysterious boss said to. So I took the first opportunity I could to escape in the Bullhead. I tried ramming the door open and Torchwick tried to stop me. We fought, and eventually I managed to weaken the door enough for me to slam it and fall out. I fell to the ground and escaped into the woods. Made my way here after that. Not much of a story to be honest."

Only Jaune. Only my partner could think that fighting and falling out of a Bullhead isn't much of a story.

"Jaune, are you not tired? You must have used a lot of aura during the fight and afterwards." Pyrrha kept her voice moderated.

"Yeah, I'm bone-tired right now actually. Not enough to conk out, and I do need to head to Ozpin's like you said I should. I'll see you guys around."

Jaune got up and headed out, the door closing behind him.

Nora still had a shocked expression on her face, Ren's eyebrows were slightly higher than normal, and Pyrrha, well she didn't know how to feel.

She felt happy because Jaune was back. He may have been hurt, judging by the blood on his shirt, but he was safe at Beacon now.

She also felt angry at him for going with Torchwick almost willingly. Pyrrha had been around Jaune long enough to know when he was hiding something. He had not said anything to Torchwick other than a token response. No negotiating, no trying to get out of the situation. He had just walked into the Bullhead and flew off, even waving at them!

Jaune Arc, just you wait till the relief wears off. You're going to have to answer to me.

Jaune Arc

Jaune had been thinking something along the same lines. He knew Pyrrha would be mad at him for what he had done, and that her relief was the only thing still keeping her from getting angry.

He rushed out as fast as he could after the one-sided conversation with his team, hoping to let them calm down and think.

He headed to Ozpin's office, encountering no one in the halls. It was still early in the morning, and a weekend to boot. No self-respecting student was going to be up and wandering the hallways at this hour.

He rode the elevator up. His team had seemed to believe his story, but he knew Ozpin wouldn't at first. The story would be put up to much more scrutiny, and Jaune had to get a realistic web of lies ready.

The elevator dinged open. Jaune walked to Ozpin's door and knocked, the sound echoing through the hallway.

Who else worked here anyways? I never see anyone coming and going.

The door opened, and Jaune strode into the office. Ozpin was in his usual location at his desk, doing something or another. If he was surprised at Jaune's arrival, he didn't show it.

"Ah Mr. Arc. I'm glad you made your way back. I shall contact Glynda at once." He continued typing, not even looking up. "I think she would like to know the details of your escape and subsequent return, so I would wait here until she comes back. Please, have a seat."

Jaune took the seat Ozpin gestured at. He looked around the office and twiddled his thumbs, waiting for Glynda to get back.

Cinder Fall

"What do you mean Jaune Arc has been kidnapped?" Her voice was low, threatening.

"It seems that Torchwick was interrupted at his White Fang rally by a student from Beacon. He chased her down in an Atlas Paladin, though he was defeated by her team and Jaune. Torchwick and Neo then managed to sneak up on them after they were distracted by the arrival of Pyrrha Nikos. They threatened to kill the Schnee girl and took him by Bullhead to the White Fang HQ."

The poor grunt was shaking in his boots as he delivered this news. He had every reason to be scared, this was Cinder Fall he was talking to after all.

She walked forward, the patterns on her dress glowing slightly in the dim light.

"Do you know who ordered this kidnapping?" Cinder gripped the grunt's face and made him look at her. Abject fear filled his eyes and he swallowed twice before replying.

"It was the White Fang, Ms. Fall. They wanted to interrogate the boy about the Prometheans."

Cinder's grip tightened, her fingers clutching the man's face with a surprising strength.

"Do you know anything more about this?" Cinder's voice was almost sweet.

"No, Ms. Fall I do-" His eyes widened as he realized his mistake.

Cinder's hands glowed, and the man screamed.

The body dropped to the floor, face a mangled mess. Cinder often didn't kill anyone personally, but this man had delivered terrible news to her.

The White Fang had been doing business behind her back, and which directly interfered with her plans. They would pay, oh yes they would pay.

Jaune Arc

Jaune had just finished explaining his story to Glynda and Ozpin. Ozpin didn't really react, but Glynda was staring at him worriedly.

"So you just fell out and landed in the woods?" Glynda asked him.

"Yeah, pretty much." Jaune shrugged.

"Can you show us where you landed?" Ozpin spoke for the first time.

I knew he would doubt me.

"I actually can't, it was outside of Vale and the location wasn't saved on my scroll." Not a lie, technically.

"Can I see your scroll Jaune?" Ozpin held out a hand.

Jaune handed it over, trying to think up an excuse for what he knew Ozpin would ask him.

Ozpin plugged the scroll into his own computer and glanced at the information it showed him.

Jaune, it shows your position moving out of range and then suddenly appearing an hour or so later in the middle of the Emerald Forest. Care to explain?"

"My scroll's battery got dislodged during the fight, I managed to turn it on at that point in the forest to find Beacon's exact location." Not the best lie, but it was believable.

Ozpin simply nodded and handed his scroll back to him. "Do you have any idea who could have hired Torchwick and Neo to kidnap you?"

Jaune shook his head. "Though they might have wanted me to make them weapons, seeing as how the weapons expo just happened."

Ozpin nodded. "Indeed, I believe that was their intention too. You shall have to be more careful in the future Jaune. I believe this places a bit of a damper on our future plans."

Jaune perked up slightly. "What plans?"

Glynda finally spoke up. "The headmaster was planning to send you to Atlas on a research mission. You were to work with Atlas scientists on some projects they have been working on."

"That sounds fun. Why should these plans be delayed? I would be under the protection of Atlas and on a different continent altogether."

Ozpin replied this time. "Our enemies would immediately know if you were being sent to Atlas and would no doubt have start preparing. If we delay the trip, then we have time to plan your protection as well as make traps for anyone attempting to kidnap you."

That makes sense. Though what am I supposed to do until then?

"That sounds reasonable. When can I expect this trip to take place?"

"In two or three months. I will contact you with the details after a month. Remember, do not tell anyone about this plan. You are excused." Ozpin turned to Glynda and started talking in a low voice.

Jaune nodded and walked out of the office, waving at the two teachers as he left.

That felt rushed, as if Ozpin wasn't really focused on what I was saying. He seemed way to focused on his computer.

Jaune just shrugged and opened his scroll.

Transfer Complete, Content Ready

Jaune grinned and opened the files he had copied off of Ozpin's computer. He had put a program on his scroll that would copy the most opened and recently opened files on any computer it was plugged into, and Jaune intended to see just exactly what Ozpin was looking at.

The first file he opened was just a simple message. Queen has pawns.

Hmm, more chess? Interesting.

The second and third files were both school related, and so were the rest.

Queen has pawns. Who is this queen exactly? Cinder? Raven? Has to be female, but who?

Jaune Arc

10 PM, Vale Docks

He had told his story to team RWBY and the story had somehow (Yang!) spread throughout the school, getting more and more fictional with each retelling.

Which was ironic considering that it was 100% homegrown, organic, non-GMO fiction to begin with, but what can you do?

After dinner and a lengthy discussion with Pyrrha about making them worried out of their minds, he was finally ready to slip into bed, then into a Promethean to relieve some stress on the criminal scum of Vale.

He left dinner early to head to bed. He was contemplating his plans for the night when a voice spoke into his ear.

"Jaune, are you alone right now?"

Raven?

"Uh, yeah. What's up?" Jaune really didn't know what to say. He'd never been contacted by portal before.

"Meet me at 10 at the Vale docks. As a Promethean." The portal fizzled out of existence.

I swear to god no one in this town knows how to ask me to come nicely! It's always 'Jaune get your ass here'. Stupid scary females and their unsaid threats of death.

He stared at the water, as if it could help him with his problems.

A red light illuminated the area and Raven stepped out, looking much the same as she had the day before.

"Raven."

"Jaune."

"You sounded urgent. So what's going on?"

"I have heard reports of Grimm gathering in the lost city of Mountain Glenn."

Jaune had heard of Mountain Glenn, it was the first large expansion by the kingdom of Vale. They had constructed an elaborate system of tunnels to the city. The city itself had been successful for a short while, until the Grimm attacked.

The city had to evacuate on short notice as scores of Nevermore, Ursa, Beowolves, snakelike King Taijitus, giant elephant-like Goliaths and many other species of Grimm ravaged the city.

The death toll had been in the high ten thousands, the Grimm destroying without discrimination. Man, woman, and child had been killed as they tried to flee the onslaught of the creatures.

It had been the largest loss of life due to the Grimm ever, partly due to the terrible handling of the emergency by the officials in charge. The subway system had been blocked up, each train car not full to the brim, leaving many waiting for as much as 3 hours to get out.

These delays had let the Grimm, who were attracted to negative emotion, find the large mass of terrified humans with ease. They had soon infiltrated the tunnels themselves and were headed in a beeline straight to Vale.

The Council of Vale had decided to detonate the tunnels at certain distances along the tunnel to provide adequate impediment to the Grimm front. The tactic had worked, though thousands had been trapped in the city after the collapse of the tunnel.

Learning about the incident had filled Jaune with anger at the incompetency of the people who came up with the plan. The warning systems sounded too late for people to finish evacuating, the security measures had not been nearly enough for the large attack, the whole bungled extraction, the list went on.

"So? Grimm have occupied the city completely ever since the fall of the city."

"This gathering is a large anomaly, even for such an infested area. I've been hearing reports of two Basilisks that have made their nest inside a section of the collapsed tunnels. There are also a couple Behemoths that have been establishing territory around the edges of the city."

Jaune's mind reeled. A single Behemoth required at least 3 fully qualified hunters to take it down. The two of them, against multiple Behemoths? Madness.

"Raven, you're not suggesting that we go and kill these Behemoths this night, are you?" Jaune turned to look at her. Her mask betrayed no emotion, though Jaune could tell she was amused.

"Oh no. We're killing the Basilisks." Raven said offhandedly, summoning a portal.

Jaune Arc

Mountain Glenn

Jaune stepped out of the portal feeling even worse that he had before Raven had arrived.

Friggin Basilisks! We're going to be taking out a nest of Basilisks!

He had searched up Raven when he had reconnected to the CCT after his little 'trip'. From what he could find, she was pretty damn mysterious, not showing up in any records, not even old school records. They either did not get uploaded or were deleted after some time.

There were plenty of news articles about a woman matching her description, generally seen leaving scenes of crimes or massacres of Grimm.

He had gathered she was a formidable fighter, a result that was affected in no small part by her semblance, Jaune thought.

I mean, if you can tunnel through space instantly, that is quite useful in a fight. So jealous.

Jaune had no doubt she wouldn't immediately be killed during the battle; he was more concerned for himself.

Basilisks were ferocious creatures. They were snakelike, with small legs sticking out of their side every couple of feet. Adults grew to be over 50 feet long, with foot thick hides that reflected most projectiles.

Their fangs were more than 3 feet long and had the unique ability to fold up when not needed. They had powerful muscles behind them, and the Basilisk used them to its full advantage, slashing them out an enemy to disorient them. That was followed by a clean stab and a painful death for the unfortunate enemy.

Though that wasn't its most formidable weapon. Its eyes were generally closed shut, using its heat pits to sense its way around its location. It only opened them midway through battles, using them to sear their enemies.

The powerful energy beams emitted by the eyes would first paralyze the enemy, in a 'deer-in-the-headlights way. Then the real fun would begin and the beam would increase in intensity, slowly burning the victim's eyes and eventually their brain.

Jaune had some plans against such beams, namely his night vision goggles that he would have to use due to the darkness. They would block some of the incoming energy, giving Jaune time to dodge before the beam got strong enough to paralyze him.

He also had taken a sword almost identical to Crocea Mors with him, as he didn't want to risk destroying Crocea Mors itself if he had to self-detonate.

His chemical gloves were on, though he wasn't sure exactly how useful they would be against the Grimm.

"Hey Raven, can your mask filter air?" Jaune asked, realizing he wasn't alone in the battle.

"It cannot. Are you planning something?"

"A Plan C yeah. Let's get going, the less time I think about this the better."

He followed Raven through the ruined city streets. The sight wasn't new to him; he had seen the same destruction wreaked upon Vale during his vision after initiation.

They picked their way around rubble, trying to remain undetected by the Grimm that haunted the city. Beowolves occasionally came close by, but never close enough to detect them.

They arrived at a large crashed skyscraper, the frame of it bent and twisted, all its innards spilling out like a giant wounded animal. They made their way across the pile of concrete and climbed up the frame of the building, moving to the large hole in the middle.

They hole was at least 20 feet in radius, and extended through the building's ruin into the ground. Shapes moved inside the hole, though Jaune couldn't tell for sure, even through the night vision goggles. Raven's mask had a similar arrangement as Jaune's goggles, though it wasn't as good as his.

"How many do you think are down there?" Jaune asked, trying to identify any of the shapes by size.

"No idea. Didn't manage to go in that close. You ready?" Raven put a hand on her sword.

Jaune just sighed and hefted one of his sonic bombs, this time on a timer.

"Ready." He pulled the pin and tossed it in, followed by a couple flares and smoke bombs.

He followed their arc downwards and closed his eyes, bracing himself. The bombs detonated, bathing the entire area in a blazing white light and shaking them to their bones. Jaune opened his eyes to see Raven leap off into the abyss, sword flashing in the afterglow of the flash grenades.

She seemed to move in slow motion, her sword glowing red, arcing through the air, falling through a portal as her sword darted forwards. She disappeared for a second and then reappeared through the portal once more, sheathing her sword and rotating a dial.

Jaune noticed the lack of a blade before the sheathing and noticed that the rotation seemed to be occurring throughout the sheath.

Dust blades? Interesting…

He didn't have any more time to think as the rock he had been standing on exploded outwards, hurling him through the air. He latched onto a broken girder and swung around, landing on it.

He looked around to see what had caused the explosion…and there.

Oh wonderful, Thermites. Just wonderful.

Thermites were small, highly explosive suicidal Grimm that ran at fortified positions to try and destroy them. The only Grimm that could send them out were Behemoths and Goliaths. And there were no Behemoths here.

WHY? WHY ME?

He activated a scorch crystal, shooting the flames forward at where he could see the Thermites were running around. Raven was nowhere to be seen, and Jaune assumed she had gone down again. He leaped forwards, straight out over the abyss.

He activated his Gravity Boots, letting himself fly high above the abyss. He charged his railgun as he reached the peak of his flight and fired the explosive payload into the abyss at a particularly active area of shadows.

Flames blossomed around the bodies of Beowolves and Ursa as they were thrown from the explosion. The flames provided enough illumination for Jaune to see the coiling mass of a Basilisk and Raven as she slashed at the beast, leaping over its body and under its strikes, not one attack touching her.

She's really good.

Jaune deactivated his Gravity Dust and fell towards the ground forty feet below him. He braced himself for the impact, and felt his aura drop slightly as he hit the ground. Slashing his sword around as he rose from the impact, he felt the blade pass through flesh.

A beowolf shrieked, the sound illuminating the area as his sonar sensor picked up on the reflected sound, green lines highlighting edges and enemies. He kept swinging, using the element of surprise to dispatch 6 beowolves with ease. An Ursa roared, making his view clear again.

He turned towards the charging creature and dropped to the ground, rolling under the attack and stabbing into the soft flesh of its chest. It grunted in surprise as it felt the cold metal in its chest. Its momentum carried it off the blade and Jaune leaped backwards, feeling a Beowolf's claws pass right by him.

He pulled out a water crystal from his belt and poured aura in, flooding the area with water. He leaped into the air as water sloshed under him, activating an Ice Crystal. The area in a ten-foot radius froze and Jaune landed on the ice, trying to not slip. As soon as he got his balance, he felt a powerful something smack into his back and send him flying across the area and slam into the wall that was mere feet from him.

His Barrier Dust absorbed most of the impact and he rolled out of the way after he landed on the ground, seeing a fang embedded in the dirt, connected to a large black head.

1v1? Challenge accepted scrub.

Jaune somersaulted backwards, only a handful of Grimm remaining in the area. The rest of the survivors of his and Raven's attack had fled down the tunnels dotting the area, leaving the biggest and bravest of their group behind.

Jaune kept leaping backwards, avoiding the Basilisk's strikes, each one missing him by inches. Left, right, left, up, roll, down, dodge, roll back, jump off fang to the side, throw ice, narrow miss again. This dance continued for a bit while Jaune tried to figure out how he intended to even damage the beast.

Finally seeing a chance, he used the fang as a step to leap onto the beast's head, stabbing his sword into the thick hide. He quickly loaded his railgun and charged, hanging on for dear life as the Basilisk tried to shake him off.

He barely felt the click through the vibrations emitted by the Grimm. He pulled the trigger, the penetrating round embedding itself inside the beast's head. The Basilisk roared and smashed its head against the sides of the cavern. The recoil had dislodged his sword and he pulled it out right before being crushed against the rock.

The mass of the basilisk's thrashing body smashed down on him over and over again and he could feel his aura slipping away like water through a sieve.

80%. 75. 70. 65. 60. 55. 50. The aura meter on the HUD slowly counted down. 45. 40.

His aura had reached 25% when he felt the battering stop and the Basilisk retreat under a deafening clanging of metal against the Basilisk's hide. Jaune groggily tried to bring the rest of the world past his hands into focus and saw Raven slashing at the Basilisk with a flaming blade.

Each cut made its mark on the Basilisk, though it wasn't enough to damage it fully. He looked for the other basilisk and saw it struggling to move in a dark corner of the cavern, a large ice spike driven through its eye.

What a weapon that sword is. She must either be really good at using Dust or have some good stuff on hand. Need to ask her once I'm out of here.

She whirled through the air, delivering slash upon slash to the Basilisk's head, making it reel backwards. Jaune stumbled to his feet, clutching his chest as he felt the pain from the battering catch up to him. He doubled over and almost retched as the pain overwhelmed his senses.

His chest felt as if it was filling with liquid fire, his breath was shallow, and each heartbeat was a stab through his chest. His ribs grated against each other with the smallest movement and Jaune noticed his aura dip trying to heal him.

15% aura remaining.

Well this is it for this body. I won't be able to let it heal fully with this level of aura, and natural healing won't leave the body functioning at its full. It had a good run though.

Jaune ignored the pain and waved his arms trying to get Raven's attention. She didn't seem to pay attention.

"RAVEN! PORTAL OUT! I'M GONNA BRING THIS PLACE DOWN!" Jaune yelled, the pain almost overpowering him. To his relief, Raven seemed to hear him, delivering one final burning slash before falling into a portal and disappearing.

The basilisk turned his head to look at the last remaining enemy in the room and slithered closer, hissing from the pain. Emboldened by the Basilisk's approach, the other Grimm edged closer to Jaune, surrounding him.

Jaune dropped his sword at his feet and dropped the sheath on it. A beowolf stepped closer and Jaune threw a Scorch crystal at it, slightly singing the beowolf. Jaune threw the rest of his Scorch and Shock crystals at the Grimm, activating them just enough to keep them at bay. The Basilisk stayed back, regarding the human in front of it.

Jaune pulled every single explosive he had from his pouches, hooking them up to him to detonate all at the same time. These explosives, combined with the aura he would flood into his Energy Crystals would be enough to cave in the network of tunnels within 100 feet of him and if he was lucky, enough to destabilize the building enough for it to fall onto them all.

The Basilisk finally decided to make a move and hissed, drawing Jaune's eye. Its eyes were open and they felt like they were boring into his soul, burning him from the inside.

He struggled to look away and managed to succeed, only to feel actual searing heat inside of him. His mind exploded in a kaleidoscope of colors as he felt his blood start boiling. His aura had given up on being defensive and was working all out as damage repair.

Jaune felt his consciousness leaving him. Finding one last surge of strength through the excruciating pain, he looked up at the Basilisk, feeling his actual body way out in the distance.

"Hasta la vista, baby."

Jaune pulled the detonator, slipping out of the body as blinding light and roaring sound filled the cavern.

Jaune Arc

Beacon Academy

The following morning

"Did you guys hear about that large explosion up in Mountain Glenn last night?"

Both teams were sitting at their usual table in the cafeteria having breakfast.

Jaune finished his bite of pancake. "Thought no one went up there anymore. What could've caused it?"

Blake shook her head as everyone else leaned in to listen. "I don't know. The initial reports say that the Hunters posted on duty there first heard explosions coming from a collapsed Maynard Industries building in the city. They went out to investigate, but that's when a large explosion ripped through the building and collapsed it into the ground. I read about it on the early morning news."

Yang spoke up. "So was anyone seen around? Explosions of that size don't set themselves off you know."

Weiss answered before Blake could. "There was no one seen by the Hunters. But there was one other thing…"

Everyone leaned in further.

"The hunters there have cameras and motion detectors set up at certain points in the city, and while no one was caught on camera, the motion detectors detected two people walking towards the building, but none of them walking back out. Maybe they got caught in their own explosion?"

Everyone digested this. Could they have been hunters? White Fang? Atlas military? Whoever it was, they seemed to have died in the explosion.

Jaune almost heaved a sigh of relief. If everyone thought that the explosion killed whoever started it, the less likely they would want to investigate it, and the less likely it was to lead back to him.

Headmaster Ozpin

Beacon Academy

2 days later

"What is the report on the explosion?" Ozpin demanded.

The man on the computer screen blinked and prepared his notes.

"Well, our initial readings showed large scale structural damage to the surrounding areas, as though a large bomb went off. Due to the size of the explosion and its relative proximity to the subway lines, we had commenced digging in the area to look for clues. We found one today."

The man held up a broken, mangled, charred looking piece of metal before Ozpin.

He looked at the metal, examining it. There was something slightly familiar about the piece, though he couldn't place it.

"Interesting. Please have it sent here for examination. That will be all."


Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!