Started my volunteer position recently. Have only done a few shifts so far, but it's definitely interesting stuff, eye-opening in a way too. Now, my intention is to do my volunteer shifts on my days off – which are the primarily the days that I spend writing on. Now, this isn't going to affect the rate at which the chapters come out since my shifts are only a few hours long and I get to pick in advance when I want to start my shifts.
What will affect the release of future chapters, however, is my next novel. As I believe I've stated once before, my novel is going to be part of a short series and my intention is to soon start the 2nd part of the series. My intention is to start the 2nd novel after this chapter, but as I'm still thinking of how exactly to start it, I might hold it off until later. Don't know yet, still thinking.
In any case, when I do start working on my novel, I will be alternating writing a chapter for it and this fic like I used to do. What this means is that future chapters for this fic will be released possibly a week or two later than usual, but of course, that'll depend on plenty of other factors.
Just wanted to let you guys know in advance in case I do start my next novel as planned right after this chapter is completed.
Now, other than that, glad you all liked the last chapter! And yeah, things will definitely be changing in response to the events detailed in it.
Hope you will all like how things will progress from here on out!
Chapter 18
A few days go by in what feels like the blink of the eyes for most of the public, following what had been the all too shocking news of Roman Torchwick having fired missiles at a residential area, only to thankfully be thwarted in this endeavor… followed by the equally unexpected loss of his life.
To say that the public was awhirl was honestly a bit of an understatement. While Roman Torchwick was certainly a no-good scumbag, his criminal activities were things that the public had learned to sort of just roll with due to just how often he'd been able to escape the authorities. Plus, well, at the end of it all, he'd merely been a punk-ass thief in the eyes of most people, those that only really bothered listening to whatever the news reported.
So, to learn an otherwise small-time thief had attempted an act of terrorism only to end up dead was definitely a break from what had been considered the norm and it had resulted in a lot of people being put on edge now. After all, if Roman Torchwick could seemingly and so suddenly switch from his usual criminals acts to something of that scale, then what else could possibly happen now?
Such was the line of thinking the public seemed to have and many were now practically eager to talk and discuss whatever crazy conspiracy theories they've thought up.
Really now, Cinder thought, it was enough to almost make her retch from sheer annoyance.
Alas, these past few days have been just as quick for her, if only due to having to once again been forced to adjust her plans. Unlike before, however, where things had been fairly minor, this sudden shift in her plans was much more significant.
For as much as she'd liked to look down on Roman and his pathetic smalltime ways, he'd been a relatively necessary component in her immediate plans. After all, he'd been intended to lead the efforts at Mount Glenn as well as the execution of the train being rammed through Vale's walls, something that was by no means a small task. That hadn't even been getting into what was supposed to come after that.
But now, with his sudden death, she was short on manpower and with such a sudden void being left within her ranks, she'd been left with no choice but to take over for Roman's former job for the time being, that being the leading of the White Fang's forces.
Threatening them into submission had been more than easy enough, but that had been the only easy thing she's done these past few days. Thanks to the botched docks operation and Roman being killed well before he could continue his Dust thefts, they were now drastically short on Dust and the White Fang she currently had at her command weren't too keen on continuing the thefts out of fear they'd end up like the now deceased thief.
Furthermore…
"Neo," Cinder began in an even tone, trying not to let her annoyance through. As tempted as she was to just use what portion of the Fall Maiden power she had to try and intimidate the silent criminal to do her bidding, she knew better than to do so. The short woman had been positively unresponsive the past few days, what with having lost someone so precious to her. Oh, and lost her hand too, there was that as well.
"Neo," she repeated, speaking to the woman whom she was currently standing in front of. Said woman had stayed cooped up in her little room here after having been given first aid for her severed hand, whilst holding Roman's newly re-forged cane, Melodic Cudgel, which had been finished and delivered here not so long after he'd died. The diminutive woman had absolutely refused to part with the weapon upon seeing it.
Cinder sighed. This wasn't something she wanted to do, but she was really the only competent one who could try right now.
"Neo, look at me," she said, now more forcefully. "…I don't know what exactly your relationship with Roman was… but he's dead now."
That finally got a response out of the woman, who now bothered to even look at her. Her heterochronic eyes were red around the irises, very much so. She's been crying a lot, it seemed. The woman glared at her, bitterness and pure rage swirling within those eyes of hers.
"I won't pretend to be sympathetic," Cinder continued, utterly undeterred. "…I know you don't like me one bit, never have and never will. The feeling is beginning to feel mutual. But that said, I'm here to ask you for something-."
Before she could even fully finish speaking, Neo was already angrily shaking her head, making her feelings clear.
Cinder suppressed another sigh with extreme effort. "Let me finish first. I know you couldn't care less about my plans and it's obvious you're too angry now to care much for what I could to do you right now. But, I want you to realize something here – the person you're truly angry at, the one who killed Roman, is the very same person I now want dealt with. Do you understand that? This Jaune person is now very much in my way, just as much as he is the person you now undoubtedly hate. Our reasons may obviously differ… but I want him removed from the equation just as much as you do."
Neo's glare didn't soften in the slightest, but Cinder could now see just the smallest flicker of genuine understanding in the woman's expression.
"I won't ask or demand you to take Roman's place," she now said, speaking just a bit more softly. "I know very well that he was the brains behind your operations. However, I do ask that you serve as a guard for the train."
Neo's glare now was replaced by a look of mild confusion. She then made several fast and wild gestures with her sole hand, not once letting go of the cane as she did so.
Cinder had to wait a second afterwards to try and process what Neo was trying to say. And while she couldn't fully grasp exactly what the mute woman had just 'said,' she was able to get the general gist. "As tempted as I'm sure you are to try hunting down Jaune, do keep in mind he's a Beacon student. Getting to him won't be easy and while I'm sure you'd relish the challenge, do you truly think you'll be able to get to him while at that damned academy?"
She now patiently watched as Neo grinded her teeth. The small woman was certainly a skilled fighter and with a dangerous semblance to boot, but was she good enough to sneak into Beacon of all places and take down her target fast enough to avoid having anyone interfere and rob her of her revenge? The answer to that was an obvious 'no.' And Neo knew that too.
"Don't worry so much," Cinder said as she grimaced. "It's quite clear that this Jaune and his friends have a penchant for interfering… and I can't help but feel that at this rate, they may somehow find the train. And should it somehow come to that, well, it'll likely only be him and his friends… and between you and all the other White Fang under my command, surely dealing with them all wouldn't be so impossible at that point."
Neo now shifted in her spot and slowly twirled the new Melodic Cudgel in a manner very similar to how Roman used to do. It was clear she was trying to envision what Cinder was proposing… and as she clearly and oh so desperately imagined it playing it, a truly vicious and feral sneer now appeared on the woman's face.
But even then, Neo looked up at her with inquisitive eyes.
This time, Cinder didn't bother holding back a sigh. "If a much earlier opportunity presents itself to take him out, then I shall inform you of it. Do keep in mind what I'd just said – I want him removed just as much as you do, so do try to avoid jumping into things on your own. I want him dead and I will no longer be taking any more big risks. Understood?"
Neo took a minute to do so, but she eventually nodded.
Satisfied with this, Cinder bid her a curt goodbye and left her be.
As she exited the room, she spotted Mercury and Emerald waiting close by, the two looking at her with uncertain eyes. Much like with her, recent events have rattled them. Unlike her, however, they were doing a truly piss-poor job at dealing with everything going on.
Sometimes, it truly was a pain to have subordinates that were only good at very certain things.
"What's the plan now, ma'am?" asked a hesitant Emerald, who took note of what must be a rather angry expression.
"For now, leave me be," Cinder responded in a clipped tone, making her and Mercury flinch a bit. "Once I figure things out, I'll let you both know what to do next. Until then, do as you please. Just don't somehow end up like Roman."
The two quickly nodded and left her be.
As soon as they did, Cinder leaned against the nearest wall and massaged her temple. This was close to a sign of weakness as she'll ever allow herself to show, and even then only to herself.
Back when she'd first started coming up with all this, she'd thought it perfect, a scheme worthy of admiration. But now, ever since coming to Vale, things have quickly fallen apart.
Adapting to the fallout of the failed docks operation hadn't been too big a hassle now in hindsight, but this? This was much different. Roman was to serve as her proxy in controlling and directing the White Fang grunts they received while she concentrated on infiltrating Beacon and eventually finding Amber.
However, thanks to Emerald and Mercury first failing to assassinate Tukson via being foiled by a Beacon student, infiltrating as students like she'd initially planned was no longer a possibility. That in turn had required her to contact Watts to figure out another way of infecting the CCT and while she did have confidence in that bastard's inventiveness, she's now lost her one way of being able to safely search for Amber within Beacon.
And now with Roman dead, whatever alternatives she could've come up with to this initial problem went up completely in smoke. Neither Mercury nor Emerald could be relied on to lead the White Fang in properly carrying out Roman's intended role and the same went for Neo. She supposed she could call up Adam Taurus himself and get him to come, for he'd always been intended to lead the attack on Beacon anyways to stir up chaos, but while she did have him currently cowed thanks to her power as a partial Maiden, summoning him to Vale this early on in her plan ran the risk of that stubborn fool trying to usurp her plans. Just because he'd acquiesced to her demands the first time they'd met after obtaining part of the Fall Maiden's power didn't mean he likely hadn't been thinking ways of kill her since then. Putting him in charge of the White Fang cell here in Vale with her so nearby wasn't a good combination.
And she utterly refused to call any of her fellow 'comrades' for assistance. Calling Watts had been humiliating enough to do, even if it had been necessary. Asking Salem to send Tyrian here to support her would be just downright stupid – that damned Faunus was too much of a wild card, even with how devoted he is to their master. As for Hazel, she wasn't so sure. She knew him to be powerful, but out of them all, he was surprisingly the most enigmatic one and was a serious lone wolf. He wouldn't bother assisting unless directly commanded to do so by Salem herself.
Put much more simply, it'd be up to her to lead the White Fang cell here… but that was only if she was still determined in carrying out the intended breach.
And it was on that note now that she found herself genuinely hesitating. With just two or three incidents, much has changed for her plans, far too much, she now began to truly realize. In fact, it was only really now that she had this moment to herself that she realized just how impractical many aspects of her plans now were.
Her goal had been to use the upcoming Vytal Festival as a platform to spread chaos and fear across all of Vale and Remnant, all whilst using it as a cover to obtain the rest of the Fall Maiden. To that end, she'd intended to cause a breach in Vale's defenses to first sow the seeds of negativity that would then be capitalized on during the festival itself. The train was necessary for this, but without the proper amount of Dust, it wouldn't be enough to breach the walls. And unless she could infect the CCT and take control of Atlas' robot forces, whatever Grimm could be smuggled into the city would be quickly suppressed and she'd lose her one window of opportunity to locate Amber.
Her grand plan of bringing down both Beacon academy and Vale in addition to becoming a proper Maiden was now shot to hell… but only if she persisted on accomplishing both goals.
If she instead focused on just one goal, then perhaps she could still pull it off. And of course, it went without saying which of these two goals she was going to prioritize.
The Fall Maiden power was rightfully hers now. It wouldn't do to keep holding off on obtaining it.
And so, as her doubts disappeared, Cinder stood upright once more, almost feeling renewed in a sense.
She knew now what she wanted to do. Now it was time to start making the proper preparations.
And this time… this time, no one was going to ruin her plans.
Ozpin cared deeply for all of his comrades. He truly did.
That said, as he looked out his window and saw a truly ridiculous number of ships flying pretty much right over Beacon, he was feeling more than a little tempted to smack dear James right upside the head.
Alas, the man was the general of Atlas' military. Doing so would only get him in a lot of hot water among any who would witness such a thing.
So, instead as said general entered his office and approached him with a warm smile on his face, Ozpin could only do the same.
"James," he started. "A pleasure as always to see you, old friend."
"Likewise, Oz, likewise," came the deep voiced reply from the man, who shook his outstretched hand.
"If only our little reunion came without a show," came the rather clipped voice of Glynda, who'd accompanied James on his way up.
James's smile turned to a frown as he glanced at Glynda. "Glynda, please, surely you could understand why-."
"Why you chose to practically bring your entire available fleet here to Vale?" she finished for him rather rhetorically. She pushed her glasses up. "Yes, I do. That doesn't make it acceptable, however."
With James' attention off him for the second, Ozpin smirked a bit in agreement. His deputy headmistress never had been one to hold her tongue.
James allowed himself a slight huff of annoyance. "But can you really blame me? After all, I've kept up with recent events here in Vale. Needless to say, the citizens aren't going to just roll with all this without a care – security needs to be drastically amped up, especially with the Vytal Festival still drawing close."
"Even so," Ozpin now interjected before Glynda could get too mouthy. "You have to understand James that there are things such as overkill. Bringing so many ships and personnel will only make the public paranoid about what exactly we're apparently going to go up against. Surely, as general, you can understand there's always limits to what must be done."
James' frown deepened as he mulled over his words. "And while I do agree with you both, you can tell that these past few incidents have been significantly greater than previous ones. If or when another incident occurs, how can we be sure it won't be just as bad if not even much worse than what had happened just a few days ago?"
Now it was Ozpin's turn to frown. Sadly, James had a point. The docks incident had been one thing, but then the obvious assassination attempt on Tukson had been far too convenient a thing to occur not so long after the aforementioned incident. And now with the most recent event being talked about in the news…
Hmm, James' point may be much more substantial, after all.
Alas, as headmaster of Beacon and longtime proponent of humanity as a whole, he couldn't afford to just go in guns blazing. He's learned the hard way many times that escalating things first will always inevitable lead to the opposition escalating their own actions just as quickly and with even more ferocity.
"For now, let's put our arguments to the side," he now said in a neutral tone. "You've arrived earlier than planned, James. I take it that it's to do with not just the Vytal Festival and your own moral obligations?"
James nodded as he now took a seat across from Ozpin's desk. Ozpin himself took a seat in his own chair while Glynda pulled up another chair to join them.
The three of them were mentally preparing themselves for what may very well be a lengthy conversation.
"As I'm sure you both know by now, a prototype of our new paladin had somehow fallen into the hands of the White Fang," James began, his gaze hardening to the point where the 'iron' part of his surname was now quite literal. "Naturally, there's no way I could just sit around and stare slack-jawed over such an impossibility."
"I take it you plan to investigate here in Vale?" Glynda spoke with a raised eyebrow. "And how would that be productive? Wouldn't it have been better to start back in Atlas?"
"As soon as I'd received the police report courtesy of your own contacts in the department, Oz, the very first thing I did was have those that had remained in Atlas start digging into what had happened. So far, they hadn't turned up much in the ways of actual evidence, but clearly something had gone… awry." James grunted now, his anger obvious.
"…What exactly did your men did or didn't find?" Glynda pressed.
The Atlas general turned to her slightly in his seat. "Apparently, the facility where production of the paladins takes place at had been transporting some of the prototypes to another facility of ours to be safely tested out – only for the transport that had been moving our latest prototype at the time to go missing."
Ozpin's eyes narrowed. "How did that happen?" He was referring not to how the paladin was stolen – people, when pressed, can come up with truly outlandish ways to accomplish whatever they set their minds to. Figuring out how the White Fang took the paladin would be helpful for possible future attempts, but right now the more important thing would be finding out how it'd taken this long James to hear of this in the first place.
"Our transports nowadays aren't operated by actual people," James began. "Rather, it's driven by autopilot. So, I can see that being interfered with in some form. However, whenever a transport leaves any of our facilities, our systems naturally log the move and calculate how long it should take for a transport to reach its intended destination. When it didn't arrive at the testing facility at its calculated time, emails had been sent to us… except we never received these emails." James' expression was more than a little grim. "Not only that, but these emails, clearly intercepted, were then somehow answered by someone else who was able to perfectly mimic everything that made it look official, saying that they'd look into it."
"…And so, the staff at your testing facility, not knowing any better, were placated and went back to their usual business," Glynda finished, her eyes wide. "A hacker… but how? Aren't your systems up to date, James?"
The general nodded stiffly. "All the time, Glynda. And whenever there is an update, there's always extensive checks done by our programmers to make sure any and all bugs the update has are sorted out or otherwise monitored. Whoever this hacker is, they're terrifyingly skilled and with considerable resources."
Ozpin fiddled with the hilt of his cane as he took this all in. "And so far, have you found anything about the hack?"
James shook his head. "Nothing yet. Like I just said, this hacker was very good at what they did. I've tasked an entire force of our own programmers to figure it out, but there won't be any answers for a while. In the meantime, all I can do is try to investigate things on this side. I've already dispatched Winter Schnee and her team to link up with the police that had arrived at the scene of the battle and will go from there once they've obtained whatever evidence had been collected."
"The White Fang, while formidable, has never had this kind of technical expertise before," Glynda started, looking to Ozpin now. Her normally stern features were now tinged with worry. "Do you think this isn't actually them?"
Ozpin grimaced. "Most likely, yes. Over the years, the White Fang has certainly grown in power and resources, but a hack of this level is certainly beyond them. Someone had lent them aid, for one reason or another."
James tensed. "Could it be the Queen somehow?"
"Possibly," Ozpin answered, now worried. Salem has always made it a point to get the most useful pawns possible over the centuries. He never quite figured out how she went about 'recruiting' her agents, but she'd always been able to successfully execute a myriad of strategies in her attempts to obtain the Relics and counter his own forces.
And in this day and age, where technology was ever advancing and rapidly, someone with such technical capabilities certainly wouldn't be out of the question for her to bring into her own circle.
That he hadn't considered such a possibility until now was something that made Ozpin almost want to berate himself, but lifetimes' worth of experience kept him from acting on his self-beration.
He was able to ease his worries almost immediately, however; if someone was attempting to get to Amber via hacking of all things then there wasn't really anything such a person could do from outside of Beacon. There was absolutely no paper or electronic trail of the injured Fall Maiden and the equipment and technology currently being used to keep her alive and monitor her ran on its own system. If someone wanted to try hacking it, they'd have to physically plug into the system.
Still, this didn't mean he could be lax anymore.
"Alright James," Ozpin said. "Perhaps you were right to bring in your fleet after all. We could certainly use all the help we can get now."
Indeed, with the variety of incidents going on, the headmaster of Beacon now began to suspect the possibility of an attack on either Vale itself or Beacon in particular. And not some small attack force utilizing guerilla tactics – no, he now began to fear a true full-scale attack.
His words caused James to perk up while Glynda visibly deflated, though she did seem a little more understanding too. "What are you planning, Oz?" James asked eagerly.
"As of right now, nothing in particular," he admitted. "While we now know much more than before, it's still not enough for us to definitively act on. If we commit ourselves too strongly to one course of action, we'll just risk spreading ourselves thin. For now, I'll support your specialists' investigations in whatever way I can. In the meantime, perhaps you could start moving your men around to protect the academy and as much of Vale as you can."
Glynda looked alarmed. "Ozpin, you don't mean to enact martial law, do you?!" Even James seemed surprised.
Ozpin quickly shook his head. "No, never. To do that would only worry the public and that would in turn start attracting the Grimm to our walls. That can't be allowed. We'll have to come up with something to tell the press – some good PR that will placate people and the council somewhat. Just make it look as if you're simply setting up earlier than usual to prepare for the Vytal Festival. In the meantime, try and have some of your forces work in plainclothes and patrol the city. We need to start being much more active now, but we also can't afford to tip our hand too obviously to whomever is out there."
James now hummed. "You mean to try suppressing future incidents before they can fully get out of hand. That's surprisingly bold of you, Oz… but alright, it's not like we have many options here."
It wasn't the most humane thing to do, to secretly police the kingdom like this, but things were so rarely black and white, Ozpin bitterly thought.
"Given that it's primarily been the White Fang and previously Torchwick behind these incidents," Glynda began as she folded her arms over her chest. "Do you believe eventually thwarting their cell will halt the Queen's plans?"
Ozpin shook his head. "I doubt it. While it's not inconceivable that she'd somehow gained a foothold in the White Fang, she has too strong a preference for using only a handful of agents to accomplish any one thing. At most, only one or two of her actual agents, whoever they may be, are the ones somehow behind these recent incidents. Stopping the White Fang would certainly make a noticeable difference, but until whoever the Queen had sent here to Vale is stopped, we should expect the White Fang cell to be nothing more than just a very large distraction."
"Still, taking down the current White Fang cell should disrupt whatever plans these agents have," James said. "Even if doing so will only inconvenience them a little, that would still be something we could use to our advantage…. And speaking on a somewhat related note…"
Ozpin and Glynda looked at the Atlas general in confusion.
"From what I've heard, it was two teams of first years had been involved in this incident – one team to deal with the fired missiles while the other dealt with the stolen prototype. Specifically, just one member of the team," James began, eyes twinkling with interest.
Ozpin sighed. He should have expected as much. After all, it was kind of hard to leave out how the paladin and subsequently the missiles fired were dealt with.
The only good thing was that he'd been able to leave out teams RWBY and JNPR's names. As far as the public knew, it was just two Beacon teams that had dealt with the situation, with the fact the teams were first-years only being mentioned within the police report itself.
And though team JNPR, when interviewed by the police and Glynda herself had said they'd taken down the paladin by working together, it had been obvious to any trained eye that looked upon the ruined paladin that that was a lie – it was obvious only one type of weapon had been used to primarily take down the paladin and Torchwick himself.
And three members of the four-man team had weapons that simply didn't match the evidence.
All of these details were jotted down in both the police report and in the personal report that Glynda had written up in the immediate aftermath of that day.
"Yes, that's correct, James. I take it you wish to know the names of those involved?" Ozpin did his best to not drawl out the words.
"Considering how much time and money went into making the paladins and how tough even the prototype had been reported to be by my R&D team, yes," James responded. "Whoever this person is, Oz, could be a very valuable asset."
At those words, Ozpin inwardly bristled but was unable to chastise his friend. After all, much to his own shame, he acted the same way, a sad result of his millennia long war against Salem.
That said, if it can be avoided, he would do his best to keep his students out of his schemes.
"James," Ozpin began. "As much as I understand what you may now be intending-."
"Oz, please," the general interrupted. "I know what you're thinking and I'm in agreement. Truly, I am. But a first-year trainee of all people possessing power great enough to take down a paladin isn't something that can be so easily dismissed! I'm not suggesting we pit this individual directly against the Queen and her own forces, but at the very least, they'd be able to help in protecting the Maidens!"
"Which is still the same thing," Glynda responded in Ozpin's stead, with a fierce glare. As stern a person she may be, she still cared greatly for all her students, no matter how much trouble they may cause. "The Queen and her forces are the only ones aside from us that know of the Maidens' existence. To use one of our students as a defense would be to pit them eventually against her forces. And now matter how impressive their power may certainly be, if power alone was all it took to successfully push back the Queen's forces, then we wouldn't be worrying about the Maiden's in the first place."
Indeed, the magic he had once granted those four dear women was certainly powerful, much more powerful than most things currently in existence. This hasn't stopped the Queen from amassing her own forces, all of whom were more than dangerous in their own ways, Ozpin thought. Just how many times have the Maidens been slain over the years in a vain attempt by others to gain their power? Even he's lost count, really.
Glynda made a good point… but sadly so did James.
It was important to never lose sight of what they were fighting for and of their own principles. However, if abiding by their codes of ethics and morality was all it took to win this seeming forever war, then Salem would've been defeated long ago.
His conscience and the greater good… both were in a very precarious balance. Focus too much on the former and the latter suffers. Do everything in the name of the latter and ignore the former, however, and he might as well be no different from Salem.
Thinking it over as Glynda and James began arguing, Ozpin eventually sighed and held up a hand, signaling for them to stop. "Let's compromise – I can't and won't just tell you the name of my student, much less approve of whatever exact plan you have in mind… yet." His stern gaze kept both of his allies from interrupting him. "I understand the significance here about the student's strength. Indeed, it's something I've been interested in too. So, this is what I propose – after the upcoming dance, the first years will be given their first missions. I will give the student and the rest of their team an appropriate mission to further test their strength whilst working towards a desirable goal. Depending on how things go from there will decide how we proceed regarding the student. Is that acceptable for now, James?"
The general nodded. "I'll take what I get," he answered. "Remember, old friend, I'm not doing this because I want per say… but in this hidden war of ours, we can't afford to be holding things too close to the vest."
"I'm well aware," Ozpin said tiredly.
His centuries, even millennia long fatigue must have shown through his expression, for James blinked a bit in surprise and proceeded to suddenly stand up. "…I'll take my leave. Have some paperwork to sort through before I can call it a day. Oz, Glynda, I'll see you both soon."
He then excused himself from the room before either of them could bid him a proper goodbye.
And approximately a few seconds after James left, Glynda rounded on Ozpin whilst remaining seated. "Ozpin, do you truly intend to put team JNPR through some insane mission?!" she hissed.
As dedicated as she is to combatting Salem alongside him and the others, she'd always been vehemently opposed to decisions that put the students at much unneeded risk.
Were there far better ways that previous situations could've been handled? Are there numerous other and better options that he could've picked from just now? Of course, always.
Alas, just because he has thousands of years of experience doing this didn't make him omniscient. It didn't mean he was always going to be able to make the right choice for every situation. A seemingly eternal existence didn't always bring with it knowledge or wisdom. If anything, it simply brought more and more stress and doubts.
It was so terribly easy to fall into a certain frame of mind and just stay there. It's something he's taken care to avoid doing, but it wasn't as if he had any frame of reference for his own situation so that he could avoid this issue.
All he could do was just remember why he was doing all this and do his best to balance it out against reality, a task that was far easier said than done.
"If I could spare them this, I would do so in a heartbeat, Glynda," he eventually answered. "But as you and I now well know, Mr. Arc's strength is certainly abnormal. We can only scarcely imagine why this is the case, but with our options dwindling, we must seek new allies to bring into the fold as needed. And sadly, I can't just go bringing only Mr. Arc into this without tipping him and his teammates off so early. Even in light of recent events, we have to make sure they're as ready as could be before we even think of proceeding any further with this."
"Even so…" Glynda began, only to trail off. She sighed tiredly. "It's bad enough you accepted Ms. Rose two whole years early just because of her silver eyes, you know."
"I know…"
He closed his eyes and massaged his temple with the fingers of his free hand. Indeed, how horrible it was to even think of using teens to potentially accomplish their goal of stopping Salem. But as he so vividly remembered from so long ago thanks to Jinn, he himself couldn't kill Salem… and at this point, only death was capable of stopping the woman from carrying out her crusade.
"…I'll be taking my own leave now," Glynda said as she stood up and brushed down the wrinkles of her skirt. She looked back at him with a strained look. "Now more than ever, I hope you know what you're doing."
"I hope so too…" he mumbled to himself as his deputy headmistress took her leave.
Leaving him alone with only his thoughts to keep him company.
Jaune sat there at the desk within the library. But rather than focus on the homework that was laid out directly before him, he instead focused on the others sitting around him.
Despite the events that had occurred only a few days ago, things had carried on as they normally do…. But only after he'd sat down team RWBY and told them of what exactly had transpired on his side of things during that day.
Naturally, this had included his defeat of the paladin as well as him killing Roman.
He'd anticipated reactions similar to his own team's. But to his surprise, reactions had been rather mixed coming from the all-girl team.
Ruby had been shocked, even horrified and had been in something of a funk since then, looking at him with almost curious eyes. However, there was no disgust or anger within her. In a way, her reaction felt like a much tamer version of Pyrrha's.
Weiss had been just as shocked to hear of what had happened, but at the time she'd schooled her expression into a small grimace and had remarked that it had had to be done. But it was clear that the fact Roman had died and at his hands no less was weighing on her mind even now. If he had to hazard a guess, it seemed to him that the heiress had been so focused on preparing just to even attend Beacon that it never really seemed to fully cross her mind the things that would be required of her should she become a huntress.
Blake's reaction had been the tamest of all his friends, having simply been in the form of a solemn but resolute nod when he'd first told her of what had happened. Her checkered past as a former member of the White Fang had inoculated her somewhat to the act of killing and so she'd perfectly understood. Indeed, she now seemed to often shoot him sympathetic glances, a sign of how much they now seemed to have in common.
And as for Yang, the blonde brawler had been the most extreme, though not in any way he'd initially been expecting. She'd recoiled as if slapped harshly and ever since then had been in a funk, much like her younger sister. The usual thrill-seeking nature she had was now very much subdued. Jaune would dare say she's become more introspective over the past few days, thoughtful even… not that she was never thoughtful before or anything.
All in all, team RWBY's reactions to the news was much tamer than his own teams,' but obviously it still hadn't quite been something that they were just completely comfortable with.
In any case, he was just thankful that he could still claim to have friends after what had happened. Of course, that didn't mean that everything was all hunky-dory now – even now, when both teams were supposed to be catching up on some homework for this week, just about all of them seemed distracted, including himself.
Jaune imagined it was more than just the events of a few days ago that was on their mind – surely, there was more gnawing at their minds, though he could only scarcely imagine what.
He, for one, certainly had a lot on his mind. Roman's death wasn't weighing too heavily on him – sadly, the now deceased thief wasn't the first he's had to kill… nor was it likely Roman would be the last – but what primarily occupied his thoughts was what would happen next with the White Fang.
He was under the assumption that Roman had been the main brain behind the Dust thefts the White Fang had been committing. So, now with the thief no longer in the picture, he had to question if this meant the Dust thefts would end too. Under other circumstances, he would think so, but something about that mute woman he'd gone up against strongly hinted at her having been directly affiliated with Roman, unlike the White Fang. With that in mind, would this woman perhaps try to continue the Dust thefts in Roman's place or would something else occur?
Moreover… would she attempt to seek revenge? If so, well, she wouldn't be the first one to do so. But would she be gunning directly for him? Or would she try going after his friends? The latter obviously worried him. Though certainly skilled and strong, his friends still weren't quite at the level needed to successfully repel the mute woman, assuming it was a one-on-one fight. But then again, having cut off her hand, perhaps the odds would be in their favor.
Of course, this was just nothing more than a mere thought, a 'what-if' that he prayed wouldn't come to pass but he knew better thanks to his years of experience.
He ran a hand across the sole scar on his face, tracing it slowly as memories of that day resurfaced.
…It was always so easy to think of 'what-ifs,' he thought. Far too easy. He really needed to stop that.
"Jaune? Are you okay?" Pyrrha suddenly asked, rousing him from his thoughts.
"Yeah," he answered, moving his hand away from his scar in as natural a movement as he could manage. "Just trying to adjust to… well… everyday life again, I guess." He tried to smile sheepishly but wasn't sure he was pulling it off very well if the looks on his friends' faces were anything to go by now.
"Understandable," Weiss responded after a moment. "After all, I imagine it's not that easy to just shrug off… well, shrug off another's death. Even if it was the death of such a despicable thief."
Weiss wasn't entirely wrong, but she wasn't entirely right either. Nonetheless, Jaune accepted her words for what they were and nodded. Admittedly, even for him, it was rather surreal to just go from tracking down the White Fang to school life.
"Gah!" Ruby suddenly cried.
They all now looked at her in alarm and worry, her sudden cry having earned her the attention of numerous others in the library.
"What's wrong?" Jaune immediately questioned, his mind pushing aside all irrelevant thoughts now. All that mattered was Ruby's well-bein-!
"How can we all just be so awkward right now?!" the girl nearly exclaimed, ignoring the annoyed grimace of the nearby librarian.
There was a long moment of silence thereafter, however, which caused the librarian and the other students to lose interest in whatever was going on.
This gave both teams the time needed to just process what Ruby had said.
"Ruby, what do you-?" Pyrrha began.
"I-I mean!" the young leader started, only to stop. She tried to compose herself, taking in the deepest breath she could before continuing in a more controlled manner. "I mean… just a few days ago, we managed to stop those missiles from killing anyone… and while that was an awesome and fulfilling thing to do, as soon as we all find out what happened to Torchwick, whatever good feelings we were having just died out… and that's not right!"
Again, there was silence.
"That it's not right for us to be upset over Torchwick's death?" Blake now asked.
"Yes! No! I-I mean…!" Despite her best efforts, Ruby was struggling to figure out what to say. "I-I know that Torchwick was a bad man. Like, a really bad man. He did knowingly fire those missiles after all. We all know that. And we all knew before even coming to Beacon that we were going to have fight not just Grimm but also plenty of bad people. But now that a bad person has finally died – and not even at our hands, really – we're all suddenly moping and second-guessing ourselves for the most part!"
Ruby looked to Jaune now, her silver eyes looking very troubled. It really made Jaune want to do or say something, but for once, the blond was at a complete loss on what to do. Instead, he could only remain seated and wait things out.
Ruby let out a long sigh as she finally looked away from him. "…It's not right that we're all focusing so much on this when we knew going in that this was going to eventually happen one way or another."
All of them started to make varying sounds of thought and disgruntlement.
Though very awkwardly worded, Jaune believed he understood what Ruby was getting at – just how could any of them become reliable huntresses and huntsmen when they're this affected by a single death and of an individual that no one in their right minds would think of as a good person?
"How can we be heroes," Ruby continued. "If we're going to be like this after every single hard choice? How would we be able to even function?"
Jaune hummed quietly. His guess had been right, more or less.
And indeed, Ruby made an excellent point. Again, killing was not always the answer, but if it came down to a choice between sparing an unrepentant criminal like Roman or saving the innocent, the choice should be a complete no-brainer. These were not choices meant to be made by the softest of hearts who'd agonize over it in the place. It was alright to be affected, but never to the point of questioning whether it was worth it.
It was a lesson he's subconsciously learned long ago. And now, it was a lesson the others were now being taught for the most part.
"That… you've a point there," Weiss said.
Blake, much like Jaune, hadn't been too particularly bothered, but nonetheless she nodded firmly in agreement. "It's very true. We can't afford to hesitate and worry over what could've been done after the fact."
Yang huffed. "Well, killing for any reason still won't sit well with me… but yeah, I know what you mean now." The blonde smiled wryly. "Heh, you've really been growing up, Rubes."
Ruby beamed and nodded, clearly glad she'd gotten through to them, it seemed.
"Indeed," Ren suddenly spoke up with a small smile.
"Mhm!" Nora was much more chipper now.
Pyrrha didn't say anything nor made any real sound of agreement, but she did look to Jaune and as she did so, her eyes took on a softer quality, as if apologizing to him.
Jaune, for his part, merely waved it off though not without gratitude. Though he and his team had had their brief conversation immediately after the incident in the first place, this wasn't something he'd been expecting them to get over in just the span of a few days. The human mind simply didn't work that way.
Well, not a normal human mind, that is…
That aside, he was glad now. Even if they may never fully get over the impact that Roman's death had had on their psyche, they would certainly grow stronger because of it.
Still though… heroes, huh? He kind of wanted to chuckle bitterly at that word.
The residents back in that section of Vale, such as Patrice and the others, had certainly had no problem thanking them for looking out for their safety and preventing what could've been a horrific tragedy, but even though they'd been hailed as their saviors, it hadn't done much for Jaune himself.
It wasn't the first time he'd been called a hero, after all. But even though the praise certainly felt good, a hero was the last thing he felt like.
After all, a slave couldn't be a hero if they were being essentially forced into the role. Even if his heart was in it… just how much of this was truly of his own free will?
This was an existential question that by all rights should be breaking him down… yet it wasn't.
Yet another sign of his warped mind. The very fact that this simultaneously didn't bother him yet fueled his drive to find a genuine purpose in life and have some sense of normalcy was an additional indicator of his broken state.
No matter. He will stay the course.
If nothing else, he owed his family that much.
So, even as he and his friends steadily began to relax and get into the proper groove of focusing on their school work for now, he plotted over what to do next.
Evil never rests, after all. So, there's little reason why he should rest either.
Tukson hummed, genuinely relaxed as of now.
The news that Roman Torchwick of all people had died had done wonders for his initially worried state of mind. Though he may have promised Blake and her friends to do his best to aid them, he'd been more than a little concerned over how things would ultimately turn out.
There was no questioning over him wanting to stop the White Fang. What did hold him back a bit was whether or not they'd actually had a chance of achieving just that.
But upon hearing Torchwick having bit the dust and with the realization that the White Fang cell here in Vale may have subsequently been screwed out of a lot of Dust had been a real eye-opener for him.
Even though their names had been unknown according to the news outlets, Tukson knew for a fact Blake and the others had been the ones responsible for what had happened. That they have proven their capabilities had been a true but all too welcome surprise.
And now that he was fully set up within his little safehouse here, he'd been able to get to work with absolutely nothing to hold back.
Now, there'd been some bumps here and there along the way – much to his surprise, the White Fang have changed up what frequencies they usually utilized – but it hadn't been anything he couldn't handle.
So far, he hasn't learned anything of any real use to him and the others. That said, if he was being honest with himself, listening to his former comrades practically shit themselves over all the recent craziness in Vale was honestly pretty damn enjoyable. Considering just how xenophobic and arrogant many within the organization had become, hearing them all shocked and even scared was a nice chance of pace.
But he was digressing here.
Over the past few days since the death of Torchwick, he's picked up some bits and pieces of info as he monitored the new frequencies. He's also reached out to his informants to see if they could perhaps find out anything that wasn't being aired over the radios. He was now expecting to hear back from them within the next week or so.
He was looking forward to what his informants may have to say, for nothing of any real note was being said over the frequencies he was monitoring daily. Just about the only useful info he picked up was just how much of the equipment the White Fang cell Torchwick had been working with had left behind during their haste to get the hell out of dodge.
It had been substantial, what with having to keep that paladin they'd somehow gotten their hands on properly maintained, so if they were going to try obtaining another one, they would also have to get the necessary equipment again to keep it in working order. So that was yet another blow Blake and co. had dealt to them.
This news had also done wonders for his mood, but as of earlier today, the same White Fang members that had been all but losing their shit over these recent losses had started to sound less panicked and more antsy now about something else that was apparently coming up now.
Obviously, that had gotten his attention and Tukson had wasted no time tinkering with his own tech to see if he could hack any other secured frequencies that might be in use right now.
Unfortunately, he had no luck. Looks like the powers that be had been steadily improving their own cyber security since his departure from the organization. A minor annoyance at best.
Feeling like this might be a fun little challenge, Tukson prepared to really hunker down and see if he couldn't get past their new cyber defenses – only for one of his many burner scrolls to start ringing.
One of his informants, no doubt. Why else would a burner scroll be ringing?
Still, it was a major oddity – he'd told them to report within a week or two. That one of them was now contacting him was definitely strange since they were normally very punctual.
"What happened?" he asked as soon as he answered the scroll.
The voice on the other end of the line was absolutely impossible to understand; the informant was practically blubbering like a baby. Such was the level of panic the person was in.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down!" Tukson hissed, not sure if his informant would've been careful enough to avoid being overheard in his current state of mind. "Deep breaths now, come on man… good, good. better? Now… what happened? Why the sudden ca-."
His informant, much more composed though still scared shitless, interrupted him.
And what he said caused Tukson to freeze in place. The only motion he made was his grip going slack, causing the burner to nearly fall out of his hand.
"How soon?!" Tukson asked after finding his voice a few seconds later. "And who else is he bringing?!"
His informant, unfortunately, didn't have much other info to give him but vowed to keep an ear to the ground in order to learn whatever else he could learn over the next few days.
Tukson thanked the man and they both hung up. Immediately thereafter, the puma Faunus practically chucked the burner scroll aside and collapsed into his chair, his mind working a million miles a minute yet with his body not quite able to act on the fresh intel just yet.
But one thing he did know for certain he had to do soon was to let Blake know what was going to happen next-.
Adam Taurus was coming to Vale. He was going to be bringing a lot more men with him too.
And he'll be arriving in just a few days time.
As you can all tell, Jaune's thoughts there near the very end of his section are more than a little jumbled – and with good reason. As I'm sure you can all guess, he's not exactly normal when it comes to how his mind functions, something that I hope I'm showcasing well with how bipolar his thoughts seem to be sometimes.
This will soon be relevant and perhaps not in ways any of you may be now thinking of.
Now, that said, from here on out, things will truly begin to pick up in pace as numerous forces begin to encroach upon Vale and Beacon for real. And soon enough as well, the battles will become bigger and more epic in scale. If you thought my version of Neo was even more skillful/powerful than the canon version, just wait until you see who else will be getting some upgrades, ha ha.
Ah, but again, do keep in mind that the next chapter may or may not be out later than usual – though I now have a better idea than before on how to begin my next original novel, I'm not sure just yet if I should start it now or hold off on it a little longer. Hope you guys understand!
Until next time, everyone. Take care!