Recently, I bought Fate/Extella Link for my PS4 and I have to say, it was a surprisingly fun experience. Already have about 40 hours invested into it, will probably have close to 50 hours by the time I get every trophy for it. Normally, not too big a fan of the whole musou gaming genre, but this has been surprisingly rewarding in a way.

A bit of a pity the general roster of Servants aren't really among my most favorite ones, barring EMIYA and Scathach, though Charlemagne grew on me pretty quickly as did Karl.

How about you guys? Aside from FGO, any other Type Moon games any of you have played? I'm curious to know.

Well, other than that, not much else to say other than that I'm continuing to soldier through the quarantine as is everyone else. But the company I'm a part of is apparently starting to reopen some stores so if things go well on that front then perhaps my furlough will come to an end within the next few months and I can return to work. Would be nice if that happens, if only to see my coworkers again; they made my time there enjoyable.

Anyways, time for the chapter!

Chapter 41

Jaune hefted up the blade with a great deal of interest, inspecting the masterful craftmanship of it down to the very last detail.

"So, how does it feel to have a new blade, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked him as she watched him.

"Feels great, to be honest," he answered immediately as he lowered the sword. "Though the blacksmith didn't have to go this far…"

"Hmm?"

Jaune moved closer to her and showed her his new sword. "See the groove alongside the blade's edge? It's meant to hold Dust in it, that way when I swing, it could have additional effects depending on what type of Dust is used."

Pyrrha hummed, interested. But as interested as she looked, she narrowed her eyes in confusion. "But you've never used Dust before, right? And why would the blacksmith include such a feature if you never requested it?"

"Apparently, the guy I requested to work on this is known to go an extra mile on his works, often for the better," Jaune replied with a shrug. The Dust component had been a surprise when he'd first opened the container it'd been shipped to him in but it wasn't an unpleasant surprise. That said… "But, well, I've tried to use Dust before when I first started out, but it never really went anywhere."

"What do you mean?"

"Every time I tried using Dust, the results would be incredibly explosive," he started. "No matter how much I tried to regulate my aura at the time, it would always make the Dust unstable to the point of immediately making it explode in my face… so, I can only hope doing so with this blade won't result in my new sword's destruction…"

Pyrrha patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sure it'll be fine. Your strength and control has grown a lot since then, so the results should hopefully be better this time around."

Jaune smiled at her. "Thanks… but for now, I'll hold off on trying that function out. Now, that all said…"

Pyrrha nodded.

It was time to go.

It's been several days since he'd spoken to his friends of what he intended to do, a self-imposed quest that they'd be joining him on. Most conveniently, his new blade had arrived just earlier today, just in time to begin their search for Hazel Rainart and whomever his accomplices may be.

But the even better news was Yang's release from the hospital. Thanks to the hospital staff's care and her aura, she'd managed to make a full recovery with only a minor scar in the end, but compared to the fact she could've easily lost her life, it was but a small price to pay.

Though the number of puns and jokes about her and him being 'scar buddies' was arguably a huge price to pay for him, heh. Ah, well, it was all in good humor. It wasn't as if he'd ever really been too bothered by his own scar, at least not the scar in and of itself.

But he was digressing.

Having kept the sheathe of his previous blade, he placed his new blade in it and strapped it to his waist, the weight feeling most comfortable to him. That he could even appreciate something as minor as this was yet another sign of his growth from how he was like all those weeks and months ago.

But again, he was digressing.

"Let's go."

Ren and Nora were already out in the city, having gone out in advance to relax, well, in the case of Nora, that is. RWBY was already out there as well. He was still here in Beacon because of his sword being delivered here and Pyrrha had in turn wished to stay by his side.

Sending out a mass message to them as he and his partner boarded the bullhead, Jaune went over for the millionth time all the info he could recall about his encounters with Hazel.

Putting together a psychological profile of the man, he did his best to determine a spot where they could begin their search.

From what he could tell, Hazel was something of a misanthrope, being far too jaded with people to tolerate being around crowds for very long, not unless there was a damn good reason for him to do so. Thus, he could easily write off any and all spots that could be used as bases near downtown Vale – too many people for the man's liking and he doubted whatever eccentricities his allies may have would be enough to make him reconsider that.

Given the rather tame outfit Hazel wore too, he came across as an inherently practical man who preferred blending in with the wilds over standing out like how most others do – no offense meant to his friends on that front, what with their colorful wardrobes. This was something Jaune could truly respect though given his own plain but practical clothes. That said, he doubted the man and his allies would be hiding out past the walls of Vale – certainly, thanks to Hazel's presumed expertise and fondness for staying out in the wildlands, to say nothing of how many areas they could set up a makeshift base at, Jaune highly doubted that would be something the man would do for whatever operation is at work here.

For one thing, constantly sneaking in and out of Vale, especially with all the chaos recent events have caused, would be heavily impractical and risky. Even though Jaune was more than certain Hazel could effortlessly fight his way past any defense force, drawing attention was not something the man would prefer, especially given the fact this operation he was a part of was clearly covert in nature. Plus, while he may be perfectly comfortable out in the wilds, there was no guarantee his allies were the same and depending on what sort of activities they had to get up to in order to carry out their goals, building and maintaining whatever necessary tech they needed would be even more impractical out there in the wild.

Thus, they would still be somewhere within the kingdom itself, just not anywhere near densely populated areas.

Jaune did entertain for a moment the possibility of Hazel and his accomplices making use of the abandoned sectors of Vale, much like how Roman Torchwick and his White Fang crew had done, but tentatively dismissed this thought – such areas seemed too obvious a choice and though said zones were far from small, given any reasonable amount of time, they'd eventually be located and Hazel seemed too cunning to not account for that, to say nothing again of whatever the man's accomplices may have in mind.

He voiced all this Pyrrha quietly as the two of them rode the bullhead from Beacon into Vale and she nodded along, agreeing with his analysis. It wasn't until after they'd landed and disembarked that she spoke up, after making sure they weren't at any risk of being overheard.

"Jaune, not to sound like an alarmist," she began. "But what about hiding somewhere… closer? Like in Forever Falls or even the forest around Beacon? Though certainly not necessarily within Vale itself, making trips to and from Vale back to either of those areas should be easy enough for him, especially if they've some connections to help move things along."

…That hadn't been something he'd considered. He gave it some serious thought, rubbing his chin as he tried to put himself in Hazel's shoes for a minute.

Indeed, the best place to hide sometimes was literally under the enemy's nose and one can't get much closer to Beacon than the forest where initiation was held. Forever Falls, while considerably further out, was also still just close enough to be a place overlooked.

But after a minute, he came to a conclusion and voiced it. "It's possible," he said. "But unlikely. For one thing, the general direction he'd attacked me from and later appeared to take off in at the end of our recent fight led deeper into Vale rather than in either forests' direction. He could've been doing that just to throw off any pursuit, but taking into account his mysterious ability with the Grimm, I don't think setting up any kind of camp in either location would be ideal – too many Grimm there and any sudden changes in their behavior would be immediately noticeable. Not to say him being there wouldn't be impossible, but it'd be too risky for him to do so."

Pyrrha nodded. "Okay, makes sense… but do keep that in mind as a precaution."

"I will."

The two of them ventured into Vale, preparing to meet with the others. But as they headed towards their agreed upon meeting place, they suddenly received a message from Blake.

Looking at their scrolls at the same time, Jaune and Pyrrha shared a look before making a beeline elsewhere.

Some odd number of minutes later, they arrived at a nice grill/bar place and headed inside. As soon as they did, they headed for the furthest corner away from the front, where RWBY along with Nora and Ren could be spotted.

All of them appeared to be eating… and not alone at that, either.

"…Tukson?" Jaune murmured out as he and his partner got much closer, looking at the man in question.

The puma Faunus smiled a little in greetings and nodded. "You two haven't eat yet, right? Then take a seat and consider this my treat. Hope you don't mind if I already placed orders for you."

"No, not at all," Jaune said as he first pulled back a chair at the table and held it out for Pyrrha to be seat. As she sat in it – her face slightly red for some reason – and he gently pushed her in, he continued. "But… I take it you didn't suddenly call us all here for a quiet dinner."

"You got that right, Mr. scarface," Yang quipped to him from her spot in between Tukson and Ruby, the latter digging into a positively huge steak. Given the sheer delight upon the younger leader's face, it must be a damn good steak considering her usual preference for sweets. "Blake here got a sudden call from him about ten minutes or so ago, requesting a meet up. We called up Ren and Nora and then Blake sent you two that message. He's got some juicy info to share, apparently."

Sitting in between his partner and Ren, who nodded at him in greetings, Jaune looked around the table, noting the otherwise serious expressions upon everyone's faces. "Okay… then, shall we just get to the point then?"

Tukson nodded as he ate some grilled shrimp and then scooted the grilled lobster plate that'd been in the center of the huge table. "Dig in a little first – this'll be a doozy." He then took another plate placed near the table's center and gave it to Pyrrha, who generously accepted it.

And so Jaune obliged, not unappreciative of the sudden dinner invite, but admittedly thrown off by it.

Several minutes go by in which everyone ate and made random small talk – "Yang, no stealing from my plate!" "Aw, come on, Rubes! You've any idea how badly I've missed real food from my hospital stay?! – before finally, Tukson was the first to get right to the point.

And with a hell of an opening at that too.

He chugged his beer with great enthusiasm before then looking them all in the eyes with a stone-faced expression and spoke.

"Adam Taurus is dead."

That got everyone to stop what they were doing, especially Blake.

"W-What…?!" Blake nearly yelled out, just barely able to keep the volume to that of a fierce whisper. Not that it would've been too big an issue if she did scream due to how empty this place was right now. "How?! When did this happen?!""

Tukson sighed as he picked away at whatever food was left on his plate. "Someone complained of a horrible smell in a nearby alleyway, police went to investigate, found some very small traces of blood here and there. Adam's DNA is on file thanks to how coldly efficient the SDC's systems are like and so when an analysis was done, a match came up."

At that, Weiss winced greatly.

"Uh, sorry, but what does that mean?" Nora of all people asked, looking confused. "What do you mean he was already on file or whatever?"

It was Blake who responded. "…Adam was once captured by the SDC's forces and made to slave away for them for a time in his youth. The labor settlements the SDC has set up does all sorts of tests on the Faunus workers – urine testing, blood tests, so on and so forth – all to know just how healthy every new 'worker' is… and thus so that they know how far they can afford to push them before the workers become unable to continue on any longer. Everything is kept on file as a result. It was during his time there that… that he got branded over his left eye…"

Everyone at the table was dead silent, horrified by what she'd just said. Yang silently clasped Blake on the shoulder and Blake reached up and gripped her hand tightly.

Jaune was far from oblivious as to how badly Faunus can and have been treated, but even then, he couldn't help but grimace intensely. It's things like that that make the existence of the radicalized White Fang that much more understandable.

Tukson looked down towards the table for a moment, apparently mourning the deceased man. This lasted for only a moment though and when he looked back up, he continued. "…Adam may not have been a good man anymore, but it wasn't as if he'd always been that way. Anyways… this was a discovery made by the police only recently. I found out through some connections and liberal usage of my snooping skills. Don't know if or when this info will be made public, but probably not soon – with how crazy things have been lately, I doubt the council will want to incite the public any more."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, clearly confused by that. "I mean, not to sound cold or anything-," she continued hastily. "-but isn't it a good thing from the public's perspective that the person behind the attack won't be launching another attack ever again?"

Even as she said that, it's clear the way Adam was ultimately stopped didn't sit well with the still somewhat idealistic girl, but the fact she could even say such a thing aloud meant she understood just a bit more how the world sadly works.

"True as that may be, there's going to be those that'll be angry Adam wasn't killed during the attack itself or that the man should've been captured, beaten and then killed first," Tukson replied. "Thing about news like this, you're going to get those that are just glad it's over and done with and then you'll get those who'll just find something to be mad about anyways. News is always a huge outlet for positive and negative emotions. This will be no different. But more than that, with the fact the White Fang was the one to attack city hall public knowledge, there will be a cry from the radicals about how this is how 'animals should be dealt with' and other shit like that. Naturally, Faunus citizens aren't going to just take that kind of talk lying down. It'll be yet another shit show and the council knows it, which is why this is being kept under the rug for the time being."

The man then finished off what was left of his food and then looked to Jaune. "But I hadn't just gathered you lot just to say this. Blake had let me know of what you're intending to do, of searching for the ones that also had a hand in all that's been happening recently."

Blake looked at Jaune apologetically, but Jaune just kindly waved it off. If anything, in hindsight, he should've asked her to get in contact with Tukson somehow. After all, the man was very skilled at gathering info. His help was very well priceless.

"I'd actually gotten in contact with her just to check on her pretty much the day after you'd told your friends here of what you intended to do. A stroke of dumb luck really, me calling her when I did, but a damn good one. Anyways, since then, I've been doing some digging in the hopes of narrowing down your potential search field some more," Tukson said.

Jaune leaned forward, hopeful. So did many of the others.

"Oooh, did you find the bad guys' secret base?!" Nora quietly but no less excitedly asked.

Yang laughed. "Damn, if that really is the case, want to solve all our other problems too?"

Tukson snorted in response to Yang's words, but then shook his head apologetically. "Sadly, couldn't outright find their base, but I did manage to narrow the general search area a bit. Here, take a look." He then pulled out his scroll and brought up a map of the entire kingdom, albeit one that's clearly been modified by him, sporting various areas being colored in either blue, orange, and red. "The blue areas are the areas that I'm absolutely certain they wouldn't be holed up in. A guy as big as the one you're talking about wouldn't go unnoticed not even with how colorful people can be nowadays. The orange areas are possible locations but it's this big area in red that's where they're most likely to be."

"Based on what evidence?" Weiss asked as she leaned in to get a better look at the map.

"Nothing solid per say, but just basic logic," Tukson freely admitted. "The blue areas are areas most populated by people. Whether this be due to the areas being nothing but shops and businesses or residential areas, the point is there are a lot of people in these locations. With all that's recently happened, people are unbelievably jumpy. Trust me, I've seen it for myself – people getting so freaked out over the most sudden but minor of noises that everyone is on high alert if any door is slammed a bit too hard. Cops have been called out there a lot recently to check for every disturbance only for it to turn out it was just a wild dog or possum scurrying through the area or just some idiotic and insensitive punks trying to get a laugh at everyone's expense. If anything truly suspicious did happen, there's literally no way it wouldn't be unnoticed."

Tukson then motioned towards the orange areas. "As for these areas, they tend to be a bit more open in terms of space, with less people living there or traveling by or through these locales. A fair few empty buildings where they could hole up in for a long time, especially if these people you're looking for are a very small crew. That said, some gangs and the other unsavory sort do tend to make homes here, and while they won't exactly be calling the police for help if they do spot something off, again, it's not going to be as if they'll go unspotted and unconfronted."

"Then I take it the red area is where there's much more open space and even less people to bother them," Ren suddenly spoke up after studying the map himself.

Tukson nodded. "Pretty much. But it's kind of ironic though."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Look at the map again," Tukson replied. "What do you see about that area?"

They all looked back at it.

It was Yang who caught on first. "Hey, wait a minute… isn't that where a lot of those fancy hotels and the like are at? Like, you know, for visiting celebrities and other big-wigs?"

Jaune blinked as he realized that was indeed the case. Not to put things the way Yang had, but that area was one of the better parts of Vale in terms of sheer financial investment and overall spectacle, with massive high rises and much smaller but no less equally well-crafted structures. Even the small businesses there that profit heavily from the affluent customers the area provides them with make even the best upscale places here in this part of Vale look cheap in design in comparison.

And amazingly, it made a lot of sense as why Tukson would consider this area to be one of great interest.

And sure enough, Tukson ended up elaborating. "That's exactly right. Lots of gated little areas within this location, high walls, personal security, so on and so forth. It's practically its own city there."

"And just why would the bad guys be hiding there?" Ruby asked, more confused than ever before.

"Compared to the rest of Vale, the population there isn't really that impressive since only the richest of the rich can really afford to be there for any stretch of time, so the number of people there is pretty sparse. These people also tend to mind their own business to a ridiculous degree and for all their security, it's mainly just to make sure no one unwanted gets too close to them. They're not looking out for people planning to topple Vale or whatever; they're just keeping an eye out to make sure no one bugs them during whatever things they get up to in their free time. If a gunshot ever went off there, no one is going to be rushing out their doors to try and look for where it originated from – they'll just hole up in their residences and let someone else take a look, except no one else except the cops would do so."

"But won't their security go and look?"

"Only if it whatever's going on is close enough to their employer's place to warrant a look. Otherwise, it's not really their problem in their eyes," Tukson answered. "Not to make it sound like everyone there are self-centered assholes or whatever, but it's just the general mentality there. So long as your bad guys aren't going around toeing the residents' and hotels' property lines, they're not gonna even glance their way."

Jaune was nodding along with everything Tukson was saying. But more than that, this area was also within running distance – well, for people with aura, that is – of downtown Vale, where city hall is at. Additionally, while a bit further out, making it to even places like Beacon from there wouldn't be out of the question.

But even more importantly, it wasn't uncommon for a lot of the wealthier people to have their own private aircrafts. Whether they're capable of piloting the aircrafts themselves or if they've hired pilots to fly them to and from places was irrelevant; the point was that, with the right connections, finding an aircraft to get them in and out of Vale would be easy for one of Hazel's associates, judging by all the subterfuge.

That Hazel had even said Adam Taurus' sect of the White Fang had been a useful bunch, implying that whatever group he is a part of has the power and connections needed to sync their actions perfectly with the attack on city hall, which in turn would imply that at the very least, there'd been some level of coordination between the two groups.

And if Hazel's group could somehow get in contact with and use a part of the White Fang like that, then figuring out a way to root themselves in even a place like upscale Vale shouldn't be impossible. Plus, a locale like that would be the last place anyone would look for someone like Hazel.

It was perfect!

"Tukson," Jaune began as he started to stand. "Thank you. This really did help out a lot. Now, I'd say it's about time we get going. With any luck, we could probably at least find their base of operations. Even if they don't end up being there themselves, sabotaging their base would go a long ways towards accomplishing something of note."

Everyone got a little surprised by how quickly he was getting up and ready to leave and they all hastily began to follow his example – only for Tukson to stop them.

"Just one last thing," the man began, seemingly unbothered by Jaune's sudden readiness in leaving. "Don't know what exactly the connection would be between what I'm about to say and your bad guys, assuming there's a connection at all, but…"

"What is it?" Blake asked. "Has something else happened?" She sounded horribly worried, understandably so.

The man nodded gravely. "Now, I'm still trying to dig into things, but from what I can tell, it looks like someone managed to sneak aboard general Ironwood's flagship," he said. "Now before you ask the details and the like, again, I'm still looking into things. All I can say is that a few days back, I took the risk of strolling around for a walk late at night… and though only very slightly, I spotted what looked like a very small aircraft making its way towards the Atlas fleet."

"…Are you sure?" Weiss asked, looking somewhat doubtful. "If this aircraft did belong to someone with bad intentions, I doubt whoever it was could've made it through the entire Atlas fleet and onboard the general's flagship just like that."

Tukson could only shrug. "Honestly, even I kind of doubt what I saw – the main reason I say it was a ship is due to how the very air seemed to shimmer, like looking at a mirage or something. If not for the night vision that comes with being a Faunus, I doubt I would've been able to even notice this oddity at all. And the reason why I believe it to have been a ship at all is due to that being the most logical explanation since it's not as if anyone has the power to fly like a comic book superhero." He then looked to Blake and then to Jaune. "Now, with everything that's been going on, well, I just can't help but feel it might be somehow related to these people you're trying to find… and if by chance that is the case, then be even more careful – if they've what it takes to infiltrate any Atlas ship without setting off any alarms, then that says something pretty scary not just about their capabilities but what else they may be aiming to do."

That definitely got everyone to stop what they were doing and consider Tukson's words. But just like before, Jaune was the first to move, nodding in response to this additional bit of info. "We'll keep this in mind. Thank you, Tukson."

The man nodded back and silently bid them goodbye as he could clearly see they all were still very much keen on seeing this through to the end. "Consider this sudden dinner a weird sort of good luck charm, then."

Thanking him once more – this time for the free meal – Jaune took his leave and with his friends quickly following after him, though not before Blake took a quick second to bid the older Faunus goodbye with a brief hug.

And just like that, they were now officially on the hunt.

It was with a great deal of effort that Hazel sat right where he was. Even though it's been a few days since his sudden 'talk' with Salem, he was still reeling from everything that had happened. To now know not just the origins of Dust, but to also be informed that he was now becoming some kind of… some kind of magical-esque being that was also similar to what Salem was like… it would be an understatement to say that he was boggled by that information.

On the one hand, it certainly did explain why his already abnormal strength was still growing, to say nothing of his new abilities and the like. However, even Salem's brief explanation had failed to inform of the 'why' behind it all.

Why was it that him essentially taking in magic was giving him Grimm-like abilities, like the ability to sense negativity and his ability to control at least some Grimm? Was this just because Dust was essentially a direct offshoot from the God of Darkness himself, who'd personally made the Grimm and pools of destruction? Or was there some other reason for this oddity?

Considering the lost history Salem had shared with him and the others when they'd first been recruited by her, the reason for these specific changes in him couldn't possibly be due to the former possibility because then that would mean just about any of the previous magic wielders back then would've possibly been able to develop these Grimm-like traits. This would naturally even include that bastard Ozpin and those Maidens since they too count as magic wielders. That they didn't thus proved that first possibility wrong.

Grunting as he wracked his brain over this all, Hazel opted to just stand up. He wasn't one to pace about, but his thoughts were so screwed up and his heart felt so heavy that he had to do something.

Alas, as much as he wished to head elsewhere and perhaps find some way to vent his chaotic emotions, he couldn't.

Ever since his fruitful return from Ironwood's flagship, Watts had holed up in a room within this safehouse to tinker with that Eternal Motor of his, tweaking certain functions that the former Atlas scientist had been quick to label as 'too inefficient.' Apparently, all these years spent dwelling on his prized creation had resulted in Watts constantly critiquing his own work from back then and the man had been all too eager to correct these 'deficiencies.' This made sense since it was a prototype, after all. Plus, Watts had had no problem also telling him that his battle with Jaune Arc had been quite inspiring. Evidently, something about the power fluctuations and the like that had been going on during their battle had provided Watts with interesting data that he was using to try and further improve on the Eternal Motor.

But this tinkering was not why Hazel had to stick around, for said tinkering had already been over and done with as of yesterday morning, the result of Watts' sleepless efforts.

Instead the reason why Hazel had to at least stay so close was due to the man now taking today of all days to install the Eternal Motor within himself, which required replacing his own heart with the device in question.

Yes, that's right – Watts was conducting a particularly dangerous surgical operation on himself and was doing so in yet another room this vast safehouse had.

That the man had obsessed over his invention so much as to personally construct from scratch a room just for this day was truly amazing in all sorts of ways and not exactly good ways. Not that Hazel was one to talk concerning obsession, but he at least could say he'd never pump himself full of drugs to dull whatever pain and worries he may have just to remove his own heart and all that.

Just how was Watts intending to remove his own heart and keep himself alive long enough afterwards to implant the Eternal Motor within himself and essentially revive? Hazel couldn't even begin to fathom how such a thing could ever be possible. He doubted even the most knowledgeable and experienced surgeons in all of Remnant could figure out a way to do so considering the obviously mechanical nature of the Eternal Motor as well as the fact that Watts was doing this surgery all by himself.

Even when accounting for all the semi-automated machinery Watts had long since built for a day like this, there was just no telling how well the man would be able to perform this endeavor all on his lonesome.

As he distracted himself now with thoughts of Watts' ridiculous and borderline suicidal operation, Hazel looked towards the nearest clock.

From what he understands, operations concerning the heart can take anywhere from three hours to approximately six hours from start to finish. Watts had informed him he could have the operation done within half that general time length…

…And it's already nearing three and a half hours since the operation had apparently begun, as the blinking red light Watts had been thoughtful enough to install back when he first modeled this safehouse to his liking could attest to.

Though unlikely, there was always a possibility of Ozpin and his inner circle figuring out their location somehow. Obviously, if that did end up being the case and were to occur now of all times, then Watts would definitely be in no position to defend himself and escape. Hence why Hazel had been asked by the man to be on standby just outside the room – to act as protection just in case such a thing did happen. Also, to come barreling into the room in case the operation went badly and Watts needed to be transported elsewhere.

Personally, Hazel very highly doubted such a thing happening – Ozpin and his allies locating, much less storming this place, that is. With all the chaos that has struck Vale over recent weeks, not even Ozpin would take his time dillydallying around if he were to learn of their location, not when there would be no way the parasite and his inner circle could know of what else could possibly be coming up soon.

No, if anything, Watts' self-done operation failing seemed like a much more likely possibility…

…But that said, it also wasn't the only potential bad thing that could happen.

"Jaune Arc…" Hazel growled out.

Call it a gut feeling, but the large man held a not altogether unfounded belief that if anyone was to somehow stumble across him and Watts to ruin their day, it would be that blond teen. And if that were to happen before Watts' operation was done, there'd be absolutely no chance of Hazel being able to extract the man safely during that potential chaos, especially not if the teen manages to call in reinforcements.

Then, as if somehow reading his thoughts and detecting the general uneasiness he was feeling, the blinking light directly above the door turned from red to green.

It would appear the operation had been a success, Hazel thought with some measure of relief. The reason why he could afford to feel such relief at all is because, just prior to basically sealing himself inside the room, Watts had informed him that the system in charge of the light was directly connected to the system monitoring the status of the operation itself. Thus, so long as things were going okay, the light would silently flash red. If the surgery failed and Watts was dying for good or was dead already, an alarm would sound as the light turns permanently red. And of course, should things go well, the light shall flash green instead.

But as relieved as he felt, Hazel didn't suddenly rush into the room or anything. For one thing, while he and Watts got along quite well, it wasn't as if they were brothers in arms or anything of the sort, so his care for the man didn't extend to the point of rushing in to check on him. For another thing, Watts had also stressed the importance of letting him just rest in peace after the operation – even if the surgery was successful, all that meant was that the Eternal Motor had been properly implanted within him. There was still very much a chance of his body rejecting the device, or for whatever connection between the Eternal Motor and body to just break down through some other way.

In other words, Watts isn't quite out of the danger zone just yet. That said, the man hadn't specified how long exactly it would take to determine if things were going to be okay or not. Given the info Watts had told him of concerning the Eternal Motor and its intended workings, Hazel was assuming the results would show themselves within the hour or so, if only due to the outlandishly sci-fi nature of the Eternal Motor, but for all he knew, it'll be days or weeks before finding out if Watts' efforts would pay off.

Grimacing as he now pondered what would become of his accomplice's actions, Hazel slowly made his way back to where he'd been sitting before, but not before tossing one quick glance back at the door as if expecting Watts to stroll out right now.

As he did this, he closed his eyes and reluctantly expanded his newfound senses.

As tiring and frustrating and honestly disturbing as it was to now be able to sense other people's negativity, it did make for a far-spanning 'radar.' If anyone got just a bit too close to the safehouse for his liking or lingered in one place for too long, the man would be able to sense them well in advance.

Thoughts of Jaune Arc possibly coming around and finding them now returned to the forefront of his mind and lightning crackled ever so slightly across his forearms and flickers of fire appeared out of the corners of his mouth as he exhaled.

Whatever may possibly come next, he would be ready for.

Of all the things Ruby had been expecting to do today, strolling through the nicer part of Vale – the much, much, much nicer part of it, holy moly, how could people be this rich? – in search of some very bad people hadn't been high on the list of expectations.

But man, she felt cool doing just that-.

"Oh, Ren, look! Look at that ice cream!"

-Even if currently, it seemed like she and her friends were all just hanging out and window shopping, with Nora practically leaping around upon finding some super fancy ice cream shop that they could see through the window of.

Not that she was complaining because that ice cream – several different types of cookies blended with traditional vanilla ice cream?! Where has she been all this time?! – but she was trying to look around for anything out of the ordinary.

But funny thing, that – 'ordinary' was a lot harder to define in this part of Vale, if only due to how, well, how darn expensive and extravagant this area was. She always considered herself a pretty humble girl, the bee's knees, and that her family was well-off enough without being either rich or poor, but whoa, strolling down even a single street here made her feel dirt poor.

And with only a few exceptions – Nora among them – the rest of her friends were looking uncomfortable too.

"Yeesh, you think they pay cleaning crews to shine the streets too while they're at it?" Yang quipped, her normally lively big sis looking almost worried to take a particularly big step forward upon the squeaky-clean sidewalk.

"And I thought Atlas indulged in such luxuries…" Ruby heard Blake mumble, making the leader of RWBY wince a bit. Though Blake had really come a long way since they all first met, the girl still had a lot of traits that had remained unchanged since then, her general disdain for such over the top luxuries being one of those traits apparently. Given what Ruby has heard about Atlas and its towering and glittery structures, Ruby was pretty sure this place did resemble that kingdom somewhat.

"A-Atlas isn't that bad…" Weiss muttered.

Blake turned and looked at her, eyebrow raised in obvious skepticism.

Weiss sighed. "Okay, perhaps Atlas is just a bit too… excessive regarding its appearance."

Ruby couldn't help but laugh a bit. Though they were all here on a very important (self-imposed) mission, it was nice to just be able to goof around a bit and have some fun, even if she felt like she was gonna get sued for millions of lien if she so much as scratched a brick or car door by accident.

She knew she was pretty naïve, but not so much so that she was oblivious to economical disparity. Just traveling from Patch to Vale and seeing overhead just how big Vale was and all the things it had to offer made it clear to her even back then that Patch will never ever be anywhere near as big as Vale, not in size or sheer wealth. And that was a-okay in her book, but the point still stood that she knew there would always be differences like that.

But still, yeesh, this was more than a bit much.

Just how can people be this rich?!

She shook her head. No, this wasn't the time to be thinking of stuff like this! They had a job to do!

…Except it was quickly turning out to be a pretty tough job already.

"Uhm, guys?" she started sheepishly. "Just how are we going to narrow down our search field any more than it already is? I mean, if all the warehouses and other locations look anywhere near as good as these small shops do, it'll be hard to just figure out which one is worth investigating."

Though addressed to all her friends, it was primarily addressed to the ones she'd considered the exceptions just a moment ago.

In this case, that being Weiss, who was used to all this needless extravagance due to being from Atlas, Pyrrha, who despite not being from a place like Atlas, was used to being invited to all sorts of cool places so this area wasn't too big a shocker for her… though she did look just a tad bit uncomfortable with how crazy expensive this place looked with all the clearly custom carved stone and metal and shiny stuff.

But, of course, she was mainly directing her question at Jaune, who was once again proving how awesome he is by keenly surveying all he sees without so much as even blinking at the crazier things around here like the custom heart shaped rims on a nearby car or the veritable lights show that were the neon signs above the shops and huge hotels that could probably be seen from space.

"You've a point there, Ruby," Pyrrha responded first, a small but clearly strained smile on her face as she walked the streets with them. They were not the only people out and about at this time of day and it would seem that even among these ridiculously well-dressed men and women that Pyrrha's fame as a four time champion was known to them for quite a few people were looking her way unabashedly. "Considering too that they appear to have their own aircraft or at least easy access to one, you'd think that just finding a spot big enough to land such a thing would help narrow things down too… but no."

And wasn't that just another kicker? As they wandered about, she and the others have spotted several strips of land pretty much dedicated to various celebrities' and corporate head honchos' persona aircrafts, which meant narrowing down the search area some more based on that would be pretty much impossible. To further add to their troubles, when they'd gone to these little airfields to ask about any oddities they may have seen – she knows it was pointed out earlier that people here tend to mind their own business, but it never hurts to ask around – they were either shooed away by snobby guards and people or those that were willing to talk with them for a minute really did have no clue about anything out of the ordinary.

So yeah, rock and a hard place here. Ruby wasn't a fan of it.

She really didn't want to be too reliant on Jaune either – as a team leader herself, it would one day be up to her to be able to be just as efficient at this kind of stuff too. Not to say that learning all she can from others wasn't a bad thing, it's just that she couldn't help but feel as though she and the others were being a bit too dependent on the blond leader to provide a direction for them.

Alas, she had to ask him. "How about you, Jaune?"

And bless her fellow leader's heart, he never seemed annoyed by all the questions she and others asked him and even with how much more he seemed to lighten up nowadays, he was still just as willing to help as always.

That said, she didn't expect him to smile sheepishly in her direction. "Wish I had something to really add here, but I'm afraid I don't. We've already gone over all the points relevant to our efforts here. All we can do is just do our best."

"Huh. So, not even you can just think up an immediate solution," Yang commented, having overheard her and Jaune speak. Her comment wasn't mean-spirited or anything, but just a point of observation being made. Ruby knew that, but even then couldn't help but feel like her big sis was being kind of mean.

Before she could pout and try to tell Yang off though, Jaune just chuckled lightly. "This area is just as new to me as it is to you."

Yang shrugged, totally cool with his response. "Eh, no biggie, Mr. scarface. Guess we should just focus on the warehouses and stuff though, right? Since that seems to be the go-to base for criminals. Even in an area as stupidly fancy as this one, that has to still apply."

Her words were partly serious but also partly spoken in jest.

It was Ren who then spoke up, taking the Y of RWBY completely seriously. "It would seem that way. But what if they're instead hiding out inside one of these apartment complexes or hotels? Given the general nature of celebrities and the like, it's not as if they're going to live right next to where they keep their vehicles – land or air-based – parked."

"That's… actually a good point," Weiss spoke up. From the sound of it, it would seem like Weiss had been about to refute that statement only to realize otherwise.

Ruby decided to comment on that. "Uhm, is that really something rich people do, Weiss?" Ruby asked innocently enough, genuinely curious about that.

Weiss could only blush. "It's very common in Atlas for socialites rich enough to afford their own aircrafts to have said aircrafts placed somewhere off their property more often than not. My family is the same in this regard and often times, when my father felt like making an entrance, he'd have us arrive at an event via a personal bullhead… but only after having it first fly fifteen minutes to our estate just to pick us up."

…Wow. Rich people really are something, Ruby thought in amazement.

"Hmm, that is possible, but I kind of doubt it," Jaune suddenly said. "While not unlikely, if they need to mobilize quickly, it'd just be better to have their aircraft nearby very close by, at least relative to where their base is at. Even when accounting for how fast they can cover a certain amount of ground, it wouldn't be worth the risk if they're aiming on escaping before enemies could show up."

Aha, there was that super-cool intellect of his! And once again, Jaune was making a good point. Ruby found herself agreeing completely.

…Hmm, and come to think of it too…

"Didn't Tukson also say if not for his night vision, he would've missed it?" Ruby asked to no one in particular. "Wouldn't that mean it has some kind of cloaking device or something else that's super fancy?"

That got them all to slow in their walking for a brief second, even grabbing Nora's attention away from the shops finally too. Ruby inwardly gulped as they all looked her way, not liking being in the center of attention so suddenly, even if they are all friends.

"That… is true," Blake mumbled. "I'd assumed it was just a dark enough coat of pain to make it blend in better with the night sky, but Tukson did say there was a shimmer…"

"Couldn't that just be due to whatever thrusters or whatever it has?" Nora suddenly chipped in.

"Could be, but let's assume it was outright cloaking technology. In that case, if it's advanced enough, it would explain how this other criminal managed to sneak past all the radars the Atlas fleet has at its disposal and would make finding it impossible if it could remain active even in daylight," Weiss replied.

Yang grunted, annoyed. "Man, why is it these bad guys are so damn resourceful compared to literally every other punk that gives Vale trouble. They make even the White Fang look like chumps if that's really the case. No offense, Blake."

"None taken," her partner said. "If this is even half of what they're capable of, then considering what we now know… as dangerous as this is, we've even more reason now than ever to make sure they're found."

She referred to, of course, the guys they were after, the ones that were evidently working with that scary Salem person, some centuries old ruler of Grimm. Ruby still shuddered at the mere thought of a demon king-like figure existing. To know now that she had people working for her that could do all this was even scarier.

With just about everything that had to be said now spoken, they all fell into a deep silence, thinking over the situation more critically than ever before. Not even the increasingly gaudy looking stores, with their window displays, could appeal to them anymore, not even Nora.

An unspoken agreement was made between them all to continue their trek around the area where the warehouses appeared to be at. Though it pained Ruby's heart a bit that they'll have to sneak into the warehouses in just a bit, thereby breaking the law in the process, their current goal made it easy for her to resolve herself to break a minor law or two if it meant finding and hopefully stopping these guys.

After all, considering all the craziness that's happened recently and what they now know them to be capable of, there was just no time to lose being completely law-abiding.

The young girl could only their efforts will be rewarded, however.

Within the makeshift surgery room, there was not a single peep out of anything there save for the occasional whirring of machine parts in motion. Built by Watts long in advance for a day such as this, these machines had been responsible for removing his original heart and implanting the Eternal Motor in its former place. He's run countless simulations over all these years, both in his head and in reality whenever he'd had the chance to fiddle with such machinery thus said machinery had performed their intended duties perfectly.

That said, perfectly done or not, there had been a bit of a mess – some blood having spurt out here and there during the operation and coating the otherwise sterilized room. These machines, however, had also been programmed to clean up any such messes post-op and that is what they now did, hence why they were the only ones providing any sound.

And there, upon the sole table in the room, was a currently motionless Arthur Watts, naked from the waist up, looking for all the world as though he were sleeping… though the complete lack of movement on his part would make it seem as if he were actually dead.

However, the monitor set up to scan his brain activity indicated he was still very much alive, just in a deep sleep. As for the monitor in charge of scanning his other vitals, that one was having a hard time doing so as his new 'heart' had yet to begin its 'pumping.'

But that began to change in the following few minutes. Slowly but steadily, the neat surgical stiches done to close up his chest began to disappear along with the incision wound itself. And deep within the man's mind, where everything felt like it was at a standstill despite his brainwave scanner saying otherwise, Watts could 'hear' a whirring sound of sorts from within the very depths of his soul.

In particle experiments, technology was used to speed up observed particles, an action that led to an increase in kinetic energy. In the case of air particles, by heating an air sample, the particles are made to go faster due to the heat. In lieu of such an elaborate setting and obviously through a different method, his own blood which still coursed normally through his veins, entered his new 'heart,' thereby activating the Eternal Motor's functions.

Back when he'd first constructed the Eternal Motor, he'd infused some of his own aura into it, said aura acting as the accelerant needed for the particles within to begin their movements. Due to the aura then bonding to said particles in this process back then, the particles had kept on moving at increasing speeds, speeds that had produced an immense amount of energy and a small portion of that produced energy was used to speed the particles up even more, which produced even more energy that a portion of went to accelerating the particles some more and so on and so forth, resulting in a positive feedback.

To this day, the aura infused particles had yet to come to a stop, only producing more and more energy by the microsecond. This is how this small device was able to effortlessly power an entire Atlas flagship. And it was due to this perpetual activity that Watts' blood had continued its usual flow upon it being implanted in him.

Now with the blood, moved by the Eternal Motor, flowing through it and with its own minute movement adding to the activity already occurring with said device, the Eternal Motor only began to produce that much more power.

Steadily, the aura infused particles, which have multiplied within the Eternal Motor over these many years, began to slowly seep out of it and into and through the rest of Watts' body, each one containing more power than the last.

And now they were bonding directly to him, seeping down into the very core of his soul due to aura being but a mere manifestation of it.

The resulting reaction of this process made Watts' body go from deathly still to violent convulsions in a literal instant, so violent in fact that the table he lied upon began to twist and bend as a result.

In spite of this, his eyes remained closed and his expression eerily impassioned. Again, he was just in so deep a sleep that nothing quite reached him, not completely anyways.

But then, a moment later, the convulsions ceased and he let out a sudden and loud gasp. His green eyes snapped wide open, a faint glow in the very center of them that now quickly brightened, the intensity reaching a point that just by mindlessly looking at a bit of equipment off to the side was enough to make the wiring within it go nuts and literally set itself aflame from the power.

The veins in the very corner of his eyes had also become quite apparent and they too started to glow with power, the green color of his aura making itself known through a sudden pulse within them before fading away.

As this glow in both his veins and the center of his eyes faded, Watts suddenly sat up in one smooth and impossibly fast motion, so fast that if even a huntsman trainee had been there to observe, from their perspective it would seem as if one instant the man had been lying down and the very next he was up.

Slowly, he shifted about on the table so that his bare feet now rested slightly upon the floor whilst he held up his hands and inspected them as if all the answers in the universe were contained within his open and slightly shaky palms.

He looked for but a second before closing his eyes and concentrated – and in direct response to this act of concentration, something within shifted. A hum, audible only to himself, began to play out and as he willed his aura forth, he could literally feel the difference now.

Watts smiled in pure bliss. Absolutely nothing else in his life up until now had ever made him feel as good as he felt right in this very moment.

At last.

His time had finally come.

So what do you guys think? I know this chapter was very dialogue heavy, even in comparison to some of the more recent chapters, but it had to be done to set up what would come next. Set up aside though, I'd wished to once more demonstrate Jaune's intellect as well as showcase how good a grasp he has of Hazel's general personality, which will prove more useful down the line.

As for his new blade, he won't quite be showing off its Dust feature just yet due to having just gotten it and having not expected it to have such a function, so it'll be a while before he does so. Additionally, he will be getting a Dust feature added to his other sword too in order to balance things out, but again that will wait until later. Consider what is coming next a way of merely introducing a new way of fighting from him, albeit slightly. Hope you will look forward to what I've in mind.

On another note, what do you guys think of Watts' section? I tried to make how the Eternal Motor works in practice as logical as could be because even with the RWBY series running on the Rule of Cool, it never hurts to have certain mechanics explained, right? Anyways, do look forward to what Watts will now be capable of. I'm sure some of you will find pretty nuts, ha ha.

Until next time, everyone. Stay safe!