Robyn, Fiona, and Jaune had made it back to their base and once they arrived, Joanna and May were sitting in the living room.
"Any Luck?" Joanna asked
"Aye, Jaune thinks he's got a lead" Fiona replied "We're just waitin' his pals to show up," Fiona said pointing her finger at Jaune
May looked confused, "why are they coming here?" She asked
"I called them here because I couldn't talk to them while In Atlas, As soon as I go back Ironwood would ask me questions and since I've been gone long enough he'll suspect me of telling you all about Salem" Jaune said "So I called them here to tell them the plan"
Once Jaune finished, there was a knock at the door.
"Speak of the Devil and he shall come," Fiona said with a chuckle
Jaune smiled and went to open the door, there standing was all of team RWBY and the rest his team.
"Jaune!" Nora cried as she hugged him
Jaune hugged back, "Hey Nora"
"It's good to see your ok" Ren replied
Ruby, Yang, and Blake nodded in agreement. Jaune smiled at them and then allowed them inside, each taking a seat where there was one, Jaune then looked around before closing the door.
"You weren't followed right?" Jaune asked
"No I made sure," Blake said, her ears wiggling
"Good" Jaune replied
"So what is this about and why here?" Weiss asked
Robyn glared at Weiss but said nothing. Jaune could feel her glare and would understand why, Weiss didn't agree with most things Atlas did, but she also didn't like how Robyn was doing things around Mantle as well.
Jaune just sighed, "They know," Jaune said
RWBY and ORN looked at June with shock expressions
"You told them!?" Weiss cried
"Look, I know you don't agree with me telling them-"
"Your damn right I don't agree!" Weiss said, "What the hell are you thinking Jaune!?"
"I was thinking this was the best outcome!" Jaune cried back
Weiss recoiled when he raised his voice at her, as did everyone else, not once had Jaune ever raised his voice at his friends in such a manner.
Jaune looked at them all, "Listen to me, Tyrian was there last night" Jaune told them
Ruby, Nora, and Ren looked at him with wide eyes.
"Are you sure!?" Nora asked
"Yeah, talked to me for a bit before Penny jumped on stage" Jaune said
"What did he say? why was he here?" Ruby asked
"Why do you think?" Jaune asked
The four who knew who Tyrian was and who he worked for was was clear and why he was here was even clearer. He was after the Relic.
"Who are you guys talking about?" Blake asked
"Tyrian Callows" Ren told her "He's a scorpion Faunus that came after the four of us when we were heading to Mistral, he wanted to take ruby and when we didn't let me he fought us, he was good, we couldn't even get a hit on him"
"If it wasn't for Qrow stepping in, we would've died," Nora said
"How dangerous is he?" Oscar asked
"You remember how strong I am with my semblance?" Nora asked
Oscar shuddered, "how could I forget?"
"He stopped me while I was energized," Nora said "with his tail"
For those who knew of Nora's strength, knowing that stopping her attacks when her Semblance is in use knew it was no easy feat. Nora was the 3rd strongest 1st year-fight back in Beacon, she even managed to knock out Yang and stun Pyrrha with her attacks, Hell, even professor Port had difficulty stoping Nora's attacks, he had even said that he hadn't been that tuckered out since the fight he had with an Elder Ursa Major when Vale was Breached, which they all saw, and knew never to doubt Port's stories, which is why he had named Nora his Favorite student.
"And he's not here alone either," Jaune said
"How do you know?" Yang asked
"The rally's building had its power cut off, but I noticed that all the lights outside weren't and while a building losing its power isn't uncommon, do you really believe that the rally's power just so happened to go out as soon as Tyrian went on a rampage?" Jaune asked
"So it was planned," Yang said, "but how do you know this Tyrian guy didn't cause it?"
"Because I don't think he's that good" Jaune said "which means he had help, and once u suspected that, I knew there was only a few people who could shut off the power of a building with the flick of a switch"
"Those with Atlas Special code to its database" Weiss said
Jaune nodded
"Which means it was an Inside Job," Weiss said "But the question is who, not just anyone has that kind of a clearance"
"Yeah I know, which is why I went and asked Pietro for information" Jaune replied, "I asked him if I could see the files on the Atlas's top five scientists"
"What makes you think it was one of them?" Ruby asked
"Because the only other people to have that access are the councilor and general of Atlas, which is still Ironwood for the moment," Weiss told Ruby
"Yeah and I think I found who might've done it," Jaune said as he opened up his scroll and pressed on Arthur's file and sent it to everyone else.
"His Name it Arthur Watts, I looked at his current status and I noticed he's been missing before the fall of Beacon, in fact, he went missing just a few weeks after the first few weeks of our first year began," Jaunr told them "I also looked more into it and it turned out that most of his projects had been rejected by Ironwood, In fact, there was a fall out between them and I mean a huge one before Watts was pronounced missing"
"Jaune's right" Blake agreed "It's too convenient, not to mention this guy might have a grudge with Ironwood"
"Alright, so we know who's behind the attack and who framed Penny," Ruby said "let's get back to Atlas and Tell General Ironwood about this"
"No," Jaune said
Ruby looked to her fellow leader, as did everyone else. Some looked confused while Some, like Yang, already knew why Jaune didn't want to let this go to Ironwood.
"What? why?" Ruby asked
"Look, we'll tell him when the time is right and when we know where we can find them," Jaune said
"But why can't we tell him to know!? If we do, We'll have the whole Kingdom on our back" Ruby said
"That's the problem" Yang spoke up "Ironwood is rash, we won't listen to us if he thinks he can stop this right here and now, but if we try and stop it now, without any information about where we can find these two, they'll go into hiding and they might even have enough time to work up a new plan"
"No, we need to go to him now" Weiss butted in "look we've already betrayed Ironwoods trust with telling them"
"We've been betraying his trust since the moment we've arrived," Oscar said
Everyone turned to him, Oscar looked the liked the most guilty person here. Oscar sighed and took a deep breath, Having Ozpin's entire life memories stuck in your head was both a blessing and a curse. He knew how long Ozpin had been fighting and what he did, Ozpin was almost never a man of action, he waited. Ozpin was smart, and at times he would take action, but he was mostly scared. Scared that what he might do was the wrong call. Scared for so many reasons, but Oscar knew one major one, one reason why Ozpin was so scared to fight. But he also knew that maybe doing the opposite of Ozpin might work to take action, but Oscar can see that Ironwood was truly a man of to much action. Both ways wouldn't work, too much inaction and it crushed you, to much action and you'd be crushing yourself and your enemy at the same time.
"Listen to me... I know that Ozpin has done almost nothing to actually stop Salem, and I know from Oz's memories of James, that he would want to end this to quick, not taking into account the consequences" Oscar began "And while there are many reasons why one of them is because they weren't on the same level as Salem"
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked
"Maybe Jaune's right... About not telling Ironwood" Oscar replied
"You can't be serious?" Blake said "we keep secrets from him we're no better then Ozpin"
"We already are as bad as him," Yang told her partner "we all know why"
Robyn could sense the tension was rising between everyone, she had to both disagree and agree with Jaune and with his friends who wanted to tell Ironwood. She agreed that it was a good idea not to tell Ironwood just yet, but if he found out himself somehow then there would be repercussions with all of them ending in big trouble.
"How about this" Robyn spoke up "Jaune will stay with us and we'll keep looking for those two, while you guys try and keep Ironwood off out tails, and once we know where they are then, we'll tell Ironwood" Robyn finished
Jaune, Yang, Oscar, and Nora agreed with it, while Blake and Ren reluctantly agreed, but Weiss and Ruby didn't like it. The two of them were still thought it was better to go straight to Ironwood.
"Look, I know you don't like it, but if we can't find them in a week, you can tell Ironwood," Robyn said, "sound fair?" She asked
Weiss nodded, she would allow them time as it was fair. But Ruby still didn't agree, she wanted everyone to work together, and this might strain the bonds they've made with Ironwood. However, she knew it was a fair deal and reluctantly shook her head in agreement.
"Good, not get back to Atlas, tell Ironwood you still couldn't find Jaune but tell him he wasn't with us, come up with something so Ironwood doesn't think were holding your friend hostage and puts an arrest out for us," Robyn told them
They agreed and Jaune went with them as they were slowly leaving, Yang turning back to him before following the others
"Jaune, Do you really think this is a good idea? I'm asking because I know I'm in, but are you sure your fine with it?" She asked
"We need to play their game Yang" Jaune replied "If we tell Ironwood, Things could get messy, sure it might work out but we don't know their entire plan"
Yang nodded, "good, And I'll make sure none of us let the word out," Yang said
Jaune nodded as yang turned around and left. Jaune told his friends he would see them later and they did the same. Jaune then went back inside and let out a sigh before sitting on the couch.
"You ok their kid?" Joanna asked
Jaune nodded, "I'm fine" Jaune responded, he then looked around and noticed that the other three Huntresses were gone, he knew May had left earlier but didn't know where to. "where did everyone else go?"
"May went out to get some fast-food, while Robyn went to go look over some papers as well as see some requests from some civilians to see what we could do for them, and Fi's up on the roof" Joanna responded.
Jaune nodded, "Well, I'm gonna see what she's doing all by herself," Jaune said as he got up and headed upstairs
Joanna nodded with a smile, "go get her tiger" She said with a chuckle.
.
.
.
Fiona looked over to hills and saw the light behind the Mountains and she could see three or two stars already in the sky. The Sky itself was a mix of that orange and purple mixture she loved so much as a child. It was times like this where she remembered living back in Vale in her village and more importantly, how her father would sing to her before bed around this time.
"~Sing me a song of a lass that is gone Say, could that lass be I? Merry of soul she sailed on a day Over the sea to Skye~" Fiona began to sing
She loved over the snowy land and how beautiful it still was despite its harsh coldness.
"~Mull was astem, Rum on the port, Eigg on the starboard bow~" Fiona sang "~Glory of youth, Glowed in his soul, where is that Glory now?~"
The Song began to stir feeling within her, she had missed her Father dearly and hoped that he was indeed in a better place
"~Sing me a song of a lass that is gone Say, could that lass be I? Merry of soul she sailed on a day Over the sea to Skye~" She sang
"Beautiful Song" Came a voice
Fiona squealed before quickly turned around and saw Jaune, he was standing there smiling at her, Fiona took a deep breath in to ease her sudden fright. "By the god's Lad! You Fuckin' startled me!" Fiona cried
"Sorry," Jaune told her "Just had to say something"
"Liked it?" Fiona asked with a smile
"How could I not, you sang it beautifully" Jaune replied
Fiona blushed and her ears flapped, "stop saying stuff like that!" She cried with a smile, "you're making me blush!"
"Well I'm not wrong," Jaune told her "It's a lovely song, where did you learn it?" He asked
"My father use to sing it to me when I was a wee lass" Fiona replied "Loved it since then"
Jaune nodded, he could see the look in her eyes as she stared off into the sky. It was a look he known all too well, it was the same look he had when he remembered and missed his family.
"You never really told me about your parents," Jaune told her "what were they like?"
Fiona sighed, "My father was a veteran in the Faunus Rights-war, He was strong and sturdy, yet he was a big dope as well, kinda like you," Fiona told him "You would've like him"
Jaune looked at her, "what happened to him?" Jaune asked
Fiona looked at him and then back to the sky, "He was trying to break up a bar fight but then some drunkard broke a bottle and stabbed him in the throat" Fiona said with a bit of an angry tone.
"I'm sorry... I know what it's like to lose someone close to you" Jaune told her
"I just hated the fact that my father died such a rotten way, and by a drunk" Fiona grumbled, "my father was a good man, he didn't deserve to die on such a way," Fiona said
Jaune looked to her and could tell she was angry and very upset, he could see a small tear forming in her left eye and understood why she was in such mood if something like that ever happened to another one of his friends or family. Jaune moved closer to her and wrapped his arm around her body, holding her shoulder.
"He sounds like a good man," Jaune said "he raised a good daughter to"
Fiona smiled and wiped her eyes, already removing the tears before they could even fall. She appreciated that Jaune was comforting her, it felt nice and it made her happy to know that he could understand her in yet another way again.
"So about that date?" Jaune asked
"Yeah?" Fiona asked
"How about tomorrow? it's Sunday and I'm sure it'll be a good day for a date" Jaune told her
Fiona smiled again and nodded, "sounds grand" Fiona told him "anything Fancy?" She asked
"Nah, not yet al least," Jaune told her with a smile
Fiona chuckled, "good" Fiona said, "So have you figured out where are ya slipping lad?" Fiona asked
"Couch maybe," Jaune said
"Trust me Jaune, you sleep on that couch and in the morning your feel a bit bate," Fiona told him
"then where do I sleep? with you?" Jaune asked with a smiled
Silence filled the air as both Jaune and Fiona took in the words that were said. Both blushed, and while there was no innuendo there, it was still embarrassing for both of them. Fiona's ear flapped once before she turned back to Jaune
"I-I mean you could... if ya like?" Fiona asked, her face now red and her ears flapping again.
Jaune could barley contain his heartbeat and the blood rushing to his face, but then again, Fiona was right, and besides it couldn't be too bad
Right?