"Intruder detected!" The calm artificial female voice echoed through the halls outside. "All students and non security personnel are to clear the hallways and remain where they are. Remain calm."
Jaune watched as the General pushed a series of commands into the controls on his desk as the intercom fed him data. "I want a security team deployed to the R&D vault immediately!" He ordered drawing one of his large caliber revolvers and popping the cylinder to inspect the rounds in their chambers.
"We're already deploying them sir!" The voice on the intercom confirmed.
"This is Specialist Winter Schnee, General I am on my way to your location!" Winter announced on the intercom.
"Copy that Specialist Schnee," Ironwood said.
"General Ironwood sir!" Penny's voice announced over the intercom. "This is Penny Polendina requesting permission to move to the east wing and help secure the R&D vault."
"Negative Penny," Ironwood said, "remain in your current position, protect your father!"
"But I can fight and I am close!" She protested.
"Your father is a potential target Penny, maintain your current position and keep him safe. That's an order!" Ironwood commanded.
"Yes General," Penny said, "is Jaune with you currently?"
"Mr. Arc is here in my office, yes," Ironwood confirmed for her.
Jaune felt a jolt of realization and embarrassment, he was the only huntsman here with the General. He was expected to help protect him, wasn't he? Jaune drew Crocea Mors and activated the shield turning to the door as if something would suddenly come through the locked and reinforced steel door.
"You have not been cleared for action Mr. Arc," Ironwood told him.
"I'm to remain here right?" Jaune asked, giving him a shrug. "So if an attacker does come through that door would you like me to sit in the corner?" Jaune asked him sarcastically.
Ironwood smirked, amused at the young knight. "I see your point," he said, "thankfully I do not believe we are in danger Mr. Arc, the body was found far from here, the two most likely targets close to that area are the R&D laboratories and Penny, I'm deploying multiple security teams to that area and another is on its way here."
"What about the Ace Ops?" Jaune asked him, "shouldn't this be a job for them?"
"They're currently away on another mission," Ironwood explained to him, "the timing has me a little worried."
"Hopefully a coincidence," Jaune said as the lights suddenly died and plunged the General's office into darkness. Pale moonlight filtered through the half dome window in the back of the wall leaving the rest of the office in a dark void.
Ironwood lunged to his desk pressing the button for the intercom. "This is Ironwood status rep-!"
"Wait General!" Jaune cried moving immediately towards him as a barrage of automatic fire splintered his desk. The hard light dusk in his shield activated and the rounds impacted against the surface shielding them both.
Muzzle flashes illuminated the shooter. A figure dressed black fired twin machine pistols raining brass onto the marble floor as he peppered Jaune's shield with gunfire. Ironwood raised from behind the protection of the hard light shield and fired. His revolver roared as he fired on the assassin only for the shots to strike the ceiling when the assassin dropped from the ceiling.
The assassin landed gracefully on the floor amongst the scattered casings. The gunman ejected both magazines from his machine pistols and moved to reload when Jaune charged.
He leapt down the short steps leading to Ironwood's desk and rushed the assailant. A pistol morphed into a short bladed sword and thrust forward for Jaune's face from across the room. The assassin's arm seemed to stretch like rubber to attack him, making the knight stumble as he barely deflected the attack with his shield.
The assassin's elastic arm retracted back to him and he raised his second machine pistol freshly reloaded and unleashed a barrage of gunfire at General Ironwood forcing him behind his desk as he fired off several more shots.
Jaune kept pressing forward only for the rubbery appendage to strike out at him slashing and stabbing at him with the gun blade. Jaune parried the strikes and caught the blows on his shield as he moved in closing the distance and attacked, lashing out with Crocea Mors.
The assailant dodged the blows with an unnaturally fluid grace. The attacker's strange semblance let him evade the attacks with ease, bending and stretching freakishly to dodge and parry Jaune's onslaught of attacks.
The assassin kicked a foot out to Jaune's ankle, the limb stretched and wrapped around the knight's leg like a serpent retracing to trip him. Jaune landed on his back and raised his shield as the gunman leveled his pistol at him and fired. The gun sounded like tearing cloth as it unleashed a torrent of lead into Jaune's shield, the rounds shattering against the surface.
Ironwood's revolver barked as the General burst out from behind the cover of his desk firing. The assassin's gun blade danced deflecting the shots. The heavy revolver clicked empty and Ironwood popped the cylinder letting gravity expel the spent casings.
The assailant struck as the General reloaded, his elastic arm snapping out with a thrust of the gun blade. Ironwood dodged to the side and caught the attacker's arm. The General gripped the stretched limb in his hand holding it with inhuman strength. Ironwood flipped his empty revolver in his hand and yanked back on the stretched limb pulling the attacker to him and smashing the butt of his revolver against his face. He spun and threw the attacker slamming him against the wall. Ironwood again popped the cylinder of his revolver and loaded a moon clip of dust rounds and fired.
The assassin sprang off the wall as the General's rounds impacted harmlessly against the cracked stone wall. The assassin fired his pistol again trying to spray his target with more automatic fire only for the barrage of bullets to again be stopped by Jaune's shield as he stepped into the line of fire activating the hard light dust.
The assassin extended his arm stretching it to attack once more with the gun blade. Jaune dodged, he dropped to his knee and let the elastic appendage pass overhead. He swung Crocea Mors in an arc over his head. The assassin's aura flared and shattered into light as the knight's ancestral sword cleaved through the stretched arm.
The arm snapped like a rubber band and the assailant screamed. Blood splashed across the floor and sprayed Jaune. The dismembered arm fell to the floor still clutching the gun blade. The assassin fired the other machine pistols and retreated back into the dark shadows at the end of the room disappearing into the black void.
Crash!
White light blinded Jaune filling his vision with spots. The door and wall to Ironwood's office was smashed open, flooding the office with the white light of the hallway, a cloud of dust and debris filling the office. The powerful form of a glowing white grimm manticore snarled and roared as the light revealed the wounded assassin. Winter stood behind her summoned creature sword leveled at the intruder. "Surrender now!" Winter threatened.
The assassin sprinted. He turned for the large window at the back of the office and ran for it firing a burst again at Ironwood, more to suppress than kill as he moved to escape dodging Jaune as he moved to stop him. The assassin emptied the rest of his weapon into the window shattering the glass as he moved to leap from it.
The assailant leapt onto Ironwood's desk when the General's revolver roared, the round cutting through the assassin's leg stopping him in his tracks making him fall to his knees on the desk.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Rifle fire snapped and struck the assassin. Clean and surgical shots ended the assassin, muzzle flashes from outside the window showing the soldiers. The Atlas security team repelled down outside the window swinging through the shattered glass with their rifles raised scanning the room for further threats. They filled the room like water checking every shadow and corner before declaring the room clear.
"General Sir!" One of the soldiers said moving up to Ironwood. "Are you injured sir?" He asked, shining a light on his superior looking him over. Only a second later did Jaune find the same being done to him with one of the soldiers inspecting him. "I'm fine Sergeant!" Ironwood assured him, "but I'm afraid you and your team killed the only person who could have given me any answers."
"Sorry General, our priority was to neutralize the threat and keep you safe," the sergeant explained unapologetically.
"The kid is fine," the other soldier reported, "this isn't his blood."
"General!" Winter said snapping a salute. "I am pleased to see you unharmed."
"At ease Specialist," Ironwood instructed holstering his revolver. "And can you please explain to me why you felt the need to demolish the door and wall leading to my office?"
"The door was locked and I heard gunfire," Winter explained looking a little embarrassed by the General's question, "plus you were unresponsive to my attempts to contact you."
"JAUNE!" The shout echoed from down the hall as a red and green blur. Penny rocketed down the hallway barging through the hole in the wall flying on her jet boots to land right in front of Jaune. "Are you hurt!? Where are you bleeding!?" She asked, laying her gloved hands on him as she searched for wounds staining herself with red.
"I'm fine!" Jaune assured her, stepping away from her. "It's not my blood," he explained, exacerbated at her fretting over him.
"Penny!" Ironwood barked. "Why are you not with your father like I ordered?"
She turned to see the General staring at her and stepped to attention. "I was worried when we lost contact with you sir," she explained, "my father understood my concern and urged me to go."
"Your father is not your commanding officer Penny!" Ironwood reprimanded, "you deliberately disobeyed a direct order!"
Penny averted her gaze and instead looked nervously at the floor. "I am sorry sir," she said timidly, "I was concerned and thought it best that I personally intervene."
Ironwood looked from Penny to Jaune. The knight tried not to flinch from his stare, he averted his gaze only to find Winter looking at him as well. "Go clean yourself up Mr. Arc," he instructed, breaking the relative silence that hung between them. "Penny accompany him back to his dorm room, we're still on lockdown, we'll discuss your insubordination later."
Jaune nodded and turned to leave happy to be excused from the wrecked office. He stepped over rubble and brass shell casings as he walked, Penny followed behind.
"Oh and Mr. Arc," Ironwood said, the knight turned back to face him. "I'll be clearing you for combat, you can return to duty when you feel you are ready."
Jaune nodded, "thank you sir."
"General Sir," he heard Winter address Ironwood as he left out the hole she'd demolished in the wall, "it seems you were not the only target, there's been a report of more bodies being found in the west wing, they hit the R&D lab."
Jaune left them to handle the crisis, he stepped out into the hallway and moved for the elevator. The same artificial voice on the intercom kept repeating itself warning of an intruder and instructing everyone to remain where they were.
"The elevators are deactivated," Penny told him, "we will have you use the stairs."
Jaune nodded and took a left for the stairwell. They descended the steps together in silence finding their desired floor before moving towards the dormitories. Jaune replayed the fight again and again in his mind. Another assassin, this time the General had clearly been the target. First Penny, now General Ironwood and they still had no idea who was orchestrating the attacks or why.
They reached this dorm room and stepped in, it was empty. It usually was these days, with everyone still busy, his time in the dorm was quiet with Ren and Nora usually leaving early and coming back late tired. Even though his teammates tried to enjoy some time with him before getting some well deserved rest.
"Jaune, are you ok?" Penny asked him tentatively, ending the silence between them.
Jaune nodded. He was unharmed and well but he was still feeling the adrenaline. His heart was pounding and his chest and his ears had a little ring courtesy from all the gunfire.
"You can put your sword down now," Penny said.
Jaune hadn't realized he was still holding Crocea Mors, his grasp on the hilt was firm, he was still ready for an attack. He released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and collapsed the shield back into its scabbard to sheath his blade and set it aside.
"Here I will help you get cleaned up," Penny said, stepping into the little bathroom and wetting a washcloth.
"I'm fine," Jaune assured her, "I'll take a shower." It took him a second to realize just how messy he was. It wasn't just the assassin's blood but dust from when Winter shattered through the wall and fragments of shattered glass from the security team rappelling through the window. He felt a thick coat of the dust in his mouth and coughed.
Jaune grabbed a glass from the desk and moved to the bathroom to fill it. Penny put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him and taking the glass from his hand filling it up.
A stab of annoyance hit Jaune. He was fine, a little shaken maybe. He was just coming down from the adrenaline and wanted to wash this awful taste from his mouth. But ever since they got back she'd been like this, like he was too fragile to do anything himself. Was that why she'd defied the General's orders? To protect him?
Penny filled the glass and handed it to him. He took it and it exploded in his left hand, shattering into a hundred shards and splashing water everywhere. It shocked Jaune and he jumped back in surprise. He looked at his hand, his aura had protected him from any cuts. His two bionic fingers were still curled tightly turning a couple of shards into powder. It'd been his new fingers that'd squeezed too hard.
"Are you alright Jaune!?" Penny stammered rushing forward to inspect his hand.
Jaune snapped his hand away from her. "I'M FINE!" He shouted at her, she stopped in her tracks and Jaune felt the last week of frustration boil over. "GO BOTHER SOMEONE ELSE! I DON'T NEED A ROBOT BABYING ME!"
Penny's eyes widened, stricken at his outburst. The look of hurt that colored her features was a knife of guilt to Jaune's chest. He opened his mouth to apologize but she took off.
She was a blur of green and red hair as she rushed out the door and took off. Her jet boots roared as she took off faster than he could follow and rocketed down the hallway and away.
Jaune sighed and closed his door. The intercom reminded him that he wasn't supposed to be out and about because of the lockdown. He needed to cool off, not add to his troubles by getting caught trying to look for a girl.
He turned back to the cold empty room. The spark of anger that he'd directed towards Penny now smouldered as anger to himself. He cursed himself hoping it'd help, it didn't. He unstrapped his armor and tossed the rest of his clothes into the laundry hamper stepping into the bathroom to start his shower.
The watered helped, if only a little. It washed away the blood, dust and sweat and helped calm his thoughts leaving him to focus his thoughts on Penny and how he was going to make this right.
General James Ironwood pressed the button for the intercom on the desk. "How many dead?" He asked the as the terminal in front of him displayed much of the relevant data.
"We have counted five so far," the intercom informed him, "two in the R&D wing and three more on the landing pad, the bullhead was taken before the academy even entered lockdown."
The terminal showed him the security camera footage outside the research and development laboratories. A lone female Faunus with a black and white tipped fox tail entered into the laboratories with a keycard and disappeared. After that looped footage of empty hallways continued for quite some time until the first body was discovered and the alarm was sounded and a long while afterwards.
"I want that bullhead found," Ironwood ordered knowing that in all likelihood even if they did recover the stolen craft it would likely be too late.
"Of course sir we'll be deploying teams once the lockdown is lifted." The intercom informed him. The lockdown would likely last another hour as the security teams cleared the academy sector by sector, the General doubted they'd find any other intruders at this point but they wouldn't leave any stone unturned if it could be helped.
"Begin immediate analysis on the intruder, I want to know who she is and what she stole," Ironwood said.
"We already have a team down in the lab determining what was taken now sir, you should be given a preliminary update soon." He said.
Ironwood leaned back in his chair and sighed massaging his temples. "Do you have a headache sir! I have some medication in the drawer if you wish." Winter told him sitting to his side. This was in fact her desk he was sitting behind considering his own along with his office were unfit for official use currently. Luckily the Specialist had expectantly kept a clean and organized workspace with only one personal item, a framed picture of her sister Weiss.
"I do not think it would help," Ironwood admitted looking up to his subordinate. "That thief killed more and damaged more than that assassin," he grumbled, "and all I can do currently is wait to hear the extent of the damages cause and contemplate today's events, I'm afraid a pill would do little to ease this headache."
"My apologies sir," Winter said.
"You have nothing to apologize for Miss Schnee," he said, scanning the various emails being forwarded to him detailing initial reports on the theft and attempt on his life.
"If this incident is related to my investigation I believe I do sir," Winter said, "I was supposed to uncover any leaks in our security and find potential accomplices and informants as Mr. Arc theorized, if I had done so this might have been prevented."
Ironwood shook his head at her. "Perhaps, but we have to figure out how this happened before anyone starts pointing fingers, this may have been something far outside our control."
Winter nodded in understanding. "Thank you sir."
Ironwood turned back to the terminal and scanned the data being sent directly to him, pieces of the puzzle being fit together as everyone dissected the events and evidence. Apparently a ventilation grate in the ceiling of his office had been bent, so far it seemed that the would be assassin had entered in through the small air vents, doubtlessly his rather unique semblance had assisted him seeing as it was too small for most people to crawl through, a security measure he'd correct. But more than the assassin and the theft weighed heavy on his mind.
"What do you think I should do about Penny?" He asked her, "it is rather unusual for her to disobey an order from me." Unusual, though not unheard of. She'd been rather defiant back at Vale, before the Vital Festival. Sneaking how multiple times despite clear instructions not to.
"I don't know sir," Winter told him, "but I don't see any reason for you to be harsh with her, she only disobeyed out of concern."
But was her concern for him? Or for Jaune Arc? Ironwood wondered. "I'm sure I'll think of an appropriate punishment."
A message flashed across the screen, the preliminary report from the R&D lab detailing what had been stolen. Ironwood's fist smashed against the desk.
"Sir?" Winter said, wide eyed at his outburst. "What is it?"
"The theft was far worse than I could have imagined," Ironwood seethed.
"What was taken?" Winter asked.
"Vasily Patterson's weapons to start," he explained, "and that's not the worst of it."
"What is the worst of it?" She asked.
Ironwood scowled, "I'm afraid that's classified, even to you Specialist Schnee."
Hope you all enjoyed this week's chapter. The second arc is actually nearing its end and should conclude in another chapter or two. As always review and leave your thoughts and comments. And as always thank you MidKnightMoonglow99 for helping me plot out this story.