Authors note:

Well, I don't really have much to say here. I guess I'll thank you for your continued support? Never thought I'd have nothing to say. Which makes me wonder why I'm still typing. Tradition I guess?

Either way, thank you for reading! Remember, enjoy and review! Or don't. You don't have to.

Chapter 4: Don't Threaten me with a Good Time

It took all of five minutes for Jaune to calm down. Both Joan and Mona sat in front of him as they looked around awkwardly. Caroline and Justine poked their head out of the door, trying to listen in on what was being discussed.

"Ok, this is fine." It wasn't.

"I can deal with this." That he could. He took a deep breath, then let it out. "I'm fine." He gave Joan a smile that seemed just a small bit too kind. "Now, what exactly did you tell her?"

Joan turned to the side and gave a small cough into her hand. "...I just told her that you have some strange power, and that you're planning something."

"And she believed you?" He raised an eyebrow.

She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I'm not really that good at lying. Well, it's more like I can't lie at all."

Ah, he should have guessed. She does seem like the honest type.

"I see, then I guess there's no point convincing her that you didn't see it? Or you just imagined it?"

She shook her head. "None. She believes me, and once she sets her mind to something she won't focus on anything else."

He stood up. "Well then, I have a few calls to make. I guess I'll see you later."

Before he left, she called his name. "Jaune, before you go, I thought I'd let you know that she doesn't come back until tomorrow. You have until then to figure something out"

"Why are you helping me?"

"I've always been a good judge of character. And, well, you haven't done anything wrong." She awkwardly shrugged. "You seem like a good person."

He blinked. "Thanks, I guess?" They stood in silence for a while. "I, uh, should get going."

She moved her hands in a rushed panic. "Oh yea! Go, go! And I'll be sure to explain to the rest of them about the twins."

Jaune nodded his head in appreciation and left the room .

Later, in his room, he started to call people. His plan was already halfway made in his mind.

"Futaba?"

"Jaune! What did I tell you!? I asked you to call me the moment you got there! And don't you dare tell me that that you just did, I started to track your phone the moment you got on the train."

He laughed softly. "I know, I'm sorry. Something happened. I'll explain it once we have everyone together, and when we have everything ready."

"Jaune? Is everything alright?"

"I'll say this for now." His voice became serious, the one he used whenever he was giving out commands in the metaverse. "Tell everyone to get ready to fight. Train, whatever. Just make sure you aren't rusty."

She was silent for a moment. "Jaune, why do you keep getting involved with these things?" She let out a sigh. "Fine, I won't ask. Is that it?"

"No, I actually need your hacking abilities." Jaune smirked. "I hope you haven't gone rusty."

She scoffed. "Oi, who do you think you're talking to? Give me a name, and I'll be set."

"Give me all dirt on one Julia Arc. Anything I'd be able to use in negotiations."

"That's it? This won't take me two minutes." He could hear the sound of Futaba's fingers clicking the keys. They were fast, he couldn't tell when one press ended and the next one began without the help of his Third Eye. "Damn, Beacon really needs to up their Cyber Security. It was only slightly better than the security in the police departments."

She began looking through the system. "Let's see here, we got some small case assault charges, cases of discrimnation." She widened her eyes. "Murder charges? It says here that it was in self-defense, but this sounds extremely sketchy. Seems like the files were tampered with…"

"Can you find out who?"

"I could." She admitted. "But it would take awhile. These files are much more secure than the other ones. Someone really doesn't want to be seen. I'll need four days tops."

He clicked his tongue. "I don't have that sort of time. This will have to do for now." He would have to bullshit his way through. Maybe make her think he knew? He would figure it out later.

"One last thing. I need you to look for something. This isn't as urgent, but I'd like it done in a couple of days."

"Yea, yea, you're a busy man. Just tell me."

"I need you to look for anything about any event that included a group of teenagers that happened in a place where something bad happened. They shouldn't be much older than us, around 20, with the max being 30 if you have to."

Futaba paused. "Thats, oddly specific. I might actually need those days." He could hear her lean forward in her chair. "Got it. I'll message you when I get something."

Jaune nodded. "Right. And Futaba?"

"Hmm?" She hummed.

"Thanks. You're the best."

"I'm expecting at least three plates of curry."

Jaune sighed. "Right."

He cut the call, then prepared himself for what would be a very difficult call. The phone started ringing, and he started to speak. "Akechi?"

"Ah Jaune? Are you here with good news?"

"Umm." He scratched his cheek with his finger. "Not exactly."

He told Akechi what happened. The bomb was dropped, and all he could was to mitigate the damage. "You WHAT?!"

Jaune shushed his rival. "Quite down, other people are in the house, remember?"

"You have no right to say anything right now." Akechi snapped.

"Hey, It wasn't just my fault! You're the one who said not to worry about people listening in."

"Why yo-" He tsked. "It doesn't matter anymore." Jaune could already imagine the face Akechi was making. "How are we going to deal with this?"

"I've already talked to Futaba about it. Got her to look into her file."

"And?"

"A couple of assault charges, some cases of discrimnation. That's not the biggest thing though. Murder charges, seems as if they were covered up as well. Remind you of someone?"

Again, Jaune could imagine the scowl on his face. That put a smile on his own. "You littl-" He took a deep breath in and out. "Okay, okay. Do you have any idea who?"

"None, Futaba said she could figure it out, but it would take a couple of days. Time I don't have."

"I see, how much time do we have?"

"She comes back tomorrow. If I were to guess, it would probably be around 3 or 4 midday."

His voice became smug, a very familiar sound. "Well, It just so happens that I'm about to meet my info broker about our little issue. They say there's nothing he doesn't know. It wouldn't be the first time you needed my help dealing with your dirty work."

Ok, he deserved that. "Well then, you should get going. It would be a shame if you died from old age before you got there."

"I'm two years older than you."

"You're also technically dead, but you don't see me pointing out the details."

"I'm going to kill you."

"You already tried. Twice."

"I'm going to hang up before you give me a goddamn seizure."

"I haven't already? Shame."

The call cut almost instantly. Maybe he should calm down with annoying him for a while. However, the man also tried to kill him, so he thinks he's justified.

On the other side of the house, the two twins sat down awkwardly on the couch as both teams stared them down. Silence filled the air, no one wanting to break it.

Of course, Nora was also in the room, so that notion was promptly destroyed with the subtlety of a jackhammer in a construction site. She practically launched herself onto them, giving the two a massive bear hug. "Oh. My. God! Look at them, they're so cute! They have matching eye patches. Rin, can we get matching eye patches? We could be pirates."

Rin sighed, the tension having broken."Nora, no. And get off them, you're making them uncomfortable."

Nora jumped off the seat and sat down next Rin. "Oopsie! Sorry, it's just that you are the most adorable kids I've ever seen. Just look at them! I could squeeze those cheeks so much. Now that I think about it…"

"Nora!" Rin nearly barked out.

"I'm joking!" There was something in her eyes that told the twins otherwise. They would need to be on guard around her.

"We got the gist of it from Joan." Yang spoke up. "So you're the guy's sisters?"

"Basically. He treats us like we are anyway."

Yang's face grew mischievous. "So what's he like? When he's in his normal, ya know, space. Get me?"

Pyrrha joined the conversation. "I'm sorry if we are a small bit intrusive, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious myself."

"He does seem a little, I guess uptight around us." Blake added. "It would be nice to know what he really is like."

Justine smiled softly. "That's understandable, you simply wish to know more about the person living with you." She thought about it for a moment. "If I were to describe him, I'd say he would be a Trickster."

Ruby looked at the two confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Caroline scoffed. "What she is trying to say, is that he's mischievous. He likes teasing people, and he loves tricking them. Especially if you're someone he doesn't like. At times it feels like he's always five steps ahead of you."

"He is also what one would call a blowhard." Justine added. "Anytime he gets the chance, he will make sure to make a show of whatever he's doing. If you aren't careful, he will run circles around you. "

Caroline nodded in agreement. "Your right, he does love showing off."

The two teams listened in with a worried expression. They weren't hearing the best of things about their fellow tenant. He didn't sound like the greatest of men.

"He's not all bad though." Justine said. "He would do anything for his friends. Even risk his livelihood to protect them. He's also stubborn to a fault. If he notices that something is wrong with you, he won't stop until you let him help you." She smiled as she said. It was clear they held him in high regard.

Pyrrha stared at the two. Something felt off about them. They were almost too mature for their age. If she learned anything by now, it was to trust her instincts. And right now they were telling her something was-

"Oh yea, he also buys us ice cream any time we go out." Caroline added.

Justine gasped. "Oh my. How could I forget! Yes, that is the most important part."

Ruby's mouth was wide open. "He does! Oh my god, I'm so jealous." She huffed and crossed her arms. "Yang never does stuff like that. It's always "You can't keep eating stuff like this" and "Ruby, you just ate two entire packets of cookies yesterday, this isn't healthy." I'm sick of it!"

Caroline smirked victoriously. "Ha, that sucks. Guess we just have the better sibling."

Pyrrha sweat dropped. Maybe this once, she was.

Jaune entered the room. "Justine! Caroline! Are you ready? I told you we would be getting you some new clothes. I already spoke to Sojiro about it, he sent me some money for it." He didn't, he already had enough money to last him for a long time, but he didn't exactly want to air that out. He was already changed, wearing the same clothes he wore the day he arrived at the house.

They both sat up and walked towards him. Jaune turned towards the front door and walked out. The twins turned back before they did the same and stared at Ruby, a victorious smile on their lips.

Ruby, having released what them going out with Jaune met, simply fell to her knees in defeat. She would cry out to the heavens, and ask them why they cursed her with a worse sibling.

She would pretend she hadn't heard that 'hey!' in the background.

Weiss sighed. "Are you done?"

Ruby shot up and sat back down next to her team. "Yea, basically."

Later That Day

It was already the evening by the time the three came back. The twins were wearing their new clothes, but they still kept their warden hats on. Caroline wore a simple blue zip-up hoodie with some torn jeans. The hoodie had some decals on it, black stars lined her sleeves, while a faded "S.W.A.T" was pasted on the back.

Justine decided to wear something that was a small bit more elegant. She decided to take her "Warden" outfit another step, while still normalizing it a small bit. She replaced her warderns shirt with a simple blue button down shirt, and wore a suit-vest over it. She still had the same black tie. Her shorts were gone as well and replaced with black trousers.

They both were finishing up eating their ice cream as they entered the house. Joan and her team were watching a movie as the three entered the house. Joan looked back at them "Oh, you're back. I got a key for another room, the girls can use that."

Jaune looked relieved. "Thanks Joan, you really helped me out." He turned to go into his room. Before he could, Joan called out to him. "Hey, are you sure you don't want to join us?"

He shook his head. "Nah, sorry, I should get some sleep early. I've got a big day tomorrow."

Joan widened her eyes, remembering what exactly happens tomorrow. "I understand, get some rest." She turned back around and continued to watch the movie.

Jaune freshened up and got changed. He sat down on his bed, as Mona appeared and settled down by his side.

He chuckled. "Where have you been all day?"

Mona looked up, and yawned. "I went exploring. They barely have half the places to see compared to Vale. It's not even funny."

"It's to be expected, you know. Vale is the biggest city in the Kingdom." Jaune pointed out.

"Still, they could at least have a sushi place open or something."

Jaune stared at the cat dryly. "You just want some sushi."

"Of course I do? Sushi's the best."

"You would say that. You're a cat."

"Yea, yea. Laugh it up." He paused for a moment. "Hey, what do you think will happen tomorrow?"

"I don't know." He admitted. "But thanks to Futaba, we aren't going in empty handed. We have something to work with."

"I guess. Well, it's not so different to what we normally do, so I should stop worrying."

He smiled. Of course, no difference at all. "Goodnight Mona."

"Night Jaune."

Or at least it would have been if Jaune's phone hadn't started ringing. He scrambled off his bed and grabbed his phone. Seeing who was calling, he picked up almost immediately. "Akechi, did you meet your guy?"

"I did, and I did learn some news. Rumor has it that someone in Beacon has been covering for her. No one mentions it though since there isn't any hard proof."

He could use that, and use that well. "I see, and our other thing?"

"I put a request in for a search. He should call me back in a couple of days with a list of places."

"Good. I asked Futaba the same thing, and she should be done in a couple of days as well. Once the situation here is cleared up, I'll get everyone to meet up in LeBlanc again."

"Good, god knows what you would get up to if you don't have me looking out for you."

"Same to you buddy. Call me if you learn anything else."

"I will. Bye for now Jaune."

"See ya." And like that the conversation was over.

"What was that about?" Mona asked.

"Akechi, we have some new info. Just something we can use against her if things get a little rough." Jane climbed back into his bed. "I'm gonna hit the sack. For real this time. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yea, me too."

Jaune woke up the next day, and went through the motions. He went into the kitchen and made him some coffee and breakfast. He decided against rice and curry and opted for just some toast. He prepared Mona's food while he was at it, and sat down to eat.

He was waiting. He knew what was going to happen, he was just waiting until then. He went for a light jog afterwards, and by the time he came back he knew the time had come. Julia Arc stood by the front door. She noticed him, and straightened her back. She motioned for him to follow her, reminding him of the first day.

They entered the same office they were in before. Again, she sat down in front of him. The only difference was the rone in the room, it would have been suffocating for anyone else. But after what he went through, it didn't affect him.

"You know." She started. "I should report you to my higher ups."

"You should?"

She sighed. "As much as I want to, I don't have enough proof. My trust in my daughter means nothing to her."

Her? He'd keep that in mind.

"Still." She looked back up into him. "Whatever you're planning, it would require you to leave this house right? Despite our earlier agreement, I could just not let you leave."

"You think I wouldn't be able to escape?"

"Even if you did, your life would be much harder with authorities trying to find you every step of the way. Would it not?"

"Why do that?"

"I don't know. Spite perhaps?"

He stayed silent.

She stood up, and walked towards her awards. "Do you know how Joan got into Beacon? She had only started training four years ago. Most people are trained as early as seven or eight. She begged me to let her go, and I kept saying no."

She picked one of them up, and stared at the plaque with her name written on it. "I couldn't believe what happened next. If there's one thing to know about us Arc's. Is that we take duels very seriously. She challenged me to a duel. If she could land a hit on me, I would get her into Beacon."

"I'm guessing she won?" He said. It was the only logical conclusion.

"She did, well too. She wasn't good with her sword then, and she wasn't strong, but she was smart, Pulled some strings and got her in.

"What are you saying here is that we duel. I'll record it, and if I win, I send it to a higher up. If you win, I let you go. What do you say?" She walked up to him and out stretched a hand, again reminding him of their previous meeting.

He could feel his blood pumping. A smile grew on his lips, his eyes became focused. This feeling, oh how he missed it. He grabbed the hand.

And shook it.

Authors note:

Wait, do I have to write a fight in the next chapter?

Fuck.

I hope you enjoyed, remember to review. See you in the next one!