A/N: Had some technical difficulties that required some repairs to my laptop, but we're back! I hope you enjoy. As always, please read and review.

Sun and Neptune were rather quick on the uptake when I made my displeasure at being denied a chance to soak in the jacuzzi quite clear. What that means in practice is that after Neptune managed to get Sun's body free of the wall I had punted him headfirst halfway through, they were rather quick on the uptake. The aquaphobic man of the pair had simply shaken his head exasperatedly and walked the ten paces or so over to the crumbling wall, grasping tightly at Sun's dangling leg and yanking him free with a quiet grunt and a heave of effort. I stood there, a towel neatly fastened around my waist, idly sipping at my drink as the two morons cleaned themselves up. "So," I started. "What's the deal this time? You two lose another shipment of Dust weapons like last month or something?"

Sun, now very much free of any confining elements such as walls, had the decency to at least look somewhat ashamed; Neptune simply shook his head again, muttering lowly under his breath. These two chuckle-fucks had 'misplaced' a crate the size of a train-car that had been packed full of Dust rounds and high-grade Mistralian rifles, and my unit had been sent in to mop up the mess. Of course, it turned out that the Fang had been involved, and we eventually managed to get the package back, but it was far from the first time these two U.N.C.L.E. agents had royally fucked something up, and certainly not the first time I had been called in to pull their asses out of the fire.

Neptune stood a little bit straighter, reaching into his breast pocket to retrieve a Scroll. Wordlessly, he handed it to me, stuffing his hands back into his pockets shortly afterwards. I read the contents quickly, sending the file to my own Scroll once I had skimmed it thoroughly. This... could be troublesome. "You're absolutely sure of this?" I asked, my mouth set in a hard line. Sun looked serious for once, nodding firmly. "M had reached out to us the afternoon you left. We don't have the whole image yet, but since this whole cluster-fuck has crossed Kingdom lines, we're involved now." I pursed my lips, thinking it over. If we were to even have a slight chance of pulling off an operation of this level, everything, and I do mean everything, would have to go according to plan. That, of course, was a complete impossibility.

The three of us stepped out shortly after, the two U.N.C.L.E. agents having told me that we would meet at M's office. I took off at a brisk jog, reaching the changing rooms within seconds. After a short shower and shave, I changed back into my regular uniform. Charcoal grey suit, black tie, white dress shirt and shined black boots. Those silly Huntsmen and Huntresses go for all sorts of colorful clothing, and I can certainly see the point in it. After all, a Huntsman needs to be easily visible, something that ordinary civilians can easily rally around in the wake of a Grimm attack. They're practically celebrities, and they certainly dress the part. Me, on the other hand? Oh sure, I can kill Grimm with the best of them, but that's not my job. I was trained to deal with more... sentient targets. Hence the greys and blacks; wetwork isn't really the place for vibrant blues and greens after all.

Once I had toweled off my hair, still in its stubbornly wild style, and fastened my wristwatch I was off to the elevator, a soft ding preceding my trip up. As usual, the elevators in the Mistralian Intelligence Building are vastly more packed than they had any right to be. I quietly slipped inside, taking a spot towards the front-left corner, opposite the buttons. There were six others in the building, four humans and a Faunus that were clearly paper-pushers. The sixth was a diminutive young Faunus, as evidenced by the gently curling ram horns that poked out of his carefully groomed curls of hair. Nice guy, Roy something? I've worked with him on a handful of occasions; he's the quiet type, very respectful and generally kept to himself. He gave a slight nod towards me, one that I returned.

Within a few minutes, I had exited the elevator and made my way towards M's office. Before I could even knock, she called me in. "Agent Arc, I've been expecting you for the last few minutes. Please, take a seat." Doing as I was told, I entered the room, noticing Sun already sitting down in front of my boss, Neptune idly reclining against the desk a few feet away. Taking a chair, I simply gripped onto the edge, leaning over it as I stared at M. "Agent Arc, reporting for duty ma'am. What's the situation?"

She huffed, sorting through papers for a few moments as she shuffled and reshuffled them into the proper order. Said papers made their way into a manila folder, which was handed to me, with what I would assume to be identical copies going to the other two field agents shortly after. M looked as serious as she ever did, but behind those steely grey eyes I could see a hint of weariness. This truly must have been getting to her, much more than I had expected.

"I'll keep this brief and to the point, Agent Arc. Within 24 hours, there will be a cargo train departing from Vacuo to Vale. Within 72 hours, it will have reached just north of Vale City, in the vicinity of the Forever Fall forests. Our intelligence operatives have concluded that the White Fang plan to make an example of this cargo train. On board the vessel are the standard troupe of defenses; Atlesian Knight-130 model androids, Spider Droids, as well as human overseers. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem for our organization, given that U.N.C.L.E. usually handles cross-Kingdom crimes. Unfortunately, we have reason to suspect that Code-Name Raging Bull will be present, and while I don't doubt that you two," She said, gesturing towards Neptune and Sun, who simply shrugged in acceptance. "Are capable fighters, Mistralian Intelligence as well as U.N.C.L.E. have concluded that it would be too much of a risk to the operation to send you in solo. Thus, we're lending your organization Agent Arc for the duration of this mission."

It was about what I had expected given the briefing Neptune gave me. The two of them, despite their many faults, were certainly skilled fighters, and with Sun's Semblance their two-man team could rapidly become a six- or even eight-man platoon in a matter of seconds. They were solid field operatives if one forgave the general collateral damage and astoundingly bad luck on menial assignments, but with CN Raging Bull on the scene, plus Oum knows what else, they could definitely be overwhelmed. That's likely where I came in; my martial abilities were a boon on their own, and with my Semblance boosting Sun's, the three of us could rapidly become a whole squadron. Even the White Fang and Raging Bull would be hard-pressed to face that.

The plan wasn't particularly complicated, nor was it much of plan to begin with. I would shadow the two U.N.C.L.E. field agents while they made the initial arrest, and if, or more likely when, things got out of hand with Raging Bull, I would step in and provide support. Simple plans weren't bad, by any means. They often gave me more space to maneuver and shift as the situation itself changed. Nonetheless, I couldn't help but be worried. "Understood, ma'am. What interference, if any, will this have with my previous obligations?" I asked.

M looked rather nonplussed, shrugging her shoulders and letting out a low breath. "There shouldn't be any, Agent Arc. If anything, this will speed up your departure plans by a few days. Once the operation has been concluded, you'll stay in Vale City until the asset in Vale, or more likely their proxy, will reach out to you. Agents Wukong and Vasilias will return to their long-term assignment at Haven Academy. You three likely won't see each other again until at least the Vytal Festival, if even then." I nodded, idly twisting my wristwatch as I fiddled with the controls. You can never have enough back-up tools, after all, and after this I would need to install some lovely little modifications to my wardrobe, time-telling devices included. "Understood. If that will be all, ma'am, I believe Agents Wukong and Vasilias as well as myself ought to get ready. I'll rendezvous with you once the operation has been concluded."

It was a decent enough plan, and I had decent enough comrades for it. So why did I feel so worried?

72 Hours Later...

"I fucking knew this was a bad idea!" I roared out to Neptune, slipping behind the wreckage of at least three Atlesian Knight-130 androids as the ground in front of me was peppered with small-arms fire. Crocea Mors was fully unfolded in one hand, the other holding a standard-issue Mistralian bullpup rifle. Lorica Segmentata had taken a frankly ungodly load of punishment already, and frankly I was dead tired. Above me, I could spot the intense battle between the Spider Droid and Raging Bull, better known as the White Fang Branch Leader Adam Taurus. Their fight had torn half the roof off of our train-car, and the other half was caved in, dangling only by the strength of a few beams.

It had started off rather easily. Around 0600 hours, we had managed to spot Taurus as well as a female companion of his entering the rear-most train-car via climbing the cliffs nearby. Within three minutes, they had disabled all six of the AK-130's stationed on that particular car, before beginning their movement up the train. At this point, Vasilias and Wukong had intervened, springing into combat, stalling the White Fang Branch Leader and the woman with him. Between Sun's staff skills and Neptune's trident, they had managed to keep Adam on his toes for just long enough, the Spider Droid engaging the criminal in a one-on-one that had taken the two up to the rooftops of the moving train.

With Adam occupied, the two U.N.C.L.E. field agents focused their attention on Code-Name Raging Bull's companion. She was some kind of feline faunus, a pale-skinned woman approximately our age. Sun had taken the lead, lashing out with deadly strikes from his staff while Neptune sat back, shifting Tri-Hard into its rifle form and giving support fire when the opportunity arose. The woman was good, I certainly had to give her that. She wielded some sort of variant weapon that relied heavily on mechshifting between forms. Initially it had been a katana that she had used to parry the strikes from Sun's combined staff, before she had shifted it into a sickle. Without hesitating, the White Fang woman had hooked the edge of the sickle around the length of Sun's weapon, and only the Monkey Faunus's quick shifting had saved him from being torn from arm to throat.

Neptune had jumped in, the two switching places as Tri-Hard shifted into a spear to face against the woman's sickle-sword. Or, it would have, had she not lashed out with some sort of ribbon weapon to trap his hands before he could, the weapon shifting again into a pistol. Sun had leaped back into action, his staff now in its segmented form, and deflected the well-aimed shots. The woman huffed, before activating what must have been her Semblance. Within seconds, there were clones of her all around the two of them, their incredible quickness and uniformity allowing for her to confuse the two agents and slip past their weapons entirely.

I was still back in the rafters, watching carefully for an appropriate moment to jump in. While the mission clearly wasn't going so well, there wasn't any need for me to enter the situation quite yet; I was here to keep the two U.N.C.L.E. agents alive first and foremost, not carry out the mission objectives at any cost. It was about this time that an entire section of the roof came loose, half of it nearly blown away entirely by an enraged Adam Taurus. The Spider Droid was hanging precariously by only half of its original four legs, both shoulder cannons and one arm crushed beyond recognition. Code-Name Raging Bull was, as his designation would imply, terrifyingly destructive. Now would be my shot.

I moved fluidly, jumping up and across the length of the car in one smooth motion. My leap landed me right at the edge of the train-car's roof, legs tensed and sword fully unfolded. "You come here often?" I remarked, watching with a barely concealed smirk as the masked White Fang Branch Leader turned to me with fury evident in his body language. Without hesitation, he had lunged towards me, his hands placed in that quick-draw position atop Wilt and Blush that he was so famous for.

For several minutes, we had exchanged blows in relative silence, the only sounds from the rooftops being the grunts of exertion and the clarion clangs of Crocea Mors and Wilt meeting each other. Adam pushed me back, his strikes always certain and always lightning-fast. For a bull Faunus, he certainly moved like a viper. It was all I could do to keep alive as I deflected slash after slash, Crocea Shield coming up every so often to deflect the bullets from Blush.

Adam came in again, moving even faster than before somehow. As he sped towards me, I could clearly see his whole body glowing red, his hand laid carefully over the hilt of Wilt and Blush yet again. It didn't look all too dissimilar from the previous attacks that I had somewhat successfully parried, though the various cuts and bruises littering my body would disagree, but I've learned a few things in my line of work. One of the most important is that when people start glowing weird colors or giving off visible light, there's always one of two options. Either there's some Aura fuckery afoot, or they're activating their Semblance. Given how powerful Taurus already was with his weapons, I really wasn't in the mood to find out what his Semblance could do on top of that.

Taurus was fast, devastatingly so. Certainly faster than I could ever be. What he didn't have, however, was state-of-the-art armor or a "fuck you" sized Aura. I hunched back into a horse-stance, my shield deploying in its full dust-powered form right as his Iaido draw connected. With an incredibly loud clang, Adam's attack was stopped from decapitating me. In that same instance, I let my knees drop and shot one foot out to trap his ankle, allowing his lanky frame to shoot past me as he over-extended and was thrown over my torso. Unfortunately, I had overestimated the strength of the train-car we were both on. It could really only take so much punishment, and the force of Adam's strike that I had stopped carried both of us over the edge.

We fell, tumbling over each other in a mess of limbs and rocks as we slid further and further down the cliff face. At one point, Adam lashed out with his sword, scoring a decisive blow against my armor that took a sizable chunk out of my Aura. I was simply in too much pain to scream audibly, a sort of choked gurgle resounding from my throat instead. When we crashed, we crashed hard, my body toppling end over end as I came to a halt in a cloud of dirt and dust. Adam wasn't too much better off, landing elbow-first with a disgustingly loud snap and creak as his arm was surely pulverized. Heh, served the fucking cow right.

Woozy and weak, I fought to keep my eyes open. My heartbeat was so loud I was half-afraid that I'd be giving my position away just by how hard it was pounding in my chest. Each breath was ragged, the feeling of dozens of knives scraping against the inside of my throat with each exhalation. Already, I could see black encroaching on the edge of the vision, and though I hate to admit it, I blacked out.

I don't really know when I woke up, but it must have been at least an hour, given the position of the sun. Eventually, I stumbled up to a standing position, extending Crocea Mors once again as I shambled over to where Adam had been. Had been is an important phrase, since the clearing we had landed in had a startling lack of angry and hopefully crippled Bull Faunus in it. The fucker must have gotten away!

Biting back a curse, I leaned up against a tree, letting my body fall openly against it as I caught my breath. Lorica Segmentata was at 45% capacity, and I retracted the armor, my charcoal grey suit coming out once more as the segmented plates and thin exoskeleton melded and shifted back into unassuming cloth. The mission was a success in that the train was more or less secured, but Raging Bull had gotten away. He would be out of commission for a while, if the horrific sound of that elbow-first crash was any indicator, but he'd be back within a few weeks and on guard. Security would be even tighter after this so gathering reliable intelligence would be even harder, and it was all I could do not to audibly groan in disgust. What a cluster-fuck this has been.

"Neptune, Sun, do you copy?" I chirped into my wrist-watch, waiting on bated breath for a few moments as I sat there. A soft crackling could be heard a few seconds later, and a muffled response, one I couldn't quite understand. "Vasilias, Wukong, repeat. This is Agent Arc, repeat your position and situation." I waited again, before they came through just clear enough for me to hear. "Agent Arc... Situation calm... Train... Secured... Will regroup." The device must have been crushed during the fall, as I could barely make out what the two were saying. Thankfully, what I could hear was enough to calm my racing heart. The two morons were safe, and the train had been secured. That was good enough for me.

As I slowly made my way up, I took a better look at my surroundings. I was in some kind of clearing within the Forever Fall forest, ancient oaks and pines all around me. The air was refreshingly clear here, nothing like the hustle and bustle of Mistral's capital or half of the urban slums I'm often assigned to. Were it not for the events of the last hour, this would be somewhere incredibly peaceful, the perfect spot for a picnic or a relaxing afternoon out in nature. Well, there were always Grimm, but I don't think a Beowolf is dumb enough to mess with me right now. Well, maybe not.

All around me were trees and verdantly green grass, gnarled roots and brushes growing freely in the spaces between. As I turned, I could see the cliff face that Adam and I had fallen from, a section at least five meters across and a hundred down furrowed through with the evidence of our struggle down the side. Even here there were loose roots, small plants and... a running girl? I cursed quietly, immediately drawing forth Lorica Segmentata again before scrambling up the nearest tree, squatting and taking a lookout position atop a thick branch about ten meters up in the air. It was that girl from the train!

Now that she was closer, and I wasn't fighting for my life, I could get a much better look at the girl. She wore a black buttoned vest with rather stupidly long coattails on the end, a lone silver button keeping the whole impractical thing together. Underneath was a sleeveless turtleneck and shorts, or some kind of bodysuit, with stockings and detached sleeves on her arms and legs. Her hair was long and black, honestly rather fetching if I do say so, and the black bow couldn't quite hide the feline ears twitching in worry and anticipation behind it.

She was racing wildly through the forest, all trace of cool and calm from the train utterly gone. The girl was panting heavily, her weapon in its sword form held with a white-knuckled grip in one hand as she used the other to push aside shrubbery and branches in her way. As she made her way just past the tree I was perched on, I jumped down, landing feet-first with a heavy grunt right atop her. She fell, because of course she did, duh. The girl couldn't be more than 120, maybe 130 pounds. I, on the other hand, am 200 pounds of sheer muscle plus 100 pounds of armor, coming down ten meters of height in free-fall. Of course she fucking fell.

She landed pretty hard too, all the air leaving her body in a sort of strangled grunt as her torso impacted the ground with a muffled thump. Just as soon as I had impacted her, I jumped back slightly, hooking one arm underneath her elbow to drag her around, now facing me. She was clearly dazed, having not expected hundreds of pounds to smash into her from above. Even with an active Aura, there's no way she could have tanked a hit like that. "I know this looks bad, but before you say anything snappy about humans, I promise you I'm all for equal rights for Faunus." I said, watching with a sort of bemused half smile as she drunkenly snarled at me in pain, before I cocked a fist back and lashed out with a cross to her temple that sent her right into the warm and loving embrace of Morpheus. "Equal lefts too."

A/N: That's all for this chapter! Next time: Jaune uses some Enhanced Interrogation on Shitty Kitty! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Jaune meets up with Headmaster Ozpin! Jaune... goes shopping for apartment decorations?

Please let me know how I did; if I rushed anything, if there needs to be more dialogue, more fight explanations, etc. I'm not too great with writing in the first person, but I'm always trying to improve!

To address the guest reviewers:

Guest says:

"This was awesome and YEEEEESSSSS! My thoughts exactly about Jaune x Neo. Definitely a staple! Cant wait dude WOOOO!"

Thank you! I hope you enjoy; Neo won't come into play until a bit later on but they'll definitely have a fun relationship.

Guest says:

"LIAR! The asmodeus story IS abandoned!"

I promise you it's not, I'm just focusing on some other projects right now. I hope to get another chapter of both that and my Gamer Issei DxD fic out by the end of the month bro. I appreciate that you care about that story so much, and I thank you for your patience in advance.

As always, please feel free to reach out with suggestions via PM or review! Means the world to me.