Welcome to Ch 42 of TPA

Jeremy Coral was a short man in his early fifties. He had a sten, pale face, with scar running vertically across his right cheek. There were hints of grey in his dark-brown hair, but his blue eyes were sharp, and pierced the young Hunter the moment he entered the tent.

"Jaune Arc?" He asked, extending his hand.

The blond Witcher nodded.

"Yes sir. How may I help you?"

"Time is of essence here, so I'll cut straight to the chase. For the past two days we've been tracking the Fang's main base of operations. We know the person who is responsible for creating the chemicals used in several attacks, as well as their 'augmented' soldiers will be there, meeting with some of the Fang's commanding officers. This is our best shot to end this whole mess quickly. Problem is, we don't know exactly where they are. We got visual confirmation of people resembling said commanders in a few different facilities, no doubt doubles sent out to disorient us. Each group was accompanied by a cloaked figure, that we suspect is supposed to be this 'Master'. I believe you know who I'm talking about?"

Jaune tensed and nodded.

"Yes. I'm just not sure how I'm supposed to help."

Jeremy sighed.

"Problem is, we don't have enough men to hit all the facilities we marked as the potential main base. We have to pick one. We were hoping to identify the Master from photos, but as it turns out, it's very hard to find someone who has seen his face." He handed Jaune a white envelope with a red 'top secret' stamp on it.

"I heard you are one of such people. If you can identify him in any of these photos…"

Jaune nodded, and started looking through the black and white photography. There were quite few of them, many showing the same person from different angles. Jaune looked at each carefully, putting them away when he was sure none of the faces looked familiar.

It would be much easier if I actually could recall his…

Suddenly all thoughts left his head. He was staring at the face of older man. The hood of a long, brown robe was pulled back, revealing grey hair, gentle brown eyes, and a slight smile. Jaune's grip on the photo tightened, his breath quickened, and it took a monumental amount of effort to stop himself from grabbing Jeremy by collar and demanding he reveal the location of this…

Jaune took a deep breath and slowly let it go.

"It's him." Jaune said, handing the photo to the Atlas officer. He took it, and studied it for a few moments.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

He sighed and shook head.

"Is something wrong?" Jaune asked.

"The facility where this photo was taken from is one of the most problematic. Far away, well fortified, and on top of that, close to Mountain Glenn. We expect very high Grimm activity there." He shook his head. "Never mind. Thank you for your assistance." He watched him for a few moments before speaking again. "Say, you came here with two full Hunter teams, right? And from what I hear, you are a Witcher?"

Jaune nodded.

"Well, Hunters-in-training to be precise."

"Then I want you to join this operation."

Jaune blinked. He hadn't expected that. Then again, this man was in charge of all operations in this region. So, technically, he was the commanding officer. He had the full right to order them to go. Then again...

"Excuse me, but this is a little sudden. You want a group of students go on such a delicate operation? Why?"

"LIke I said, we are short on people. If this were only the White Fang we were up against, then I probably wouldn't bring it up, but if the previous assaults on their facilities are anything to go by, there will be more than just Faunus fanatics in there."

Jaune tensed.

"Harrowed?"

"Yes. Mostly Ghouls, but we encountered several Wraiths. We have two Witchers with us, and a few Specialists, but this will be the largest facility we've stormed yet. I know you are just students, and normally I wouldn't brought this up, but…" he sighed. "We are really short on men. Especially Aura users. Even if we bring in every team we have in this area, we still will be cutting it close. And we can't wait with this, because if… no, when the Fang learns that we are preparing an assault, they will go into hiding again. This is our best chance to end it quickly."

Jaune almost agreed. It was tempting, very tempting. But… both his team and RWBY were tired after days of work. They all need some rest.

"I'm sorry sir, but my team is tired, I can't just tell them to help assault a well fortified enemy base."

"I didn't expect you to. We are still waiting for all our forces to gather. We planned to move out tomorrow, around noon." He shook his head. "I don't like sending kids into such a heavy fight myself, but I have little choice here. I read your records, so I'm confident you can handle this. But I'll leave the choice to you. If you decided your friends are not ready for this, I won't force you."

Jaune hummed, then nodded.

"I see. I need to consult with my team. I'll give you answer tomorrow. Is that ok?"

"Yes. Thank you for your assistance. I wish you a good night."

Jaune nodded and left. Outside he paused, took a deep breath, and after a moment of hesitation, walked off towards edge of the camp. He didn't had any particular destination in mind, he just needed some time alone with his thoughts.

He was there. His nightmare, his nemesis, the man, no, the monster who almost took Sam away from him. The person who was responsible for some of worst moments in his life. He was right there. He could finally end it. All he needed to do was to accept Jeremy's offer.

And Brothers, how much he wanted to. Hell, he was prepared to go now, this very moment. Take his team and RWBY, or leave them behind if they didn't want to go, and take this abse down and finally put an end to the monster that had been chasing for so long.

Make him pay for what he done... what he tried to do to Sam. Get revenge for Clay, Ori, and everyone who had died in Spring Valley. For every person that monster had harmed, directly or indirectly.

But that would be a stupid, reckless decision. Leon taught him that. He should never, ever let his emotions influence his decision. Every contract had to be carefully considered before he accepted it. Especially if he was speaking for more than himself.

As team leader, he had a responsibility to take care of his team. Never accept contracts that would put them at needless risk. And no matter how you looked at it - this was a risky job. Very much so. He needed to carefully, and objectively, consider if the potential benefits were worth it.

Jaune sighed and shook his head. This was pointless, he was too shaken now. He needed to calm down.

After almost an hour of wandering, he decided to come back to his team. He found them in one of the many tents littering the Atlas camp. They were apparently allowed to stay there for the night.

"So? How did it go?" Asked Pyrrha, sheepishly.

Jaune shrugged.

"Atlas got intel on where the Fang command might be now., They wanted me to confirm the identity of one person. They will mount up for an attack tomorrow." He hesitated for a moment. "He also asked us to join in on the operation."

Silence fell over the tent, each one of them considering what Jaune's words meant. None of them were any stranger to combat, they had faced the White Fang before, but…one look at the size of the camp, and the amount of soldiers and equipment gathered, was enough to guess this would be a big operation. Far bigger than fighting a few terrorist on the docks.

"So… what did you tell him?" Asked Ren, watching him carefully.

"Nothing." Jaune answered, sighing. The tent didn't have any beds, but they had been given sleeping bags. ."Right now, I suggest we go to sleep. Tomorrow, we fill RWBY in on what's going on, and we make our decision."

"I think that is a good idea." Ren agreed, nodding. They didn't even bother undressing, just collapsed where they stood, and quickly fell asleep.

Jaune's eyes slowly opened to reveal a white space. He groaned, closing his eyes again.

Not now, please. Just let me sleep.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like his plea would be heard. Soon enough, he heard the sound of his unwanted companion. Jaune scowled, and spun around, glaring at the little monster.

"Why do you keep trying? You should know by now you won't achieve anything. Whatever it is you are trying to do, you will fail. Again. So why do you keep trying?" He asked. Jaune didn't expected any answer, but to his surprise the little monstrosity paused, watched him for a few moments, and then continued his slow approach. Jaune's scowl deepened.

This time it took almost a minute before it got up, and resumed its slow approach. But neither this, nor the fact that it looked like it got actually hurt this time didn't brought Jaune any satisfaction.

He stared at this… thing slowly dragging its body towards him, its comically big eyes locked onto his. There was something strange in them, something familiar. Jaune shook his head, tearing his gaze away. Something he knew well, something he saw often when he...

No. No way. There was nothing similar between him and that monster. What was that thing anyway? Not Harrowed, that was for sure. Leon taught him how to check that he wasn't being possessed by one.

Some kind of Grimm? Even more unlikely. It first appeared in Spring Valley, and reappeared only now. Was it somehow connected to Master? If so, then it was just another reason to end this all quickly.

He breathed a sigh of relief when his vision blurred. He could hear something now… music? And people shouting, but not in despair…some celebration. A festival maybe? He smiled. Traveling with Leon wasn't all about hunting monsters, bandits, and nearly dying. There was a fair bit of partying too.

Jaune squinted his eyes, trying to recognize the details. The vision took a lot of time to form this time.

Which one might this be? The blond wondered, noticing a big, yellow and orange blob in the center of his vision. It had to be a bonfire, but that wasn't much of a hint. Every festival had a bonfire. A few memories come back, causing Jaune to smile. Ever since he discovered his Semblance, Leon had signed him up for every drinking contest they came across. A few times this led to them being chased out of town as cheaters, but more often than not, people simply had a good laugh seeing young Jaune beating old, grizzled veterans in drinking game.

Maybe this was one of those memories? Or maybe that one where Leon got completely drunk, and started hitting on that one bar maiden, that turned out to not be a maiden at all…or maybe that one, shortly after he awakened his Semblance, when they saved the village from a bandit attack, and the people threw a party to celebrate? He smiled. It had been really fun, and there was that one Faunus girl, three years older than him with big, yellowish eyes, that dragged Jaune to the side, to show just how grateful she was.

His grin grew further.

That was his first kiss. Might have been more too, if Leon hadn't found them.

He focused when his vision began to clear. He could see more details now. The people, the bonfire, tables filled with food. Buildings, made of rock… Strangely, there were no trees. And for some reason, he couldn't see the sky… no stars, no moon, no…

His smile died.

No… Not this one…

All cheerful thoughts left his mind. He recognized this place now. This goddamn place.

Mountain's Heart. A town in south Mistral. It was a mining colony, they started off mining Dust, then found some rich deposit of iron and copper. After a few decades of constant mining, and finding several big caves, someone figured that there was enough space inside the mountain to live there. So they did just that, moved into the heart of the mountain that gave birth to their town.

When Jaune and Leon arrived there, to inform them of a approaching Grimm horde, it was the first time the young boy thought their nonchalant response of, 'we will be fine' was warranted. There were only two entrances to the village - the main one was high on the mountainside, accessible only by aircraft, or a narrow path. The other one was at the bottom, well hidden and sealed by a metal door. There was no way acces it on foot, the only way up, or down, was by rope ladder.

The mayor calmly explained that they'd survived many Grimm incursions over the years, even far worse than the one that was coming. They had access to fresh water thanks to underground rivers, and enough stored food for several months, not to mention a few small farms outside, far out of reach of any non-flying Grimm.

He and Leon planned to leave town the same day, but the mayor insisted they stay overnight. They eventually agreed - something that Jaune considered the worst decision of his life. The Grimm horde hit the same night, but none of people from Mountain Heart's seemed to care. They even threw a small festival. Everyone was dancing and laughing - that was until the first beowolf showed up. It roared, and threw itself into the shocked crowd, claiming two people before Jaune cut it down. Before anyone could even think about asking any questions - more roars sounded, and the cave was quickly filled with black skinned monsters.

Jaune closed his eyes, memories he thought long forgotten flooding back. What followed after could only be described as pure chaos. People were running everywhere, their screams mixing with Grimm roars, and Jaune was desperately trying to figure out what to do. He killed every monster he saw, but it quickly became clear there were too many of them - so he grabbed anyone he could, and ran towards the tunnels leading deeper into mountain, to the emergency exit.

It was by sheer luck that he meet Leon in the chaos, and together they were able to help hold the horde off long enough for the civilians to retreat. Out for nearly two thousand people living in Mountain's Heart, they managed to save a little over two hundred. So few.

And yet, as it soon turned out, still too many.

Wounded, scared, exhausted, they started their trip down the mountain. But it quickly became clear that some Grimm had found their way into the tunnels as well. Trapped in tight corridors, the panicked people were easy prey. Jaune had no idea how long it took before the attack stopped, being so deep underground with nothing to judge the flow of time by. What he knew, was that by the time he and Leon were done with the Grimm, they were both on the verge of collapsing. And over half of the survivors had died, many more wounded.

By the time they reached the bottom level, only twenty remained. There they found out where the Grimm come from - part of cave collapsed, letting the Grimm inside. Too tired to try fight them, they decided to just run towards exit.

It was only he, Leon, and five civilians that made it out. And amongst them - the first real Hero Jaune met.

She wasn't a Huntress. Not even a guard. She was just an ordinary woman, trying her best to save herself and her few months old baby. Yet somehow, she still found time, and the strength, to save all of them. She was the one who calmed down the panicked crowd when they sealed the doors to the tunnels. She was the one who prevented them from breaking down completely after the Grimm attacked. She was the one who keep their spirits up, even as they started running out of food and water. She took a knife out of panicked man's hand, before he could kill his family, and himself. She was the one to convince everyone to stick together, to listen to him and Leon.

If it wasn't for her, he doubted anyone would made it out of those damned tunnels.

He remembered the moment when they walked outside. How the morning sun shone in her green hair, how it flowed on gentle wind. Her smile, how she squeezed her daughter tighter. Her gentle smile when she handed her to him. A single tear that feel down her cheek when she sealed massive doors shut, to prevent the Grimm from following them, and trapping herself in the dark with those monsters.

He remembered how he rushed to drag her out, how he banged his fist on metal surface, how he cried, begged her to come out. How Leon dragged him away, saying they needed to go before the Grimm found them.

Jaune grit his teeth, forcing long buried emotions back. In the end, her sacrifice was pointless. The first night one remaining civilians, a young looking man, walked out of the camp, and never come back.

When they woke up the next morning, they found a second one dead - he'd slit his own throat.

Four days later, the child died. Whether of hunger or illness, they didn't know.

Two days later, the last of the civilians was bitten by a snake. He suffered for days, before finally expiring.

Jaune and Leon somehow managed to reach the nearest village, it was the first time the blond Hunter didn't use his Semblance when drinking.

Two weeks later, when they were reporting what happened to some official in Mistral, Jaune realized something.

That woman, no, Hero… he didn't even know her name. She did all of this, she kept their group together even as they were dying one by one… and she died somewhere in the Wilds, without a grave, or anyone to remember her name.

It was so… pointless.

Come to think about it.. he thought, when his vision blurred again, the next scene forming around him. That is when I started hating caves...

Jaune woke up suddenly, his hand shooting out, catching the one that was closing in on him.

"Good morning." A familiar voices sounded. He blinked a few times, staring at the person kneeling over him. Green eyes, red hair, and a small smile on her lips.

"Good morning, Pyrrha. Sorry about that." He said, getting up and letting her hand go. She shook her head.

"No, it's alright. I shouldn't have startled you."

"Yeah, she just wanted a picture of your sleeping face!" Nora quipped happily.

Pyrrha's face quickly matched her hair in color.

"T-that's not true!"

Jaune looked at her, then at the grinning Nora, and then he decided he would pretend that he didn't notice the scroll in Pyrrha's hand.

"All right, let's get going. We need to meet with RWBY and decided what we're going to do."

The command tent hadn't changed much from last night. Jeremy nodded to Jaune as he entered, his eyes sliding to Ruby who waved to him sheepishly.

"Welcome." He said simply, motioning for them to come closer. There were five other men in the room, all bent over a table with maps laid out on it.

"I take it that you decided to join in on the operation?"

Jaune and Ruby nodded. Really, his friends were all too eager to help the Atlas soldiers. Jaune tried to explain to them that this would be different than fighting Grimm. That they would face people. He wasn't sure if they understood, but he did what he could to let them make an informed decision.

"Yes. What's the plan?"

Jeremy nodded, and pointed on the map.

"This is the floor plan of facility. It's an old Valerian base, dating back to the Great War. Most of the buildings you see are barracks, food storages, and so on. The only two important ones are the communication tower, and this one," he said pointing to small, square building. " It's the entrance to the underground part of base. It almost certainly will be heavily guarded. A direct assault through here would mean massive casualties. Fortunately, we found a different road."

He tapped a few buttons on the panel in front of him, and a large holographic display appeared above the table.

"We split into four teams. One force will the attack base directly, to draw their attention. The second team will secure this spot - the emergency exits from the base. If the main force fails to capture them, they will almost certainly try to run through there. The third team will go through here. It's a cave complex, that comes pretty close to some of the underground storage rooms. They are not connected, but that's something a bit of explosives can fix."

"So, where do you want us?" Asked Jaune.

Please don't be a cave, please don't be a cave…

"Here." Jeremy said, pointing at a single dot on map. It was rather far away from the main base, and Jaune couldn't see any buildings. "From what we were able to establish, it's an old mine. Not used for a few decades. The Fang moved in just two weeks ago, and started to move something from the main facility just two days later. We don't know what, but we suspect that it might be a chemical weapon they developed. Your jobs will be to clear out all hostiles, and secure the location. We don't expect much of resistance from the White Fang. According to our intel, no more than twenty people are stationed there. But it's very close to Mountain Glenn, and Grimm activity is high in the area."

"I see. What are we looking in terms of…" Jaune began, but was interrupted when someone ran into the tent, and walked up to Jeremy. They talked for a moment, before the older man sent off the newly arrived with an angry scowl.

"Ok, change of plans. There is a small village… more of resting resort really that didn't get evacuated yet. We began the action already, but we got Info that Grimm are coming towards their location." He looked up at Jaune. "our teams will go there and assist in evacuation. When you are done, you are to join the assault on the main base."

"Understood." Jaune and Ruby said at the same time, and marched out of the tent. Jaune tried to keep the scowl off of his face. A resting resort for rich folk? Yeah, this wouldn't be easy.

Jaune cut down one Beowolf, shield bashed another, and decapitated an Ursa that tried to bite his head off. Another charged at him from behind, but Nora smashed its head in. The Blond shot her grateful nod, and scanned battlefield. There were a few Grimm remaining, but it looked like it was over.

For now. At first evacuation had gone smoothly. But then, despite intel saying they were far away, the Grimm showed up. Apparently, somehow, the White Fang managed to transport them close to the city. How, no one knew, but Jaune didn't care. There weren't many of them, but enough to scare people, and that brought more.

They were fighting almost non stop for the past hour. They had to abandon the outer walls almost immediately, instead forming braces near the landing pad, and holding off the horde there. The only saving grace was that there were a few minutes of rest before each wave. Jaune sighed, and leaned on the wall of a nearby building. Most civilians had been evacuated already, the problem was that most of the city guard were out of commission too. So far, JNPR and RWBY were able to hold the Grimm off, but for how much longer?

Suddenly, his scroll boozled. Jaune frowed when he noticed who was calling, and accepted the call.

"Jaune Arc? Jeremy Collar here. We have a situation on target Beta. Two out of five of the primary targets were spotted there, codename Hawk and Master. They are guarded by a strong squad of elite White Fang soldiers. Team Beowolf is requesting support but, I don't have any soldiers to spare at the moment."

"Understood. We will head out as soon as we can." The evacuation was mostly done, what remained from city guard could hold on their own.

"Wait, that not all." There were a few moment of silence before Jeremy spoke again. "More Grimm are coming."

Jaune sighed.

"How many?"

"A lot. Might be biggest wave that hit you yet."

Jaune remained silent for a few moments.

"What do you want us to do?"

"You have two options. You can either go and help the Beowolves capture Hawk and Master, or you can stay and help defend the evac zone. I don't know if local militia will be able to hold on their own, but this is our best chance to get these two. Hawk is one of the Fang's most prominent commanders, according to our intel, he is the one in command of this whole operation. And Master… well, I don't think I need to tell you how important he is."

Jaune closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

"Understood" He said, ending the connection. "Ren!" He shouted. His teammate looked up from the older woman who he was helping get into an aircraft.

"Gather everyone. We have a situation."

"What happened?" Asked Ruby, when they gathered together a few minutes later.

"Trouble." Jaune answered simply, pocketing his scroll. "Two of the priority targets slipped out of Atlas' hands. They don't have any free soldiers to send after them, so we are going."

Ruby gasped.

"We can't! These people need us!"

"I know, but those Atlas soldiers need us too."

"But if we leave these people will die!"

Jaune took a deep breath to calm himself down. He wanted to stay. He wanted to protect these people, but that wasn't most optimal choice.

"Ruby, listen to me. A big horde of Grimm is on the way, this city will fall soon, with, or without us. All we achieve by staying, is killing a few more Grimm. But out there, we have chance to take out two of the people responsible for creating this mess. This is best choice in this situation."

"B-but… if we leave… people will die! The city guard can't hold the Grimm off alone. There are too few of them!"

"True." Said Jaune, steeling himself for what he had to say." Some people will die. Probably a lot, but in the long run, we will save much more by stopping the Fang, than by staying here."

"We are almost done, we need to hold of only for hour or so! Then we could join in with Atlas, and help them!" She cried out, her voice raising.

Jaune shook his head.

"One hour is too long. No one will wait for us that long. Neither Atlas, nor the Fang and their commanders. If we let this opportunity slip, this whole mess can go on for weeks. Staying here to help a few civilians get away faster, or ending this madness. I think we both know which one is more important."

Ruby stared at him with wide, terrified eyes.

"H-how can you say that! These people will die without our help! And you want to leave them because…" she paused for a moment, then let out a desperate chuckle. "This is about that guy, isn't it? Master?"

"Well, yeah. Like I said, he is…"

"Is he really so important for you? Enough to let all these people die, just so you can get him!?" She screamed.

Jaune's fist tightened. Revenge? Of course he wanted it. But was she seriously suggesting that he was putting it before people's lives?

"Ruby, calm down. Don't let your emotions take control of you. I don't like this either, but this is best..."

"Don't lie! You just say that this is the best choice, and it's the most efficient, and that it's what a professional would do, but you just want revenge! You don't care about anything as long as you can get the job done! And when you find him, what will you do? You'll kill him, right? Just like you killed those White Fang at the docks! Just like you killed Rias! Because you don't care, do you? As long as you get the job done, as long as you get to be 'profesional' you don't care about anything, do you!?""

Jaune seethed. What did this little, papered, spoiled brat know? Did she have any idea what kind of things he had been through? What he had to do to survive? How often he risked his life to help people, often not receiving even a single 'thank you'?

"Ruby…" he growled.

"Why don't we just split up?" Yang said suddenly, stepping in between the two of them. Both Ruby and Jaune glared at each other for a few moments, before turning to her.

"JNPR can go help Atlas, we can stay here and protect the civilians."

"You won't last long alone." Jaune pointed out.

"What do you care?" Ruby shot back, walking past him. "We'll stay and protect these people."

"You might die."

"I know. But I won't abandon them. If you're so eager to chase this guy, then go. We don't need you."

Jaune took a deep breath. It was hard to remain calm, really hard. This stupid girl…

"Very well. It's your decision." He turned and marched towards the military bullhead, his team following him. "Lets go." He said simply, taking his seat. The pilot took off, and soon they were heading towards the next fight. He couldn't help but stare at the lone red figure standing atop the barricade, her cape fluttering in the wind. He couldn't see her face, but had a strange feeling her silver eyes were staring straight through his, at his soul.

He scoffed and tore his eyes away. He made the right decision. Ruby was acting like an emotional kid, wanting to play hero, where a cool head and rational thinking were needed.

He scoffed. Hero. What a dumb idea. She will just get herself, and her team, killed one day with attitude like that. He knew it, he'd seen it happen enough.

But what was this strange feeling in his chest?

So here we are. The situation gets tense, nerves are fraying and two viewpoints clash with each other. Ruby wants to save the people in front of her, while Jaune tries to look at things objectively, the 'bigger picture' if you will. Who is right, who is wrong? I honestly don't think this situation is something that can be put in such simple terms. I was doing my best to not make any of them appear 'right' or 'wrong' in this argument. They have just different viewpoints, different experiences and aspirations. Ruby wants to be a Hero, saving everyone.

Jaune don't want to be Hero, since he thinks it's the way to an early grave.

Or does he?

On side note, this argument took forever to write. It's only thanks to JJD suggestion that I (hopefully) made it work.

If you like what I write, and have a buck or two to spare please consider supporting me at 'Patr" "eon'.

See you all next week.