AN: Here we go! Another day another Bastion chapter! In this one we finally! See the full reveal and explanation of Mika's semblance! And boi is it a doozy. I did ask you what semblance a virus would have and hey I think I did a pretty damn good job of giving it one! So enjoy the madness!

Jaune gagged, everyone gagged, all of the Arkham paused as time slide to a halt. Screeching and grinding to a skidding hall all jaws dropped at the impossible sight before them. Jaune knew that it could not be true. He just knew that it could not be true. Every instinct in his body told him that it could not be true. That the sight in front of him could not be true. His eyes struggled to see what was there, as Ruby's fake eye shot out of her skull peeling and zooming in, red lens focused servos whirring as they stared at the sight in front of them.

"Jaune?"
"What's the problem?" Mika or Mikas said as Jaune looked at his teammates!? Despite how much this galled him, despite how much this simply did not make sense, it was real, and it was happening. Mika... was now...
"Mikas?"

"Yes, ~Jaune~Jaune?"
"What's up ~Mister boss man!~." Both Mikas said one after the other. Both talking in perfect synch as if they were both thinking the same thoughts. "Mika?" Jaune said as-

"Mika?"

"Ruby?" Mika asked the one that was a dead look-alike for the other or maybe the other was its own dead look alike? They both looked like Mika down to the clothes they wore. They had the same ghostly pale skin, piercing emerald eyes that shimmered in the light. As Jaune gagged at the two of them Ruby's eye zoomed forward taking several photos as-

"What's happening!?" Jaune suddenly shouted not knowing what the hell was happening and-

"That's her semblance." Kage finally added not seeing the point in hiding anything as he rubbed his head. The boy letting out a long sigh as the Mikas nodded in a perfect synchronized union. Their head rising and falling as one.

"What the hell? She clones!?"

"She splits," Zach said his voice still a bit slurred as he waved one of his energy pistols at them.

"She splits?" Jaune still asked not knowing what the hell he was talking about as he was still struggling to come to grips with the fact that he saw two! Versions of his friend that blinked in unison.

"Yup!"

"That's my semblance!"

"I can split!" The Mika's said finishing each other's sentences with a perfect loop. The two finished each other's words and somehow blinking at the same time.

"What, does that mean?" Jaune asked a hand falling down to his plasma pistol as-

"She splits. Whenever she takes enough damage, she breaks into two." Zach drawled as Mika's nodded.

"Yup!"

"Sure do!"

"That's us!"

"You split?"

"A perfect clone." Hino sighed as the two Mikas' sighed.

"Yup we clone yourself!"

"We do it when we take damage!"

"I... how does that work?"

"Simple. When she takes enough damage, she will automatically clone herself. Both clones have a full aura and are instantly healed of any and all wounds that were on the original." Kage added still frowning at the two Mika's as-

"She splits, like a disease?"

"Just like we told you. She's a literal virus, a plague, a pox!" Zach said waving a pistol as Mika nodded.

"Every time I'm about to die!"

"I clone myself into two!"

"Healing in the process!"

"And with full aura given back? I am good to go!"

"Wait. Every time you are about to die you split?"

"Yes."

"You know it!"

"But you heal!"

"Sure do!"

"Mister ~Boss man~ pays attention you know?"

"But if every time you are about to die you split and heal then-

"We told you. She is immortal." Kage added as Jaune froze. Mika was immortal. Not hard to kill. Bot durable but literally immortal! She could not be killed!
"She's a disease." Krix drawled as she took a swig from the liquor, her pink eyes glaring at Mika as they turned as one to face her.

"Aww, Krixy! That hurts!"

"You shouldn't be mean!"

"Right," Krix said her pink eyes rolling as she ignored the two of them.

"Wait so you can just become two?"

"Not at all!"

"We don't stop there!"

"Let me show you!" One Mika said taking a pistol from Zach's hands.

"Hey! Watch it!" The boy said as she took the pistol put it to the head of her other and-

Fist! The pistol fired, and another bright flash of light filled the air as-

"There we go!"

"Now we are here!"

"It's good to have more than us!" Three. There were three of them. Jaune gagged, where there was once two there were now three Mika's all standing in the room.

"You can keep cloning?!"

"She sure can."

"Zach is right. She can keep cloning as long as she has an aura. And the clones can clone, and the clones, clones can clone and so on and so forth." Hino added finishing up the explanation of Mika's semblance making Jaune's head spin.

"So she can't die?"

"I told you she was immortal. Didn't you listen?" Kage asked raising a lone brown eye as Jaune looked ready to faint.

"How was I supposed to! You said she was immortal! How could I have known!?"

"Because I said she was? How was that hard? I told you she was immortal time and time again. We all did what did you expect?" Kage asked a genuinely confused tone in his voice as Jaune reeled.

"So you can just keep cloning?"

"Sure can!"

"Watch us!" Mika said taking the gun pointing at her others as-

Fisht! Fisht! Mike fired five times as five more of them appeared in the now cramped Arkham dorm as there was now a grand total of eight Mikas' in the room.

"How?! How do you keep cloning!? Where are your other clones?"

"The clones don't last forever Jaune."

"Yeah! They don't last past ten minutes!"

"Ten minutes?"

"Yup!"

"They can only last for ten minutes!"

"After that, they can't exist past a ten-yard radius of me!"

"What?"

"If they go beyond a ten-yard radius from the original after ten minutes they vanish!" Mika the original? Said as they all nodded.

"Yup!"

"They need to be within a ten-yard radius of the main after ten minutes."

"If they don't then poof!"

"They go into mid-air!"

"They just vanish?" Jaune asked his curiosity now piqued, and his initial fear and nerves at seeing a clone of his friend well clones of his friend now stood, blinking in perfect unison. All moving in one smooth action in a way that was inhumanly unnerving.

"How, who are you?"

"Me?"

"What do you mean Ruby?"

"Who are we?"

"I'm Mika!"

"How did you forget my name friend?"

"I didn't! I'm just! Which one is the real you?"

"The real me?"

"I am the real me.'

"Why would you ask that?" Three different Mika's all asked at once. Both blinking in a synchronized order as Ruby balked. Her face dropping as Jaune glared at Mika's?

"I mean! Who is the original?"

"I am." All eight of them said at the exact same time. Their mouths opening and closing at once. Thier moves perfectly time and happening in the exact same order.

"Which one of you does the thinking?!"

"I do.'

"We are all one Ruby."

"We might be split up, but we still think."

"We all have one train of thought."

"We can see."

"Hear."

"And think ats one."

"While also being able to process individual situations and processing outside stimuli."

"So you all see the same thing?"

"We all see what the others see.'

"We feel what the others feel."

"Whatever knowledge one of us possesses all of us possess."

"So you can just keep multiplying?" Jaune asked his inner tactical mind kicking into overdrive as he attempted to gather as much information from a new source as humanly possible.

"Yup!"

"We can keep cloning as long as we have aura!"

"But every time you clone it not only heals your wounds, but it fully restores both of you aura!?"

"Yup!"

"That's how we do it!" The Mika's said finishing each other's sentences without pause. Each filling in for the other one and all doing it without a hint of pause.

"I... For how long!? Since when was this your semblance?"

"Since I was born."

"You switch your pronouns. Sometimes you say I, sometimes you say we, which is it? Are you one person seeing things through multiple perspectives, or are you individuals all acting as one?" Ruby asked an oddly insightful question that made Mika's pause.

"I am one person."

"I am split through many others."

"We are one person."

"Even if there is no us."

"We have found it better to refer to us in certain ways."

"This makes it easier for us to get along in the world."

"So there is only one Mika. There are not multiple Mika Smiths running around? There is only you." Jaune asked trying to cut right down to the center of this development.

"That is true."

"Only one."

"While we can all form an individual opinion on a specific circumstance we are all one."

"I see. How do you clone your weapons?" Jaune asked noting that each clone had an identical copy of Chamberlain and her battle ax attached to their sides.

"I get your cloning biologically but how do you take your weapon with you?"

"Secret!"

"Secret?"

"We can't tell you all of our tricks now Jaune can we?" The Mikas said as Kage sighed.

"You see what I mean? They are all one. And Mika is immortal."

"She really can't die?"

"No way blondie. Trust us she can be shot, stabbed, beaten, flayed, crushed blown up she just keeps coming back. She's immortal Jaune there is no known way to kill her. Trust us we've tried." Zach added rolling his black eyes taking his pistol back.

"Give me that!"

"Hey!"

"Don't snatch!"

"Don't make more clones of yourself!" Zach snapped back as a Mika sighed shrugging her shoulders an action that all of them followed suit in.

"So all of you will be in our dorm?" Jaune asked not knowing how eleven people would split four beds and not wanting to have to delegate that sleeping arrangement.

"Until the time limit passes."

"Then one of them will eventually wander out of the zone and vanish."

"Does that bother you? Is that not like dying?"

"What?"

"Not like that Ruby, Jaune already asked."

"We are one."

"If one of us goes away they do not die.'

"Because they don't exist. There is only one of you. The rest are just hubs for the main one. Servers for the main processor."

"Good way to put it Jaune!"

"We are all servers. Kind of."

"All of us are capable of independent interactions."

"But we don't value our own safety."

"As long as the main is alive we are all alive."

"There is no we."

"Just I.'

"But you can't die. You are immortal. That means! When we were in danger from execution!"

"You. You were in no danger."

"We were fine."

"We might have had our head blown off for a moment, but we would be back the next second."

"So you are just... here?"

"Yup!"

"We are here!"

"But why!? Why stay in Bastion! You can't be killed! Why not leave and go somewhere anywhere else?"

"Leave Bastion?"

"Why would we leave Bastion?"

"To get out! To go somewhere else!"

"Where would we go?"

"We have no reason to leave."

"We have friends! And Kage!"

"Who despite! Having a literal harem! Of beautiful women that could be at his beck and call will not even look at us!" One of the Mika's pouted as Kage rolled his eyes.

"I am not getting in that."

"Oh? That's not what you said the first day we met."

"You definitely got in that then. What makes this time any different?"

"Because now I value my life? Just because you are immortal does not mean that I am. And I do not want to die."

"Don't worry!"

"You will not die!"

"We will protect you!" The Mika's said in once more perfect order.

"So you said that you all have a limited lifespan. That you will disappear if you do not stay within a certain radius of the main one?"

"Yup!"

"That's it!"

"Good work on the uptake!"

"Ok then if that is so true I'm going to need you to show me."

"OK! There you go!" Mika said holding out her arm as Jaune balked. Her arm shimmered and vanished? Like the image of a bad computer screen. The duplicates area was now well outside the ten-foot area and ultimately disappeared into thin air. Only a thin hazy white mist like that of a glitching monitor filled the air where it once was.

"So you don't feel any pain?"

"I can't!"

"Even in this split form, we are all still the same person!"

"We can't feel pain naturally, so we don't feel it now."

"Do you even bleed?"

"Bleed?"

"Not really. Only the original can bleed.'

"Or at least regularly, we can bleed if we take physical damage."

"But leaving our area does not count."

"So you don't feel pain or bleed even when your arm half is gone?"

"Nope!"

"Not at all!"

"And none of you mind not existing?"

"We do exist."

"We always will."

"If we vanish it's not like we are going anywhere."

"Then why don't you all go outside the sphere?"

"Is that an order ~boss man~?"

"Yes. Yes, it is." Jaune said cocking his head curious to see what the Mika's would do and-

"OK!" They all said as the copies began to walk forward. The one closer to the door the one already missing an arm walked out and poofed! Out of existence. The others followed suit turning into misty whiffs of white before vanishing into thin air. As the seven other's vanished Mika the real one was left alone in the back of the room smiling ear to ear.

"So are they dead?"

"Dead? Jaune they are not, they were not alive. I am alive they were merely an extension of myself."

"But they died, they don't exist anymore."

"What? Of course, they do. As long as I'm alive, they live too. And I can't die!"

Mika cried as-

FISHT! Zach lit an old piece of wood on fire heating up a bayonet as he smiled.

"The hell are you doing!?" Jaune shouted as another spark of flame came from the inside of his room.

"Trying a weapon test blondie, I wanted to see if I superheated my blade if the dust will run off-

"Put that away!"

Mika yelled already behind Ruby. The girl leaped away from the flamed as-

"The fuck? You scared of a damn fire?"

"What? NO! I'm not scared of fire!"

"I hope that you are not. You don't get to be scared of fire your weapon is a damn flamethrower!" Zach said as Jaune narrowed his eyes. The boy had a point Mika was scared? Her emerald eyes went wide in panic. Jaune had not seen her like this, her limbs shaking and twitchy. Her teeth chattered in rapid motion as Jaune stepped in.

"Mika? Are you scared of fire?" Jaune asked already knowing the answer it was not impossible for her to be just very unlikely.

"What? Scared of fire? Jaune, you joke! How could I be scared of fire? I love fire!"

"I would hope so your weapon is a flamethrower. It would be awkward for you to be scared by your own fire."

"I know right? Now, how about we all get some sleep! I know I am tired!"

"I guess? Fuck it, Hino, we leaving?"

"Only if you say so."

"Krix?"

"I'm out of this shit show for the foreseeable future. Seeyah." The visiting students said, her, Hino, and Zach walked out of the room leaving Jaune mouth wide open as-

"So you can clone?"

"I can! You saw me do it!"

"Can you do it before you almost die? Is it hereditary?"

"I don't know, but I can't die as long as I have an aura, and I heal when I split."

"You can't be killed," Jaune said the dawning of a literal immortal on his team still smacking him across the head as Mika nodded.

"Yup! I am immortal! The pangs of death will never enter this mortal form! For I am the god Teph! And the power that flows through me is that which flows through all the gods for all time!"

'But you're afraid of fire." Ruby's words hit Mika like a hammer. The girl freezing on the spot as she cracked a crooked smile and slowly painfully slowly turned to face Ruby.

"Ruby! Why would you say that?"

"Because every time there is a wild burst of fire that you do not control you seem to run away from it like it's the plague."

"I don't run away from fire! That's ridiculous!" Mika said rubbing her head taking a step back as Jaune frowned.

"You did it twice. Once when Zach lit the box on fire by accident and the other when he lit the shard of wood on fire. Both time you reacted like you would be killed if you so much as breathe the air around it.'

"That's not what you think! Ruby you don't get it, Jaune! You get me right?"

"I do but Mika you were scared of fire. That's not bad actually it's kind of funny! You use a fire-based weapon, but you are scared of fire? Why is that?"

Jaune asked a small smile on his face as Mika looked away. Her green eyes looked everywhere but his as she gulped loudly.

"I'm not scared of fire! I just don't like it to be going around everywhere! You know I want to to be in a nice uniform area!"

"So you don't like wildfire?"

"Yes! That is what I was trying to say! I don't like wildfire! I like my fire safe and under my own control! As long as my fire is my fire, it's all good!"

"But you don't like it just there."

"Yes! Think about it you would not want bullets flying at you, would you? The only bullets you want are the ones that fly from your gun and the ones of the people on your side! You don't just want bullets everywhere now do you?" Mika asked as Jaune nodded she had a good point there.

"I can see that, but do try to not lose it on a mission. It would suck if the fire specialist was burned." Jaune said a small smile on his lips as Mika frowned.
"Good point Jaune, I think it would be unfortunate if you were charred," Kage said in an oddly amused voice as Mika stuck out her tongue.

"Blah! Jaune! Kage is teasing me!"

"And?"

"Make him stop!"

"Kage?"

"Yes?"

"Do what you want."

"Can I shoot myself?"

"It won't kill you."

"If I don't have enough aura I might get lucky."

"Don't kill yourself Mika will be sad."

"Yes, I will!" Mika said as Jaune heard it, a fisht! Filled the air as Ruby's eye flashed a small white light filled the air as the reaper frowned.

"Good to see you all again! Nice work on the mission!" The loud voice of Mac shouted as Jaune nodded. The leader of the Piercing Lancers welcomed team Arkham back into their control room as they reported for their next mission.

The command center of the Lancers was much like it was before Arkham arrived. Massive data screens of terminals and people, human and faunus, scuttering around in jet black armor with Mac standing at the head. This time he was dressed in thick brown fur and had a broad smile on his pale face. His brown eyes shimmering as Jaune grimaced.

"Mac. We have come for the new mission? What are we doing this time?" Jaune asked trying to cut to the center of the problem right away.

"Don't worry about this one it's simple. You just have to go neutralize a Grimm zone near a small town. No valued supplies no major risk just kill some Grimm, and you will be done."

"There, simple. We can do this." Ruby said pumping her fist as she smiled, her silver eye gleaming as her bionic one shot out of her head.

"Not even you could fuck this up," Kage added making Jaune wince.

"Mac, that last mission."

"Yes?"

"We were in a bad spot. A spot that almost got my team and me killed."

"I know, and I would just like to say thanks. You did what any member of the Piercing Lancers would have done."

"What?"

"Jaune you picked to save civilians rather than the dust. Dust is valuable, but it's not a living breathing thing. Like a person. You saved lives on that day Jaune, and I can not thank you enough."

"You... you wanted me to save the civilians?"

"I did. Had you not saved them? And picked the dust you would have been kicked out of the Lancers right away."

"So what was that a trial run for us? Were you seeing what we would do in a rough situation?"

"You might say that. We need to see what all of our new members might do. We have heard of your reputation from others but we needed to, or I needed to make sure. Consider it a test."

"A test!? You almost got us killed!"

"But you did not. You survived."

"We almost died!"

"But you did not die. In fact, you fought your way out of a certain death situation not once but twice."

"We almost died!"

"And you did not. And besides, if you can't work your way out of two certain death situations, you have no business being in the Lancers." Mac added as Jaune's eye twitched.

"Is there anything else, you want to tell me?"

"Besides good luck? Not really. Good job in the town again. If you'd like I can give you a redacted log for the thing you encountered."

"The creature?"

"Yes. As you know it is an insidious creature you I bested once before."

"So he thinks," Mika whispered as she shook her head Ruby's eye shook as it zoomed back.

"I know that. I fought it." Jaune hissed his back shuddering as he and Kage had a shiver.

"I know, and I respect your triumph. The thing likes to imitate to infiltrate. It can become anything or anyone. The only way to truly kill it is to burn it. The creature has an innate fear of flames it's one weakness, so a way to tell if someone is a duplicate is to test them with it."

"A fear of fire is a biological device."

"Kage is right. Being afraid of fire does not make you a duplicate. It can just make you human right?"

"That is one way to say it Jaune but be careful. You never know who could not be human. Now! Since the last mission from us had such a... mixed result for this mission we will be assigning you some support."

"Support? Who are you giving us?" Jaune asked as the man grinned.

"Listen up! I want everyone to pay attention and pay attention well! Cause I'm not saying this twice!" A loud feminine voice said as Uzepi shouted. The woman struggled to be heard over the Vesperia's thrusters as she spoke to team Arkham.

"You are as of this moment full and integrate members of the Piercing Lancers! As such you are all now privileged to the alert system!"

"Alert systems? The hell does that mean?" Jaune asked trying to be heard as well as the purple-eyed woman grinned a wolfish smirk.

"Simple! The Lancers have a color-coded alerts system to identify, track and find out the size, type and current level of danger to Bastion!"

"So an early warning system?"

"Exactly Blondie! Here is how it goes! Your scrolls will show you at the beginning of the day the color of the alerts system. The colors go from, blue, green, yellow, orange, red and black! With increasing levels of danger per threat level!"

"So what do they mean!?"

"Well Red! Since you asked so nicely! Blue is no threat! Whatever problems ail Remnant are not affecting Bastion and! There is growth in the community! Green means all systems are operating and Bastion is under no critical danger. Yellow means there is a possibility of a threat but not an imminent one!" Uzepi grunted as a wave of turbulence hit the craft buffeting it making her latch onto a handhold for stability.

"After Yellow comes orange! Which means that there are serious and confirmed threats to Bastion that are mobilizing. Red is a threat that's clearly present and attacking. The enemy is at the gates. Then!"

"Then black?"

"Not so fast Ruby! Before that is Code Red Rubicon!" Uzepi said smiling widely as Ruby blinked in a curious manner. Both of her eyes winking in thier own awkward way.

"Rubicon?"

"Yes! Rubicon is an attack by an unknown enemy. Something we have no idea what it is big it's deadly and here."

"And then?"

"And then! Then it is black. Black is the last stand. The end of the Lancers. If it's code Black, the end is here kiddos. And it's time for one last hurrah! Before we all go into the night."

"What's today's alert level?" Jaune asked checking his scrolls as a new app had been put in. It read threat detector, the color was green.

"It's green today kids! So it looks good for Bastion!"

"So black is the worse?"

"Almost Kage! A hard Black is the worse!"

"A hard black? What's that?"

"Red, a hard black is the worst case scenario. You see everything happens in stages from blue to green and so on. If it jumps? From any color but red to black? We are going to be in for one helluva time." Uzi said smiling widely as the ships PA crackled to life.

"T minus two minutes to the drop site! Get ready! I'm putting you down in the middle of the pack!" Kiara said as Jaune nodded.

"Good job Kiara! We'll take it from there!"

"You got it! Good luck you guys!" The pilot said as the ship's lights glowed red. The ship began to fall as the lights flicked and grew a sharp red. A baleful crimson light illuminated the interior of the hull along with a low hiss of white steam that filled the bottom of the ships hull giving a truly hellish appearance as Jaune stood up. Readying his weapons as he nodded to his team.

"Ok! Arkham! Ready up! I want this taken care of by the book!"

"Got it."

"As you say ~boss man~!"

"I'm with you!"

"Uzepi what's your plan?"

"Plan? What plan?" Uzepi said grinning as the ship took a sharp turn making all members r grip on to hand hols to help keep their footing as it took a sharp seventy-degree turn before a loud KEXHRT! Filled the air as the landing ramp was lowered. A gust of icy wind slipped inside the ship as a roar of ice and snow followed by the howls of Grimm filled the air.

"I don't have one!"

"You don't!? Why not?"

"Why would I? We don't have a town near us! We just have a horde of Grimm! What plan do we need besides to kill them to the last damn mutt!" Uzepi said before running out the craft jumping out as Jaune growled.

"Everyone! Follow me! Let's do this quick."

The battle went well.

"Kage!"

"I see them!" The boy shouted twirling on his heels twin pistol sounded twin resound booms filled the air as they snapped their shots off.

The two Ursa that had been plowing towards them fell back their heads pulped into a red paste as the shells plowed into them. Their necks vanished a second later as the explosive charges went off as Jaune nodded.

"Ruby!"

"I see them!" She yelled snipping the few Griffons that still remained. The sharp cracks! Of Crescent Rose sounded, the sniper rifle filling the air with its deadly ammunition.

"Uzepi!"

"Already there!" The woman said pushing up taking a head from a Beowulf before twirling her pistol raised and firing into the air the woman grinned adding her energy pistol purple fire to the anti-air effort.

"Good! Now keep this up!" Jaune said his mask prevent the whirling snow from impacting his visor yanking his sword from the chest of a Creep killing the Grimm in an instant. The monster fell back as Jaune raised his pistol firing twice melting the faces of another two Ursa as the Grimm fell in droves around them a smile split his face as the battle was going well...

"That was good! We kicked butt!" Ruby said smiling her one real eye closed in a happy look as her bionic one twirled Jaune nodded, his helmet off allowing his face to breathe. The battle was won and not a damn scratch on them, that was a first.

"It was a good run. We all did well." Jaune said, and he did not exaggerate. The five of them had done well. The Grimm had not even come with a half mile of the town. The horde was cut down before they could even prove a credible threat. The team had decimated them, and now they were on their return trip.
"I got to say it is nice to not have our very existence threatened for a change."

"Funny Kage. I'm glad I have your support." Jaune said sighing as the boy rolled his eyes. His shiny new red combat armor gleamed in the craft's once again pale light as he put his hand behind his head and closed his eyes.

"That's why I'm here. Support."

"So he says. Uzepi how long till we get back to Bastion?" "Four or five hours. All of you follow Kage's example and take some damn Z's." The woman said yawing once as-

DING! The sound of a scroll ringing filled the air, as all of team Arkham's scrolls rang out at once and-

FITOM!

"The ships changing course," Mika said sitting up her voice calm and neutral her eyes sharp as she turned to face the head of the ship as it took a sudden sharp turn. Shaking and groaning from the effort as the ship tilted.

"UM! We have a change of destination! I just received orders form Ludo himself, we are not going back to Bastion right now!"

Kiara said panic clear in her voice as-

"Um! Jaune! What is this!?" Ruby said looking at her scrolls as Jaune looked down.

"Fuck me. Boss!" Kage yelled as Jaune looked down and froze. The Bastion alert system had gone off. The color had changed, it was no longer green but now a dark pitch black.

"Uzepi? What is this?" Jaune asked a sudden feeling of ice water splashing on his veins. The scroll was black as night, the color of tar and-

"Uzepi?" Jaune asked the adults face no longer cool or cocky, but now shaking. Her lips twitched, and her breathing was hard and shallow. She gripped her scroll with two hands as-

"Oh, this can't..." The woman said as-

"Uzepi! What's going on!?"

"It's code black Blondie! It's a hard black!" The woman said panic in her voice as she shook. Her body trembled like a leaf in a storm as-

"What does that mean!?"

"It means that shit's going down!"

"What!? What's happening!?"

"I don't know! Wait a second! We are going to get instructions soon and then we'll know what the hell is happening!" The woman shouted her voice trembling as if she was facing down certain death.

"Jaune!? What's going on?"

"It's ok Ruby. We are going to be ok! Just calm down." Jaune said gripping his best friends hand to calm her shaking form as-

"Um! Hello! I just got news from Bastion! We have a new destination!"

"Where!?" Jaune yelled as he heard Kiara whimper.

"We! We are going far off course! We will need to refuel mid-air to get where we are going!"

"Where are we going, Kiara?!"

"Sending coordinates to your scroll!" Kiara said as all the scrolls buzzed as a download bar appeared showing a slowly filled green, blue lien that once load showed a line of coordinates and a flight path. The Vesperia was peeling away from Bastion going far, far south and-

"The Grimmlands!?" Kage gagged the boy's eyes flying open as Jaune felt his heart freeze. The ship was on a dead corpse to the heart of the Grimm Lands. The ship was taking them to the middle. Of the most hostile areas of Remnant-

"Grimmlands?! Why are we going there?!"

"I don't know Ruby. But don't worry-

"Ludo!" Uzepi yelled yelling into her scroll as-

"What the hell is going- Her voice died in her that as a low tremble appear in her arm. Her skin lost any of the limited colors it had going white as a sheet as she began to tremble.

"Sir I... but! I! I! I see... I...I understand sir...I will." The woman said her scroll hanging up her arm falling down a look of pure defeat in her purple eyes as-

'We... we are going to the Grimmlands." The woman said her voice trembling as-

"What!? Why!? What the hell did Ludo say!?"

"He said that we are the only ones that can do this. Time is of the essence." Uzepi repeated as if on autopilot as Jaune gagged.

"What does that mean!? What are we going to do in the Grimmlands!?"

"UM! I know I should not say this but! I've checked our fuel requirements! And we will not! Even after our refueling have enough left in the tank to make it back to Bastion!"

"What!? Why? What about the refueling ship!?"

"At best? We can make it halfway back! The shipping won't fill us up!"

"Why not!? Why the call won't they fill us back up!?"

"Because they don't have enough fuel! They are not carrying enough to top us off!"

"Why not? What are they crying!?"

"Weapons! We are being refueled and armed to the teeth! With our new weight, we won't get even half! Of my estimates back to Bastion!" Kiara shouted her panic rising as Ruby whimpered.

"Jaune? What are we going to do?" Ruby said as Jaune growled.

"Don't worry Ruby, it's going to be ok! We are going to be okay-

Ding!

All scrolls rang out as once as Jaune's head flew down to his scroll where two simple white liens were written on a pure black surface. Two on the top three on the bottom that read-

Mission Assassination Target location. Grimlands.

Target name: Salem...

AN: And there we go! Another day another chapter! This one we see the reveal of Mika's semblance! The Arkham crew gets thier act together! And then... Salem. Yup! We are at the end of the first pillar of Bastion! The final two chapters come! As we get to see the final first fight of team Arkham versus Salem... Now! Onto other things, Game on is not next! The brand new series The Apprentice is next! If you liked Game on but want a bit less terrible world for Jaune! You'll like it! And if you like a strong Jaune fic? You'll love it. Until next time! Omake...

Hero of Remnant Volume two. Sister twister.

Jaune was having a bad day, no, to call Jaune's day terrible would be like saying that Ren had a minor case of politeness. Or that Ruby had a slight! Preference for cookies. Speaking of Ruby, the new commander of his regiment was currently doing her best to keep his head on his shoulders, and to stop his body from being reduced to a smoldering heap of ashes.

An odd fact seeing how that Ruby was the one to put him into this situation in the first place.

"You tried to shoot her!?" The furious and seething voice of Yang Xiao-long Jaune's once! A good friend, poker buddy, and overall someone he trusted to not try to melt him into a pile of slag said waving her custom weapon a nasty looking combi-flamer. That had not just promethium, and a bolter slung underneath it.

"I had every right too! She was unfit for command!" Jaune shouted tiring to not be turned into a pile of using limbs as Yang waved her weapon around Ruby holding onto her arm for dear life trying and failing to weigh Yang down and stop her from killing her commanding officer.

"You tried to shoot my sister!" Yang yelled her flamers third not so hidden barrel some type of melta weapon glowing violently orange making Jaune gulp!

"I was well within my rights as a commissar!"

"She's my sister!"

"She was not fit for duty!"

"I'll end you!"

"STOP! NO FIGHTING!" Ruby shouted in a voice far more authoritative than Jaune thought possible from the young woman. She, so sharp Yang froze as her eyes lost some but not all of their red.

"Ruby-

'No Ruby! Jaune was well within his rights to do what he did!"

"He tried to shoot you!"

"Only if I didn't do my job!"

"But!"

"Which is his job Yang! In case you didn't know! Commissar Jaune did nothing wrong!" Ruby said finally stopping Yang's waving of her deadly and ludicrous weapon that could kill tanks like they were Grimm in a tankers sights or Cookies in front of Ruby.

"Jaune is my commissar! He is my leader, and he is the man that saved a whole city!"

"Ruby-

"No Yang! You do not get to threaten my friend!"

"Commander Rose..."

"Sir! Sorry, sir!"

"It is of no issue. I must apologize, I might have acted a bit rashly during the initial start of our visit. I might have acted, and I did not mean to sour our relationship." Jaune said in a smooth voice as Yang sighed.

"I... I'm sorry. I overreacted." Yang said her temper falling as she breathed in and out. Letting her anger bleed out and regaining her calm.

"Ok. I'm sorry."

"Sorry!? You threaten to kill a commissar!"

"I've done that to you before."

"Does that make it better?!"

"No, but if I can't threaten my friends who can I threaten then?"

"Your enemies for one! That would be infinitely better than threatening me!"

"Aw Jaune! Don't be like that! You know you love me!"

"That's beside the point! You can't threaten a commissar! Save that for the enemies!"

"Enemies? Jaune! Don't you know? I don't have enemies! I look damn too good, besides who can even try to hurt me? I'm amazing!"