Howdy folks, I have returned with more of this meme of a story
Amber had become the Fall Maiden because she wanted to help people. It's more of a curse than anything else. You suddenly have a great responsibility that you need to keep secret. You needed to be out in the world with a constant guard. You also need to do good, traveling and defeating roaming Grimm from the fields in Vale to the furthest frontiers. Because the whole world deserved—needed—your service.
All the while, Salem's forces are on your trail. That means you are never safe, and anyone you care about may not be safe either. A stressful, lonely, demanding life. It requires a certain kind of person. A truly selfless, altruistic individual ready to commit their life to helping others.
Amber took pride in her decision to be that person. She did not regret becoming the Fall Maiden.
But, recently, her latest show of kindness had her second-guessing this altruism.
"Are we there yet?" Jaune asked.
It was not the first time he had asked that in the week or so that they had traveled together; what truly caused her dread, however, was the certainty that it would not be the last time, either.
"Kid," Qrow said, his voice brittle in that dangerous, frustrated way, "you asked us that yesterday."
"Yeah."
"And yesterday, I told you it would take a couple more weeks."
"Yeah."
"So, why would you ask it again one day later?"
"In case anything changed."
"Yes…" Amber rubbed her forehead. "How very diligent of you. Situations can change rapidly. Always good to stay on top of things. Haha…"
Qrow scowled. "Please don't encourage him."
"Encourage what?" Jaune asked.
"Anyway," Amber said, cutting off her grumpy companion before he could open his mouth again, "let's just enjoy this nice blue sky, hm?" She raised up her arms at the cloudless, robin-egg expanse high above them. "Sometimes, I like to just look up at the sky and think, 'man that's pretty.' It's the little things, right? You just don't realize when things are good."
In truth, she had taken to looking at the nature ever since their scroll signals weakened. It was better than getting sucked into a conversation with Jaune. Just a monosyllable response to a question from him, then zone out and look at the trees or the sky or the leaves getting pitter-pattered around by the wind. Keeps you sane.
She sighed and kicked a rock down the dirt road; it tumbled into another rock, both of them clacking together before settling still. Meanwhile, pointed at some birds fluttering overhead.
"Hey, what's the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?"
"Depends," Qrow said, "you talking about an Atlesian or Vacuan swallow?"
"Oh, I didn't know there was a difference!" Jaune said. "Do you know a lot about birds?"
"Heh, you could say something like that."
Amber sighed. As mind-numbing as it could be, Jaune's innocent inquisitiveness represented something good.
That is what she told herself—no cope.
"I'm not the biggest fan of boats," Jaune admitted. All my time spent in a box on one… well, it wasn't very fun.
Qrow reclined in his seat and downed the last of his glass of whiskey. He idly looked at it, mildly disappointed, and shook it back and forth. The lone ice cube clanged against the sides. Then he just sighed. "Well, hitching a ride on a fishing boat is still a load better than walking all the way," he said. "We're not exactly in a rush, but we want to get there before the tournament season kicks off. We're supposed to watch and help get a sense of potential recruits." He nodded to Jaune. "And you gotta fight in those yourself."
"I do!" Jaune said with a nod. "I'm prepping for it already." He took a sip from his glass of milk and smiled. "Strong bones, right? All humans need them!"
Oh yeah, I'm a master of deception.
They lounged at a booth in the tavern they were staying at that night. They resided for now in a small fishing village along Vale's coast, after having traveled a couple weeks on foot. Amber had already called it a night; Qrow, instead, took advantage of the time and place to refill his flasks and have a few drinks on top of that. Jaune didn't need to enter rest mode for a couple more days, so he tagged along.
"But yeesh, that fisherman really really tried to bleed us dry with how much he was charging us," Qrow grumbled. "Took forever to grind down the price."
"It actually happened pretty quickly after Amber made you walk out the room," Jaune said.
"Yeah, well—"
"It seemed like you were really just making the guy mad."
"Okay—"
"Because you were just getting mad."
"Listen—"
"Amber seems to be better at talking to people than you."
"Kid…" Qrow sighed and looked at the empty glass. He would definitely need to order another one. "You're really something."
"Thanks!"
"This is a good place to stop," Qrow said. They stood atop a hill, in the midst of an open stretch of grass that formed a green blot in the forest. Qrow squinted and scanned the area, seeing nothing but a few bees between them and the trees. Where they stood, one could see almost a mile out in any direction before the forests again provided potential for hiding.
Qrow carefully examined a map in his hands, nodding as he assured himself that they were, indeed, where he thought they were.
"Okay," he eventually said, "I'm pretty sure we are where we think we are."
"And where's that?" Jaune asked.
"Not a mile away from a village," Qrow said, pointing further down the road. "Can't see it from here since it's smack in the middle of the forest, looks like. But there should be one."
"And this is a good place to stop?" Amber asked. "Right in front of it?" She looked up at the sky; the sun swung back down to the horizon, but they easily had several more hours before night came.
"Have you noticed things getting a little warmer, a little dryer, maybe?" Qrow asked. "We're well in Vale's frontier right now. Soon enough, these forests are going to blend into drylands, then savannah, then deserts. We're getting nearer to Vacuo territory. This is the last forests we'll be seeing in a while." He put his hands on his hips and glared into the woods as if they had just insulted his mother. "This is a good place for outlaws to hide. Just close enough to richer Valean settlements to get some better loot, not too close for authorities to respond too quickly.
"So, you two stay here on this nice hill in this nice field where you can see enemies coming from a mile away, and I'll go scout up ahead."
"Why?" Amber asked. "We're all hunters here, no need for the caution."
"I just want to make sure that the first real dangerous stint in our journey doesn't start with all of us getting ambushed."
"And just you getting ambushed is okay?" Jaune asked, his eyes turning puppy-ish.
"No worries, kid, I'm pretty good at fluttering my way out of tough spots."
"If you say so…"
"Yes," Amber repeated. Her voice felt uncharacteristically cold. "If you say so."
"Great!" Qrow clapped his hands together, turned his back to them and strolled off (far too casually given his recent espousal of the area's danger). "If you guys need anything, just scream at the top of your lungs or something."
"Or something!" Jaune added.
"Or something," Amber repeated, lacking his same enthusiasm.
Stupid scroll, Amber thought. She looked down at the thing in her hands; more specifically, she scowled at the frowny face and message of, 'connectoin failed, please try again later.'
"Pretty far from the CCT's now, huh?" Jaune asked. "We really are out in the frontiers."
"That we are, that we are…" She wandered over to the side of the road, looking for more rocks to kick.
She found one, wound her leg back and let loose. Rather than sending the rock skittering or flying off, she shattered it into pebbles which ricocheted out over the grass.
"Oh wow!" Jaune said. "Impressive!"
Amber crossed her arms and humphed. Coming from anyone else, she would have thought it was sass or sarcasm. But Jaune was Jaune. "Thanks," she said, "I guess."
"You're welcome!" He clapped his hands together excitedly, but Amber did not turn around, did not say another word. She put her hands on her hips and just looked out over the field.
"Is something wrong?" Jaune asked. He looked at the forest and squinted; for just a fraction of a second, his eyes glowed green. It was the zoom function activating. His vision shot forward as if he were using binoculars, and he scanned the forest-line. "I don't see anything."
"It's not that," Amber said with a sigh. "There's no danger here."
"That's good!"
"Not really."
"What?" Jaune's eyes flickered imperceptibly, zooming back out so he could look at Amber normally. "Isn't being safe generally a good thing?"
"I would be less frustrated if there was some sort of immediate danger, or signs of it." She shook her head, took in a deeper breath and let it out in a smooth flow, settling whatever anger had started to simmer. "I wouldn't feel coddled, in that case."
"Coddled?"
"Boxed in."
"Oh, I hate being boxed in."
Especially boxes on boats.
"Right? Ugh." Amber huffed and glared down at the assortment of rocks and pebbles at her feet, trying to find another good one to kick. "I took on this position because I thought I could handle the responsibility. But instead, it feels like all the responsibility in my life has been taken away. I'm everybody else's responsibility now. I don't do anything."
"Sorry to hear that," Jaune said. "What's the position, again?"
Amber tensed.
She was normally so careful not to let it slip, but Jaune had been with them for a while now, and he was one of the most disarming people she had ever met. It was natural to let your guard down around him, both literally and figuratively. You didn't keep your weapons close at hand, and you didn't keep track of your words as well as you should.
"Nothing," Amber said.
"Okay!"
Amber sighed. He really was easy.
"Oh hey, somebody's coming!"
Her head snapped up.
Emerald took point. Mercury and Cinder were right behind her. She would be lying if she said that she wasn't nervous, but at least she could play her anxiety off as excitement.
They had been tailing Qrow and the Maiden for a while, waiting for a time when they might be separated. And here he was, gone away. All they needed was a couple of minutes, so Emerald's semblance and Cinder's parasite could do all the work they needed.
The only wrench in the plan, the despicable detail that had put a frown on Cinder's face (which in turn put a scowl on Emerald's) was the addition of some random teenager. They knew Qrow. They knew Amber. But who was he?
An idiot. That was the answer, if what the sailor they had bribed for info was right. Curious at everything, knowing nothing. An amateur huntsman along for the ride.
They would dispose of him quickly.
But for now, he lived, and he waved at her and smiled.
Crap, Emerald thought. How nice do I act? I wish I could have gone with the sad kid by the side of the road plan… how soon should I wave back? What's a normal distance— No, no I'm overthinking it, just act natural. You're a scam artist by nature. This is easy.
Emerald deliberately kept herself from looking at the Maiden. She also resisted the urge to peek behind her and make sure Cinder and Mercury were still there, ready.
But the Maiden could strike her down for sure, and what if this kid was more than he looked? What if he had some kind of semblance that was strong enough to make him a part of the Maiden's entourage—
No, no, now you're overthinking again.
Emerald ran a hand back through her hair and ignored her thumping heart. She smiled and waved back. Just a friendly stranger passing by.
"Hey there!" she said. Simple, polite, kind. Utterly unremarkable.
Am I sweating? What if she notices I'm sweating and it's not even hot out—
Nope. Stop overthinking things.
And no, no matter how much you want to, don't look behind you for Cinder.
"Nice day, huh?" she asked as they got near.
"It is!" the blonde said. "A lovely day outside to feel the sun against my human skin."
Okay…?
The Fall Maiden rolled her eyes, as if the strange choice of words was nothing unusual to her. It probably wasn't. "Yes," she said, dispirited. "A clear sky."
"My name's Jaune!" the kid said. "Salutations! Or, um, hello!"
Emerald shifted her gaze between the two as she got nearer, making sure neither looked suspicious. The Maiden seemed more annoyed rather than anything else. Her red eyes landed on Jaune.
They had discussed this. She would make Jaune perceive the Maiden as if she were some kind of Grimm, prompting him to attack her. The Maiden might then counter-attack and possibly kill him immediately. More likely, she would be incredibly confused and try to thwart his attacks without hurting him. Awkwardly off guard, distracted and trying to talk him down, that would give the three of them the chance to pounce. Her semblance might only last a few seconds, but seconds was all they needed.
"How are you doing today?" she asked Jaune, drawing in his attention.
"Hmmmmm, pretty good!"
She made eye contact. Sure, she didn't have to, but it made things even easier.
Emerald reached out with her semblance; that's what it felt like, as if she had another limb that grew and stretched and grabbed the mind of her target. She probed through his aura, felt the slight pressure of his soul and clenched her fist—
Only to come back empty-handed.
Her eyes widened.
There was… nothing. There was simply nothing. No mind, no focus. Nothing at all for her to grip with her semblance and twist.
"Uh…" Her mouth hung open. Her semblance sputtered out. She looked like she had seen a ghost.
"Are you okay?" Jaune asked.
The Fall Maiden narrowed her eyes.
Too late to back out now.
Emerald reconstituted herself and lashed her semblance to the side, at the Maiden. This time, she caught hold. Her ethereal fingers wrapped around the Maiden's mind and granted her access. A fog that she felt more than saw. Her target's mind and the illusions she summoned into it were vague and hard to parse, like trying to remember the images from a dream after just waking up.
She brought them to life.
Amber's eyes widened, and Jaune was rather taken aback when she rounded on him, panic on her face.
"Are you—"
He had no time for more than those two syllables before Amber rounded her staff on him. A golden light flowed from her hands out into the staff as she swung it. Jaune's automatic defense procedures martialed his aura—
Just in time for the enchanted staff to smash into his chest, hurling him back and nearly shattering his aura. He plowed down into the ground and tumbled head over heels.
When he finally came to a stop, he spat out a mouthful of grass. He saw something out of the corner of his eye and dove to the side.
A good instinct, considering Amber crashed down at that moment with her staff, smashing a crater and shaking the ground like an earthquake. The raw power from her hit fumed out in all directions like a shockwave, a gust of golden air that tickled the senses but didn't quite feel physical. It was certainly still strong enough to knock Jaune back on his rear end again.
"What's wrong?" he asked Amber, "What's wrong what did I do? I'm sorry!"
A self-defense protocol warned him that now was the time to draw his sword.
He held his hands up instead.
Amber glared him down. She stood in the crater, twirling her staff. The whole length of it coursed with energy, rippling and glittering across the weapon like sunlight through water. Her angry eyes emanated that same golden glow, fierce and concentrated like the flame from a blowtorch.
"What's happening?" Jaune asked, his voice spiked and almost cracking. "Aren't we friends?"
Amber blinked, and after that half-second of broken vision, when her eyes opened again, she looked purely taken aback. "Jaune?"
He nodded. "Jaune."
"But—"
"Watch out!"'
Jaune shouted as soon as he saw the black-haired woman drawing back on a bow. A pitch-black arrow solidified from dust swirling around her, and she let loose.
But Amber had heeded her friend's warning. She hopped to the side and simultaneously summoned a gust of wind that spun in a vortex around her, like a hurricane with her in its eye. The arrow skimmed by her, quickly thrown even further off course by the winds.
"Oh you're going to regret this!" Amber declared, raising her staff.
Mercury hadn't liked the plan, not from the start. He had agreed to start working with Cinder because she had cash and could help him get new legs. He kept working with her because the cash was good, the jobs steady and she and her Grimm boss were too damn scary to leave.
Attacking some lady with magical superpowers? Not his idea of fun, but he was in too deep. He would've risked telling Cinder no if not for Emerald's semblance giving them a good chance.
He didn't like that there was another guy here to distract them while they fought the Maiden. He didn't like that he had been assigned to neutralizing that guy if the Maiden didn't ice him off the bat.
So there he was, firing the gun in his boot and giving the blonde kid a roundhouse kick to the side of the skull that would've sent any normal person's head flying like a homerun out the stadium.
But this guy evidently wasn't normal.
His aura flashed under the impact, and a surprisingly hollow gong rang out. He cartwheeled, but by swirling his arms and arcing his back—like some professional gymnast or even a cat—managed to plant his hands into the ground, flip and stick the landing on two feet. With a scowl.
"I don't know who you are," Jaune said, drawing the antique-looking sword from his waist, "but as friend Amber said, you will regret this!"
"Tsk." Mercury cracked his knuckles and dug his heels into the ground. This wasn't ideal. A hit like that should've had the dude seeing stars, even with aura. "Whatever, buddy."
"I'm not your buddy, pal!" He readied the sword in both hands.
"I'm not your pal, guy."
Mercury kicked off, blasting his shotgun heels. From a cloud of smoke and torn-up dirt, he darted first to the side, then back again with another blast, situating him behind his opponent in a matter of seconds. To top off this dizzying maneuver, he spun back in for the kill with another roundhouse—
Only to fold his legs in when Jaune, without even turning around, swung his sword back at an impossible angle—or, it would have been impossible, if he had not dislocated his shoulder to bend his arm fully around.
Mercury tucked his legs up so that they didn't get cut straight off and slammed into the ground, rolling to the side as Jaune cleaved down, missing him by inches and driving his sword into the Earth.
When he got back to his feet, Mercury didn't like what he saw. His opponent must have broken his damn shoulder with how he contorted his arm back like that, but now Jaune held his sword in both hands. He should have been writhing in pain, a bulge popping out of his shirt.
Tricky bastard must have practiced that… Mercury winced at the thought of running routines involving dislocating your joints and immediately popping them back into place mid-fight just to get a surprise off.
This guy's kind of hardcore.
"Rah!"
Orange light flared by the road, drawing both of theirs attention. Cinder had drawn two black scimitars and kept the Maiden busy from the front, while Emerald dashed to the side, unleashed her chains and—
Nearly got her head blown off by a fireball.
Mercury gulped. This whole plan relied on speed. On getting an opening to for Cinder's slick parasite.
"Friend!" Jaune stepped toward the action.
"Oh no you don't!" Mercury brought the action to him.
I'm at least going to do my part!
He launched himself between Jaune and the others, hands raised and ready to move.
Then they can't blame me for this going south!
"Why are you doing this?" Jaune asked. He looked Mercury up and down, wavering the point of his sword around and trying to pick out a weak point in his guard.
Mercury shifted his weight from foot to, never giving him an easy opening to strike. "Doesn't matter to you," he said. "You're just in the wrong place, wrong time. Wrong—"
Mercury cut himself off mid-sentence and blasted into the air before hurtling down in an ax kick that would shatter even the sturdiest of office desks. Jaune hopped back to dodge.
Mercury smirked. He fired off another shot, spun himself to the side and slammed into the ground on all fours. Instantly, he fired once more, throwing himself into a sliding kick for Jaune's legs just when he had raised his sword to counter after the axe kick.
Executed perfectly. He swung by and swept Jaune's legs out from under him, sending him tumbling onto his back. Mercury hopped up and fired his leg off into another ax-kick down.
Jaune rolled to the side, then even hopped up in time to dodge the spinning kick Mercury followed up with.
Mercury changed tactics on the fly. He pressed in close and fired off a shot, jamming a knee straight into his opponent's gut. Finally, something landed.
Jaune keeled over and stumbled back, and Mercury pressed in. Being a kicker, his fighting style generally involved keeping people more at range. But he needed to get in this guy's guard, past that sword, past his ability to prep for attacks. He squeezed his fists, readying his knuckles to really shake things up. He cocked a hand back for a suckerpunch to the jaw.
But he readjusted that plan when Jaune unlatched his scabbard from his belt. Not deadly itself, the thing could still deflect his attack and leave an opening for his sword.
So Mercury changed tack, blasting to the side then blasting back, aiming his elbow to shatter his opponent's nose—
Jaune curled back like he was playing limbo, throwing himself totally off-balance but avoiding Mercury's strike. He swung his scabbard up by the side of Mercury's head, but not close enough to actually hit.
Mercury grinned. He pivoted on his heel, ready to deliver a spine-shattering knee—
Jaune hit a button on the scabbard.
"Gack—!" Mercury flinched as the edge of a shield folded out and drove into his face. The spring behind it wasn't particularly strong, but it was all surprising enough to throw Mercury off-kilter.
And that's just what Jaune needed to drop his sword and pounce, wrapping his arms around Mercury's waist and driving them both down the ground.
He scrambled on top and crossed his forearm over Mercury's throat.
Mercury choked.
"I'm sorry!" Jaune said as he pressed down. He grimaced. "Just pass out or something!"
He and Mercury made eye-contact.
Jaune had to look away.
So he didn't see when an arm shot up beside his face. Reaching further, Mercury grabbed a fistful of hair and yanked—at the same time as he kicked both heels down into the ground, shooting again.
"Gah—!" Mercury managed to gasp in some air through a dry mouth as he broke Jaune's pin and pushed him to the side. His relief turned into fury. "You asshole!"
But Jaune squirmed, denying Mercury any authority and almost worming out of his grip. The best Mercury could do was grip one of his arms in both hands—tightly. He shoved Jaune down and twisted his arm back.
Jaune flipped onto his stomach, easily dislocating his shoulder. Mercury saw that coming, knowing that he apparently didn't care for keeping his body, well, unbroken. He stepped up and jammed a knee down into the small of Jaune's back, using that and his grip on his arm to jam him down.
"Just say uncle already!" Mercury growled. He looked over his shoulder and wasn't pleased with sight.
Emerald was picking herself up off the ground; meanwhile, the Maiden was floating over the ground. Her eye burned, and she had Cinder on the backfoot, swinging her glowing staff and shattering Cinder's swords as fast as she could summon them to block.
She hadn't gone into full Maiden mode, not yet. They had just a brief window of opportunity to try and steal her powers, circumventing any attempt on her part to think of another girl before her death. She was vulnerable for just a few seconds when she called upon the magic but before that magic fully manifested in her. She evidently hadn't seen the need yet to take things that far. Salem had warned them that Maidens were loath to fully unleash their powers casually, as unpredictable as they could be.
If they could only prove to be a bit more of a hassle for her…
He turned his focus back down to the squirming twerp beneath him. Jaune flopped and wriggled like a fish out of water, proving ferociously difficult to keep pinned. But Mercury held fast to his arm, using that as the lynchpin for his hold.
Jaune must have realized that, too, because what happened next was the one thing that could have truly ruined Mercury's whole plan.
His arm popped off.
"What the—!?" Mercury's jaw dropped, and he fell back clutching the limp appendage which just slipped out of Jaune's shirtsleeve. The gears in his brain braked, then rattled for a few seconds.
It really didn't help when said detached arm slapped him across the face.
"Son of a—!?"
Mercury dropped the arm and reeled back, feeling fundamentally disturbed.
Free from the hold, Jaune twisted around and slammed a fist as hard as he could into Mercury's chin, closing his mouth and chomping his teeth together with a painful click!
Jaune reached for his arm. The detached limb opened up its hand grabbed on, as Jaune was shaking hands with someone.
The assassin could barely even get his senses straight before Jaune wound up his own arm like a bat, changing his grip to hold on by the wrist. The arm extended and went perfectly rigid, making itself an ideal club.
Jaune swung, slamming the end of his detached arm—where it should have fit into a shoulder socket—straight into the middle of Mercury's chest.
All Mercury could do was wheeze as the air got knocked out of him and he was swept up off his feet. His aura took the brunt of the hit—not deadly, but definitely not painless.
Still, he lacked all control as he hurled backwards through the air, unable to take control or hope to reroute himself with his boots. He looked over his shoulder to see where he was headed and—
This sucked.
Cinder barely saw him out of the corner of her eye; and, by then, it was already too late. He barreled into her headfirst, sending them both sprawling to the ground.
"Moron!" She shoved Mercury off of her and rolled to the side just in time to avoid a literal lightning bolt that scorched the earth black.
"Ah hell…" He looked at the Fall Maiden. She floated higher off the ground now, eyes burning pure gold, wind whipping around her. She was like a thunderstorm—the nasty kind that served as the harbinger for harsher, deadlier weather.
Mercury had a gut feeling that their short window had passed. He staggered to his feet and glanced at Emerald. His partner had a spark of anxiety in her eyes. It mirrored his own.
Cinder summoned another pair of scimitars—
"Are you crazy!" Mercury spat. "We can't—"
"Watch out!" Emerald fired her twin guns into the air.
"You gotta be…" Mercury knew what it was before he even turned to look.
A dark, cloudy figure dove down from the sky. A wicked scythe's blade arced out of the cloud as Qrow Branwen rematerialized above them.
Cinder grit her teeth. For a second, her eyes flashed between the Maiden and Branwen. For just a second, she considered pushing on. They seemed so close.
"Damn it!"
Her more rational mind won out.
She tossed her swords aside, both disintegrating into ash. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a compact black orb, like a pearl made of shiny tar.
Qrow arced his scythe down, straight for her neck.
Amber conjured another lightning bolt, straight for her heart.
Cinder crushed the pearl in her grip.
A black smoke darker than the night itself smothered them all in an instant.
"I'm sorry," Jaune said.
Qrow raised an eyebrow. "For what?"
"That we couldn't stop them from getting away." He slumped over the little desk in their motel room. "Normally"- he closed his eyes and tapped his fingers against them -"I have pretty good eyesight. I should have been able to see them through that smoke."
But it somehow stopped my infrared vision, too.
"It wasn't normal stuff," Jaune continued. "Like it was magic or something!"
Qrow and Amber shared a look.
"Well," Amber said, nervously grinning, "you should hardly beat yourself up about it. Especially after you did so much else!" She sat down on one of the beds in the room, close to Jaune. "I must say that the fight may have gone very differently without you."
"Yeah kid, not everybody could've acted so well in an ambush, especially not up against people strong like that. Best to write today off as a win."
"A win… but they're still out there." Mission incomplete.
"But now we know what they look like," Qrow said, "and we know to be prepared. That makes us combat ready, yeah?"
Jaune's eyes lit up. "Mr. Qcrow, you're right! We are so combat ready now!"
Qrow chuckled and sipped from his canteen. He leaned up against the window and looked out at the starry sky and the sleeping town it hung over. Thank goodness this village had an inn with a solid bar. He needed to decompress after all the bs of that day. Honestly, he was also a little jealous of Jaune's ability to swap from lows to highs; he had jumped from depressed to positive in an instant, as if it was like getting the answer to a math question. Just needed the right info and bam! it's all good.
"I must say that I really did not expect my opponent to be hit by a different opponent out of nowhere," Amber said. "A creative tactic I haven't seen before."
"I hit him really hard with my arm!" Jaune nodded proudly. "And I was aiming for that lady. I really didn't want to leave you fighting two people at once."
"Extremely considerate." Amber looked away guiltily. "Especially after I attacked you like that; I wouldn't have blamed you for joining them."
"No way!" He gave a thumbs-up. "I'll always help a friend! I knew that there must have been something wrong."
"Certainly a semblance," she said. "There's no other explanation for why I thought you were a charging beowolf for a second there."
"Ha! Yeah that's wacky—"
His right arm twitched, and his hand clenched up into a fist for a second, before slackening again.
"Oh, are you okay?" Amber asked. She leaned over and examined Jaune's arm. "What was that?"
"I, uh…" He gulped. "I think that guy kicked me in the shoulder or something while we were fighting. Maybe, uh, I'm a little twitchy?"
"Might have hit a nerve or something," Qrow said, "we should really stop by a doctor in town if there is one—"
"Haha!" Jaune laughed loudly. "No!"
"No? But—"
"I am allergic to doctors."
Amber and Qrow shared a look.
"You know what," Amber said, "I think I'm going to pick what battles to win and lose. I'll win the battle against the assassins; I'll lose the battle in trying to figure you out."
"Sounds great!" Jaune said. He rubbed his right shoulder. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom and look at this in the mirror."
"Take a hot shower," Qrow said, "might help the muscles."
"Will do!" Jaune hopped up and saluted. "Although I think the issue is that I put it back on so quickly, the input ports might not have aligned so well!"
"What?"
"Nothing!" He sped to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.
"What a weird kid."
"Qrow!" Amber snatched a pillow and threw it at his head. "Be nice! He just helped us—me, really—out of a pretty bad situation."
"Yeah…' Qrow snapped the cap back onto his flask. "Sorry. Figured leaving you alone for a few minutes would be fine, just to check out if the town was a mess or something."
Amber crossed her arms. "I would have handled them myself. A Maiden isn't defenseless."
"You never know," Qrow said.
"Guess not." She sighed and flopped back onto the bed. "But now I feel terrible."
"Yeah?"
"We're dragging Jaune in against Salem. He was just trying to help, but just by associating with us he might be a target on her list."
"He might be." Qrow looked at the flask, shrugged and stuffed it back in his pocket. "He probably is."
"Indeed." Amber tutted and stared up at the ceiling. The shower started running in the bathroom. "So I hardly just want to drop him off in Vacuo."
"Well… the kid did say he wanted to go to Beacon."
"He did."
"A hunter academy is probably the safest place he could stay."
"It would be."
"And he deserves to be there, too, if he managed to go toe-to-toe with one of Salem's assassins."
"That he does."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Most certainly."
Watts hadn't expected much fanfare from his return to the office. Tyrian's poison had left him bedridden for a while, and he had taken just about all the sick days he had left to extend that further. He had also been granted special leave for a nice 'vacation' to Vacuo.
Between those, he would be spending a week back at the lab to get things into focus and make a special announcement. It should have been droll and routine, everyone's head bent over their work as usual.
"Welcome back!"
He hadn't expected a chorus from his whole department the second he opened the door to the office. He hadn't expected streamers and confetti and a round of applause.
And he certainly hadn't expected Omsk to swing out with huge platter of cupcakes.
"Everyone decided that there should be a bit of a celebration for your return," she said. A knowing smile perked up on her lips. "You know, for the hero."
"What?"
A scientist came up beside him and clapped Watts on the shoulder. "We wanted to give you a warm welcome back, Arthur. You deserve more than cupcakes for putting up a fight; heck, you deserve more than that vacation to Vacuo, too!"
"But we're glad you come in for a bit!" said one of the other scientists.
Watts was at a loss for words. He had never had the greatest relationship with his colleagues. That's not to say he had a bad one, not at all. He just never bothered with small talk, never went to after-work events or the like and never socialized around the watercooler. Sure, he would sign the birthday cards but that was about it.
"We're all happy to see you back," said a scientist, "don't know what the lab would be like without you."
"I… really?"
"Yeah!" said another. "You're the pillar of the lab. You take on so much work and help out anywhere you can. And after actually putting up a fight against terrorists? You really are a hero, doctor."
Pillar? Mentor? Wasn't he just doing his job by answering questions and finishing work? Was that really so special? Yeesh, enough people must hate their managers nowadays that finding one who is content to do his job well and otherwise ignore you could be considered highly.
No, they must be seeing me through rose-tinted glasses after the heist…
And it actually feels good.
"Well, um, thank you all. For this. Thank you very much for this." He plucked a cupcake from Omsk, who still had her inside-joke grin.
He didn't like things with icing like cupcakes, since it would get into his glorious mustache. But it looked good, with a bunch of sprinkles. He noticed a table with a bunch of paper plates and grocery-store charcuterie boards, along with some plastic cutlery. He could get to the cupcake more carefully later.
For now, though, he should get a hold of things again.
"Ahem," he said, clearing his throat to get their attention. Time for a speech. Darn it. "Thank you all, very much," he repeated. "I… was simply doing what I'm sure any of you would have done in that situation."
Yes, let's be humble. People like humble.
"After all, we have all chosen to work for the Atlesian Military Research Corps to help our country."
And the salary. And the prestige. And the power. But I don't need to note that now.
"So thank you, but I think I've only ever been acting according to what's expected of me."
He almost scowled when Omsk stifled a laugh.
"Pleasantries aside," he said, "now that I have all of your attention, I would like to address a work-related development. We are going to be changing the focus of our work.
"As you can probably guess, the Pursuer and Deceiver projects are now on ice. Maybe we can get back to those once… well, once some recoveries are made.
"But, the brass wants us to keep earning our keep, yes? As such, they've reopened our previous project. They are putting more stock into non-AI solutions."
"Previous project?" a scientist asked. "Do you mean…?"
"Project Checkmate? Yes, yes I do."
The scientists looked at each other, some nervous and some excited.
"Project Checkmate was shut down because they lacked faith in our eventual success," Watts said. "Case King, Case Queen and Case Rook all had their difficulties, but we only needed one more shot. Until they pulled the plug and had us shift focus.
"That was years ago now, and some of you were brought on board after the project ended, although I'm sure you've heard tale of it. But I am pleased to say that my time here before vacation will be about readying the department for that shift, which will begin in earnest upon my return."
He held up the cupcake as if it were drink to toast.
"So look forward to Project Checkmate reborn, and its new assignment: Case Bishop."
Anyone who's read my other fic should have an idea about where this is going lol, tho it'll be a lot different