A/N: Funny story about this chapter is that it took a lot longer to write than I thought it would. I just kept getting side tracked with other stuff and work went to hell when a blizzard hit my city. Hilariously I still had to go to work so I got to drive through a snowstorm with shitty, all-season tires. By the way, don't get all-season tires. They suck so much. Either get winter tires or buy some chains.

Anyways, here's chapter five for all of you to enjoy!


Criminal Endeavors


Dark.

That's was Jaune's first impression as he stepped out of the car onto the pavement. The whole warehouse was pitch black, no light entered the massive metal structure nor did it leave. A burly guard laid a massive hand on his shoulder and walked him through the doors.

Crates stacked on crates went high towards the ceiling. Men were busy cataloging, sorting, and shifting each one of them before men driving forklifts would lift one up and move it to an unknown area.

"Woa-"

"Keep it moving!" Jaune stumbled as the man shoved him along. Clearly they didn't want him sight seeing here but it was difficult for Jaune not to stare. He had never seen anything quite so organized. They moved like robots, so efficient and methodical.

And to think, Roman was at the head of all of this.

"Alright, boss is right through these doors kid. Here's some advic-"

"Don't get him mad?" Jaune cut him off.

"No, he's probably gonna get frustrated at you regardless." Well wasn't that just perfect for him. A frustrated Roman; perfect. "Just try not to speak unless he directly asks a question. Also keep your answers short."

Jaune nodded and looked straight ahead, they were approaching his office now.

When Roman had called Jaune earlier and told him to come and meet him in Vale he nearly had a panic attack. Over the course of the week he had completely forgotten that he had an arrangement with the criminal mastermind and had been hoping to have a relaxing weekend in the city. Maybe go see a few sights, hang out with his team…

Maybe get a date with a cute girl.

Instead he got this. A muscled, scary, and clearly violent thug leading him to his even scarier and more violent boss.

Awesome.

"Alright kid, you're up and I'm out." He pushed Jaune towards the door and motioned for him to go inside. The young man gingerly grasped the metal handle, it was cold as ice and the dark atmosphere definitely wasn't helping him now. A lump formed in his throat as he hesitated. He forced it down and twisted the handle and forced his legs to lead him into the room.

He heard the guard's voice sounding behind him one last time.

"And try not to piss off the short on-URK!"

"What?" Jaune whipped his head around but the door was already shut. What was that about a short one? And what made him grunt so loudly?

"You gonna face me anytime soon kid?" Jaune turned around to meet the man who had gotten him into his dream school. He always wondered what Roman looked like. It was a question in the back of his mind for a while but he never really paid it any thought since it wasn't exactly all that important. But now that he was here, his imagination ran wild. What if he was some really overweight gang lord like on TV? As Roman came to the edges of his peripheral vision, Jaune prepared himself for the worst.

Fancy.

That was definitely the first word to describe the man sitting in his ornate oaken desk, not that Jaune had any way of knowing that it was oak. From his suit to his cane, Roman seemed like the type of guy who cared about his appearance more than his own mother and father.

Seconds ticked by though neither had a clock. Roman continued to stare him down, an elegant eyebrow raised as his lips twisted to a frown.

Jaune felt sweat roll down his forehead. The pressure he was feeling was too much. Roman wasn't saying anything and he had no clue what to say either. He should have just stayed in his room. He shouldn't have left Beacon. Hell, he should have never taken the deal, he should have stayed home, where criminal masterminds weren't just bearing down on him and his-

"So!" Jaune's thoughts were abruptly interrupted as Roman suddenly smiled and stood up. "You want combat training huh kid?"

"Actually-"

"Say no more! I've got this great regime that's really going to get your skill up to par with every other little brat in that school." Jaune tried to get his point in but the Roman express kept barreling through. He had to explain that he didn't need training anymore and that the deal was off before Roman got too far.

"No, Rom-"

"You'll be tearing the other stu-I mean grimm apart in no time!" Roman caught his slip and amended his statement. It wouldn't do well to have Jaune be so suspicious.

"I don-"

"No need to thank me kid! I know that you don't have money but trust me, I've got a payment option for you that you're gonna love." Beacon Academy; a bastion of light in a world where darkness reigned. He needed access if he wanted his plans to go off without a hitch.

"Actua-"

"I've even got a little helper to-OW!" Roman and Jaune both stopped when a girl manifested from shattered air and elbowed Roman hard in the ribs. Roman rubbed his side gingerly and glared openly at the girl. That had seriously hurt…

Jaune could have seized the moment to speak but he was too distracted by the new arrival. Her hair swirled with three different colors and her eyes changed color with every blink. Her lips formed into a smirk and she twirled her umbrella as their eyes met. She was definitely a sight to behold and Jaune found himself dumbstruck.

"I-I um..."

"Neo, what the hell! I was telling him about out deal!" Neo shook her head in amusement slightly, never taking her eyes off the young man. While many people gave her curious glances due to the hair and eyes, not many people ever openly stared at her for so long. She scoffed when he finally averted his gaze, ever so slowly, to look back at Roman.

She kept her eyes trained on him, however.

Roman grumbled and returned his attention to the situation at hand. "So you ready to start kid?"

That snapped Jaune right out of his thoughts and brought him back down to Remnant.

"No. I was trying to tell you, I...um...I don't really need your training anymore."

"Mmhmm?"

"Yeah, I-I found someone to help me out..." Jaune's voice trailed off as Roman's bemused expression didn't change a single bit. He had expected surprise, hell even some anger, but Roman just kept smiling at him. It was kind of creepy.

No, definitely creepy.

"So yeah...I'm just gonna le-"

"And who exactly is training you?" This was unexpected but Roman had planned for it. It wasn't every day that he was allowed to use a contingency plan, his plan 'A's' tended to work just fine so he wanted to savor this moment.

"Um..." He wasn't too keen on telling them that Pyrrha was training him. He was certain that Roman knew who she was and even if he didn't, he was sure to find out without much effort. The girl was on the cover of every Pumpkin Pete's Cereal Box in the country, so he wouldn't exactly need to put any effort into it. "One of the other students."

That was vague enough.

"So a teammate of yours? Probably your partner but I could be wrong." Jaune froze, maybe not vague enough. Okay, maybe he could steer Roman in the wrong direction.

"Ac-Actually, it's someone from another team! A guy!"

"So a girl on your team then."

Fuck, why was he so bad at lying?

"Look, kid." Roman walked to Jaune's side and put his hand around his shoulder. "I know you think that you're gonna be fine but ask yourself this, can this student of yours really help you?"

Jaune gave the question some thought, for a second, then two.

Yeah.

She was a champion for a reason anyways.

"Yea-"

"The answer is no kid. Whatever qualifications you think this little-that wasn't even directed to you Neo!" Roman cringed a bit when Neo poked him from afar with her umbrella, Jaune could only stand there, still as a statue. "-helper of yours has, I promise you, it won't be enough."

Jaune resisted the temptation to roll his eyes, it wasn't like it was hard though. He was standing right next to Roman for the love of God. Either way though, Roman didn't know it was Pyrrha and he was certain that if he knew...well, he probably wouldn't say she was 'lacking' in qualifications.

"You could have the most prodigious student in history teaching you and they wouldn't be able to give you the experience I could."

Pyrrha was a champion, she had plenty of experience. He was certain of that.

"Students don't have experience fighting in the real world kid. Especially beginner students at a hunter academy. Kids who come from schools like Sanctum or Signal are only ever allowed to fight while heavily supervised."

Pyrrha had killed those grimm in the Emerald forest with ease! Those massive, angry...and completely standard beowolves…

"Learning how to fight is great kid, I think you should keep it up," Roman's smirk grew as he saw Jaune's face crunch up in confusion. He was getting to him, slowly but surely he was. "but this little student teacher of yours is never going to help you learn how to stand in the face of real danger."

Pyrrha was teaching him how to fight! She was going to teach him...teach him...how to swing his sword? Block a blow?

All in a controlled and safe environment where there was no danger and no grimm.

"Look kid, you'll get better at fighting other students for sure." Roman moved back to Neo's side and shrugged his shoulders. He let out a strong sigh and frowned. "But grimm don't fight like students. Hell, most criminals don't fight like students do."

Jaune let out an audible gulp. That was true wasn't it. Pyrrha was an expert fighter who excelled at fighting students. She was probably great at fighting grimm as well but if all they ever did was spar together or against other students…

Where would that leave him?

"How about this kid," Roman went ahead and opened the door to his office. He ignored the single guard crumpled on the floor moaning in pain. Instead he just threw Neo another curious glance. "You can leave right now, right here, and we can call off the deal. But you gotta think about it, where else are you going to get real combat experience from?"

"Ah..." Jaune took a step to the door but stopped. He could leave. Roman was just giving him the opportunity. He should take it! But...the thought lingered in his mind. Wasn't Roman right? It wasn't like he was saying anything untrue or completely fictional. Lots of people, including his own parents, said that experience was the best teacher.

Sure he had stood up to some grimm back in the forest but...aside from standing up to it and not freezing up, what had he really accomplished?

"Well?" Roman kept smiling, even as he spread a hand towards the dark hallway. His smile grew wider as Jaune walked up to the doorway and stopped, as though it were covered by some impassable and invisible barrier.

"..."

Neo poked Roman in the ribs again. This Jaune guy was taking way too long to come up with an answer for her liking. She tapped her foot impatiently on the floor, waiting for Roman's response.

Roman, however, was far too busy with his own thoughts. The boy wouldn't leave, that much was obvious, all he had to do was wait it out. Any second now Jaune would turn around, and ask-

"What's the training going to be like?"

And there it was.

"Well, kid. Does that mean you're in?" Jaune shivered a bit as the voice wormed its way into his brain. It didn't bode well for him but what choice did he have? Leave and stay woefully unprepared? He was already viciously behind and he needed every bit of practical experience he could get his hands on.

"Yes." It was the finality in his answer that surprised Jaune. He didn't stutter nor did he hesitate this time with his response. It was as though his body had made up its mind ages ago and his brain had just caught up.

"Perfect!" Roman clapped his hands together and grabbed Jaune by the shoulders before leading him to a chair in the office. He gestured for him to take a seat while taking one across the desk from him. He shot Neo a look telling her to prepare the training room he had cordoned off from the rest of the warehouse.

She shrugged and pointed one finger at Jaune while shaking her head. Roman waved one hand at her, beckoning her to leave her doubts for the moment and listen to him.

Air shattered as she left and the two were alone once again.

"So then," Roman tapped his index finger on his table. A light thudding noise sounded through the room. It had been a while since he felt this way, since he felt so good about things, since he felt in control, "lets make a schedule shall we?"

He had forgotten the feeling after Cinder came along, but it was coming back to him now.

"Yeah. I-I guess we should do that right. By the way, who was that girl?"

He laughed lightly at the question. Trust a teen boy to ask about a girl while dealing with a known criminal. "Don't worry about her just yet, you'll meet her again soon kid."

"Oh...Okay then."

It felt good to be in control.

No.

It was addicting.


Walking down the sidewalk in a leisurely manner, Blake Belladonna brushed past a conversing couple, took a left at the nearest intersection, and found herself face to face with one of Vale's lesser known bookstores, at least that's what the lack of reviews and information told her.

Tuskson's Book Trade. Gold letters emblazoned across a dark green background. She approved of the classy looking color scheme.

Blake loved going to these local bookstores instead of the larger national chains. Larger chains attracted larger crowds and for a girl like Blake, large crowds were a big no-no.

So she straightened her outfit, if she was going to keep coming here it would be good to leave a good first impression, and headed through the unlocked entrance.

"Hello and welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun! How may I help you!" Blake was taken aback at the cheerful and very loud greeting. Most bookstores owners were the more silent and reserved type due to the nature of their business, so being greeted in such a way was definitely...unexpected.

Though, it wasn't a bad sign at all, she thought to herself. After all, that could just mean he was really passionate about books like her but happened to show it a different way.

Her greeter finally showed himself as he came out from a doorway near the register presumably leading to his office.

"I'm just looking for a book." No need to let him know what she was looking for. After all, she could probably find it on her own.

"Just looking for a book huh?" Tukson let out a hearty laugh and winked at the pretty girl. "Well look around and see if you find it! I'm sure it'll be there somewhere."

"Thank you." A small grin found its way onto her face, she would finally get the peace and quiet she had been looking for so long. At long last the loud and vocal Yang couldn't tear her away from her musings-

"Good luck!"

Blake nodded as she meandered through the store, trying her best to look at random books and aisles as she slowly reached her destination.

The adults section.

Back at the counter, Tukson flipped through the pages of The Vale Post newspaper. All the same, he kept an eye on the girl who had entered his store. It wasn't because he thought she would steal anything, no, it was solely for the humor.

Her being slightly cute was just a plus but he was certain she was far too young for him.

So he settled on the humor instead.

"Knew it." He whispered to himself as she 'accidentally' found herself in the adult aisle of his store. Her look of surprise didn't fool him at all.

He never understood how people always came to his store looking for what basically amounted to porn in written form but always tried to play it off as some kind of I'm-so-surprised-I-found-something-like-this-here reaction. Tukson chuckled as she went into phase two, the I'm-only-flipping-through-these-pages because I want to know what kind of pervert would write this.

Maybe he would just break the news to her and let her know that her act wasn't ever going to fool a single soul. It would be the kind thing to do.

It would also break the humor and after hours of sitting in an office with nothing to do he was feeling especially bored.

Leave her be it was.

He continued his observation of her as she flipped through the book rapidly, as though she weren't reading any of it. She brought a hand to her mouth as she reached a particularly interesting scene, her face flushed and her bow twitched.

Tukson openly stared this time, she wasn't paying attention to him so it was probably safe. He paid special attention to her bow this time.

-There it is!-

The bow moved again and Tukson snickered to himself. She was hiding her faunus ears under a bow to presumably hide her sub-conscious reaction to what she was reading. Most faunus that came in to read those particular novels, if you could really call them that, had distinct and more obvious reactions than non-faunus'. Some had tails that wagged a bit harder, others had feathers that bristled, and other still had ears that either wiggled or twitched.

And there's phase three, Remnant we have achieved lift off. Blake shut the book and made her way to the counter. He quickly busied himself and went back to reading page 12c of The Vale Post, a fascinating point of view on the merits of Vale capital trade laws in comparison to Atlesian social economics.

A real page turner indeed.

As the girl finally reached his counter, Tukson put his newspaper down and gave her his full attention, acting as though he hadn't seen what book she brought up to him.

"So you find what you're looking for?" Oh this was going to be good, he could already tell by her red face.

"No, I-um-I didn't find exactly what I was looking for but I found something else instead." Of course she hadn't found 'exactly' what she had been looking for. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, the girl was far too shy to play this off right.

He took the book into his hands and a thought flashed to his mind.

Now, he could simply ignore what book she was buying and let her go, or he could make it obvious that he knew what she was buying and further embarrass the poor kid.

Embarrassing her would probably lose him a customer, so the logical side of his brain decided against that course of action.

"Ninjas of Love huh." The rest of his bored brain took command, kicking logic out the window and wresting the controls for itself. "Good choice, lots of people have been picking this one up."

She flushed red as a tomato.

"Ye-Yeah. I just found it and it didn't seem all that bad." Blake calmed herself down, no need to be embarrassed she told herself. It was just a book and it wasn't like this Tukson man would know anyone she knew.

"Yeah, I haven't read it before," total lie on his part but no need for her to know that, "is it any good?"

"It's a girly book." He rolled his eyes and placed the book in a plastic bag before handing it to the girl. Of course she labeled it a 'girly' book, they always did.

"I see." He raised an eyebrow at her. Impressively, she met his gaze just a strong, blush finally seeping away from her cheeks. He grinned. "Well guess that means it aint for me huh."

He paused before continuing, would it be a good idea, he thought to himself, to show his faunus traits. He had a tendency to hide them from people for good reason but since she was a faunus there probably wasn't any harm.

So as he handed her a receipt, he let his claws out and waited for her reaction.

"..." She held onto the receipt but didn't retract her hand, instead staring at his.

"You alright there?"

"You're a faunus?" The surprise in her voice caught him off guard, it was like she had never seen a faunus working in a bookstore before.

In her defense, she really hadn't. Most faunus she knew were either in Beacon, the Schnee Dust mines, or the White Fang. It just felt strange to her to see a faunus just working like any other normal human. Adam always said that faunus couldn't work normal jobs like humans could due to the discriminatory laws. He slammed the thought that Faunus and humans were completely separate in 'regular' society to her and…

Man she really had spent a lot of time with them now that she thought about it.

"Yeah, aren't you?" She was taken aback at his statement. How had he figured it out so easily? Her disguise was perfect. It hid her faunus qualities well and didn't attract too much attention.

"How did you know?"

He rubbed the back of his head as he laughed lightly. Would he tell her that he had been keeping an eye on her? Would that make him sound too creepy? Pretty sure his reputation would take one hell of a hit if his top review ended up being: 'spies on younger girls in his shop'.

So he went with the half-truth.

"Your bow twitches every now and then. So either you have phenomenal control over your scalp muscles, which I'm not sure is possible, or you have another set of ears hidden underneath."

"Oh." Her bow twitched? That was certainly unexpected, why would he even notice something like that when it was such an inconspicuous and tiny action? "Do you just watch for these kinds of things or..."

Shit. Okay, so she was getting suspicious. Time to follow dad's age old advice with women, deny all plausible guilt.

"No, I'm just pretty observant when it comes to my customers." Not a total lie and denies any possibility that he's a creeper. Strong, solid alibi in his book.

"That makes sense I guess." It kind of did, to her at least. He probably kept an eye out for thieves and other unruly customers. "So how long have you been working here?"

"Couple of years. Not too long now. I actually started the store when-" Maybe telling her about his White Fang affiliations would be a bad idea, so he decided to keep it to a minimum and let her fill the holes. "-I decided to go down the straight path."

Blake nodded, she understood fully how it could be for faunus across Remnant. Stealing, lying, cheating were all common among faunus due to their mistreatment by humans. Many turned to crime after realizing that they would never be treated fairly in any industry job.

But that was in Atlas…Vale was, different it seemed.

"So, why a bookstore?"

"Used to love books back when I was younger. It was one of the few ways to cope with, well, everything I guess."

Once again, another feature she could relate to. Books had been her way of escaping the cruelty of the world around her as a child. They opened the door to fantasy worlds so idealistic and charming to her young mind. She threw herself into these universes with abandon, ignoring what went on around her.

She looked back fondly on those days sometimes. When she could ignore discrimination with fantasy.

Adam had broken her out of that habit, hadn't he.

"So what's it like in Vale?" An innocent question, but it would tell her so much.

"It's okay I guess. One of the more boring cities if you know what I mean. Not much ever happens around here." That was...actually a good sign. Boring meant no one really paid him any more mind than they would anyone else. Boring meant that it wasn't dangerous for him to walk around in the streets.

Boring was good.

"Ah, are there any faunus hangouts?"

"Er..." The only 'hangouts' he knew of were White Fang gatherings and he didn't feel like getting a kid involved with something so dangerous. "Not that I really know of."

"Well that's unfortunate." She smiled at him. "I'll be taking my stuff now, gotta get back to school and all." Her hand waved through the air as she walked out the door and back out into the city. She was definitely coming back here when she had the time.

It was nice to see that faunus could work decent, regular jobs out here in Vale.

As the door closed, Tukson stopped waving his arm and let it rest on the table. She was a nice kid, probably went to one of the high schools around the area.

Probably just trying to live a normal life here in the city, maybe came from a hellhole place like Atlas.

Probably glad that faunus here could work normal jobs.

Probably innocent, a clean slate.

Just like every faunus the White Fang indoctrinated.

God damn it.

He knew that the White Fang had a gathering here in the city and were spreading the word quickly. If they got to her, it would be simple for them to infect her mind with the crazed ideologies of human degeneracy and faunus superiority. They would turn her into another radical soldier, ready to die for a cause that preached hatred.

He could try to save her though. Keep her from that kind of fate, the one that he had taken for himself so many years ago.

But he was so close to leaving now…

Everything was planned out and in perfect detail. The White Fang had no plans to mess with him since he had given them no reason to think he was going to be truant for any amount of time, but if he got caught directly interfering with recruitment plans, well, word on the street had it that Adam Taurus had a nasty habit of quite literally ripping the faunus right out of you.

One. Trait. At. A. Time.

Shit… He thought to himself as his claws dug into the desk.

What the hell was he supposed to do?


Jaune flew across the room like an arrow. A bang sounded as he impacted against a stack of boxes.

"Wow, you suck kid." Roman chuckled as he swung his cane in circles, Neo was seated on a crate near the only entrance, laughing silently as Jaune got pummeled into the floor by her boss.

"I don't understand what makes this different from the sparring I get with my partner." Jaune groaned as he stood back up out of the wreckage. He had earned more than a few bruises while 'training' with Roman.

"Look kid, who's the expert fighter here, me or you?"

Jaune glared at him as he walked back to the center of the room, back to where Roman was leaning on his cane, smirking. They had been doing this for so long that Jaune had lost track of time. Roman had told him what they planned on focusing first was something called pain training.

Pain training 101 according to Roman Torchwick; stand still while he hits you repeatedly with his cane.

Wash, rinse, repeat for a couple hours every week and apparently it helped…

What does this help with? Jaune thought to himself.

"No, seriously Roman, what does thi-ACK!" He was stopped when Roman slammed his cane into his stomach like a mace, sending him flying again.

Roman just snorted as his body rag-dolled across the floor.

"You really don't have the reflexes to dodge every shot that comes at you kid," He started walking towards the human wreckage, "and getting reflexes like those takes time and effort." Roman said, rolling his eyes as he explained his unique 'training'. "You flinch on every strike kid, regardless of whether or not it hurts. You need to learn how to take a hit and keep going forwards regardless."

"Ow..." Air. He could barely breathe after Roman had forced the air out of his lungs with that blow. His lungs screamed for oxygen.

"You're so focused on learning how to be some fancy pants fighter but the truth is, you're not gonna be one for a long time." He hooked Jaune's armor to the handle end of his cane and hoisted him up. "You're afraid of pain and that absolutely will get you killed someday."

"Ugh...So this is the only option?" Roman paused and put a finger to his chin, exaggerating his vocal ruminations.

"Yeah, pretty much. Nothing except pain itself will help you get over your fear of it." He let him go, only to watch him collapse to the floor, legs too tired to hold him up. "Why do you think your stance keeps shifting when you fight?"

"What?" Jaune exclaimed as his blue eyes looked up in surprise.

"You keep flinching and shying away from blows, messing up your stance. That's because you're afraid of taking a hit." Sure, Jaune could just train until it became natural habit, but learning not to fear pain would help that process along immensely Roman mused to himself. "Take up your stance again."

"Al-alright." His feet spread slightly and his shield came up to defend him.

*POW*

His feet skidded across the floor but his body stayed upright this time.

"See that kid. Not even a flinch." Roman chuckled again as Jaune looked down at his legs, marveled that he had stood up to his attack. It was kind of sad really, watching someone be so amazed at not getting their ass completely handed to them in one blow. "Don't get excited though kid, you're not finished until you can take a blow without flinching while at full strength."

Jaune sighed at the thought but decided that it was for the best. Roman hadn't been wrong when he said that Jaune was afraid of pain. It was a pretty accurate summation of how he felt every time he or Pyrrha actually connected a blow, whether it actually hurt or not.

"So then," Jaune pointed his finger towards the multicolored girl watching them, "what's she doing here again?"

"She'll be helping you 'hone' your instincts to their fullest effect."

The grin on his face seriously didn't sit well with him.

Also, the maniacal laughter didn't help.

"What does that mean exactly?"

"You'll see next week when she starts. Remember we switch who you work with every week kid." Roman reached into his pocket and brought out what looked to be a slightly larger than average thumbtack. "By the way kid, I'm calling in my favor."

"Wh-what?" Jaune was taken aback at the statement. He hadn't thought Roman would have called in his favors so early, it worried him. "Already?"

"Yes, now stop panicking, it's not dangerous, for you anyway." He whispered the last part out and grimaced a bit before setting a grin on his face. "Just take this with you back to Beacon, find a network port on the wall somewhere, unscrew the plate covering it, and then stab this thing into one of the cords."

"What?" Jaune replied lamely.

"Don't worry," he was handed a set of instructions by Roman, it had stick men drawings with blonde hair getting electrocuted, "I've got the instructions written down for you."

"Oh, what if I still don't understand?"

"Do some basic research then. It's really not that hard kid."

"Ah, right," He pocketed the paper carefully, taking care that so he wouldn't lose it by accident, "so are we done for the day?" He really hoped so as he was pretty sure that his legs were going to give out on him soon.

"Yeah pretty much. Neo!" Jaune fell back onto his rear when the girl shattered into existence before him. "Take him away."

Neo huffed and crossed her arms.

"Oh cmon, you got an entertaining show out of it." She rolled her eyes and pointed at his pocket. Roman blanched at the action. "Are you serious? It hasn't even been a week since you bought the last batch!"

She shook her head and jabbed a finger towards Jaune, who was just now getting up while soothing his abused body.

"You want a rewards for taking him home? You have got to be kidding me." She nodded her head and turned away, hand outstretched and waiting. Roman sighed and reached into his pocket, muttering about addictions and money.

"This enough?" She flipped through the bills, counting the total, and nodded to herself more than anyone. She put one dainty hand on Jaune's shoulder and waved goodbye to her boss.

"Make sure no one sees you guys arriving!"

"Wait, whats going on?" Jaune gave the diminutive girl a curious stare as she held steadfastly onto his shoulder.

"Just try not to puke!"

"Wait wh-URK!"

Roman merely kept smirking as air turned to glass, shattered, and took the image of the duo away.


"Oof!" Jaune landed on his rear once again as they materialized...somewhere? He wasn't too sure, it was kind of dark and there weren't any signs indicating anything.

He dusted himself off while standing up and found an umbrella poking his chest.

"Oh...um...hi?" She blinked once, eyes switched and trailed his form up and down. Her lips twisted into a grimace as his sweaty odor hit her nose. She pushed him away lightly.

"So where are we right now?" He was going to ask how, but he was certain she wasn't going to tell him anything about that anytime soon. She just sighed and pointed at his pocket.

"…I can't really pay you like Roman did..."

His confusion only grew as she shook her head and began talking into her hand like it...was a…

"Oh! My scroll!" He pulled it out of its pouch, impressive enough, it was still in working order. He held it in front of him and looked back at the girl. She let out a silent groan.

It was like working with a caveman, all brawn-not that he had much of that either-and no brain. She leaned over, working through the musk and tapped on his scroll a few times, eventually opening up the TRPS app, or the Tower Relative Positioning System, a system where one would be able to check the total distance from either one of the major Cross Continental Transmit System towers or an offshoot station.

Luckily, Beacon was located right above Vale's CCTS tower so students had no trouble finding their way back if they got too lost.

"So only a couple miles away huh? Guess I'm in for a walk. Thanks for...bringing me back I guess, mostly." He nodded to her as she leaned away, onto her umbrella. She raised an eyebrow and lifted up a single finger.

"What?" He looked up, expecting, well, he didn't know what he was expecting but he expected something, however, nothing came. Instead she shook her head and pointed at him, back at herself, and kept her single finger up.

"You...want something?" His heart began to sank as her grin grew wider.

Oh no…

There was no way she expected a…

"Favor?" He hesitantly asked her. She smiled brightly and nodded vigorously before throwing him a thumbs up. "Wait, didn't Roman already pay you?"

She nodded but strutted towards him anyways and poked him again in the chest.

He had never been so scared of someone so small.

"But I owe you as well?" She nodded a flicked her arm upwards, her finger brushed his nose.

"So," he sighed in resignation, more criminals to be beholden to, awesome. "What do you want?"

She rubbed her chin for a moment then shrugged her shoulders. She merely turned away, looked over her shoulder and waved him goodbye.

"Yeah...have a good day." He waved back miserably and sighed as she broke away. At least Roman had used a favor, though what he asked…

He pulled the device out of his pockets. So unassuming but he knew better than to think anything given to him by Roman was 'safe' in any way.

"Well, at least he didn't ask me to kill anyone…yet."


"Ah! Neo, you're back! So how was your trip?" Roman greeted the girl as she stepped back into existence. He tugged on the edges of his sleeve uncharacteristically. It was foreign to him, to be so nervous about just starting a plan.

Neo just gave him a worried look. Her lips thinned in displeasure as she cocked her head to the side.

"What? Don't tell me you're worried about me now." He laughed, pulled out a cigar, and stuck it between his teeth. He closed his eyes and brought his lighter up but Neo snatched it out of his hands. He looked down to see her disapproving expression and groaned. "Now, now Neo, stealing is my job."

She nearly stumbled over her feet when Roman's hand shot out like lightning, his fingers nimbly rolling the lighter out of her hand. He flicked it open and lit the flame in one deft movement.

"Don't give me that look." Roman said when Neo pouted and slapped her umbrella into the floor. "What's the big deal? You're usually not this snippy."

Her hands waved in the air, pantomiming strikes and pummels, leaving a hapless Roman to interpret.

"You're worried about Jaune?" He questioned. Seemed he had hit the nail on the head with Neo nodding furiously. Her expression grim and nervous. She looked around them exaggeratedly, looking for prying eyes and ears.

Only one thing ever makes Neo that cautious,Roman thought to himself.

"Cinder as well?" She nodded and clapped her hands together. Roman laughed at her, even as her expression grew petulant and pouty. "Look, just trust me okay. I've got plans to get us out of this shit situation alright. Jaune is just a necessity for now, an unknown factor that Cinder doesn't know about."

Neo wasn't pleased with the answer however, turning her head to the side and humphing. Ever since Cinder entered into their lives everything had become complicated and far more dangerous. She knew Roman was strong in his own right but Cinder was a beast of a whole different variety. She would kill them without a second thought if she thought they were plotting against her.

And now Roman was putting a new scheme into action that involved some kid! She was completely right to worry about their safety!

"Stop." Roman said as she moved her eyes up to look at him as he placed his hand on her head. Usually she would hit him for making fun of her height, but she had never seen him with such a tired expression. Roman continued. "I know that it seems ridiculous-and it is for the most part-" he quickly amended as she shot him glare, "but she has everything in the palm of her hand right now. Every resource I've ever built up she's taken for herself. We need something new, something she won't have any ties to."

Jaune was that resource for him. A seemingly worthless and average students at Beacon Academy. Roman wasn't a fool, he knew Jaune was weak for the most part, but strength wasn't what he needed right now.

He needed information. Information that only Beacon Academy held.

"So just trust me Neo, I promise, we're gonna be fine." He finished, squeezing her lightly on the shoulder. She took a deep breath and gave him a hesitant thumbs up before disappearing to God knows where.

Roman felt the seed of worry that had been planted in his heart grow wickedly, it's roots taking deep hold.


Ren flipped through his notebook on grimm history and theory. His notes were written in tiny, neat handwriting, every word written with purpose and every inch used efficiently.

"-but he never picked up and I know he told us that he would be in the city today but he shouldn't be so late, I mean it's already nine in the afternoon and he's still not back and-"

"Pyrrha," Ren waited as she took a deep breath and looked at him, prompting him to continue, "I'm sure he's fine and he'll be back soon enough." Nora was uncharacteristically silent, watching the exchange, but Ren knew better than that, seeing her grinning expression.

"But what if-"

"He's fine."

"He could ha-"

"I'm sure he's fine."

"But you don't kn-"

"Yes I do."

"What if someo-" Pyrrha halted at his response. "Wait...How do you know so confidently?"

Nora slapped her hand into her bed as she stifled her laughter. This was amazing to watch, better than watching Harry the Hunter on Vale TV.

"Well, just call it a hunch..." Ren snorted a bit and hid his face into his notebook.

"What?" She didn't understand how they were so nonchalant about this. Their leader was missing and he had been missing for a while now. It was slightly frustrating and while she was happy that they weren't sycophants, she wished they cared more about her partner.

She sighed and ran her fingers through her red mane. Taking a seat, she thank Jaune quietly as he patted her shoulder.

"JAUNE?" She sprung out of the chair faster than Ruby that one time she saw cookies being handed out for free in the Beacon main plaza. "Where have you been?" She hugged him tightly, noting the smell of sweat clinging to him. Had he been training? He was supposed to be resting!

"I'm fine Pyrrha!" Jaune squeaked out as the girl clung to him, not that he wasn't enjoying the attention. "I just got side tracked in the city."

"What were you doing?" She asked worriedly.

"Just um...doing, you know, stuff." Jaune cringed as the jumbled lie left his lips.

"Stuff…?"

"Yeah, I was looking for some help with-" oh God, brain, come up with something good, Jaune thought to himself, "-um...you know...help with...aura?" Okay, not the worst start, sounded a bit unsure of himself but it was something to work with.

"So you were training your aura?" Pyrrha broke away and put a hand on her hip while she continued interrogating him. "With who?"

Okay brain, you did fine with the last one, don't fail now. Jaune's brain worked the cogs of his mind, grinding for an answer. Some unlucky engineer was working overtime up there and was probably waiting to go back to his family. Mad as hell at the boss for keeping him for so long.

"With myself." Brain...the fuck? That was his answer? God dammit…

"Jaune, I'm happy to see your dedication but I can help you with that too. You don't need to do things on your own." Pyrrha chided him as her expression softened. He was trying so hard to catch up to everyone. It was nice to see such dedication but he could injure himself if he wasn't careful. She grabbed his hands. "I'm here for you Jaune."

"O-oh." He stuttered out as he felt her warm skin make contact with his. It was night out and fall made the weather a bit chillier, but Pyrrha's hands were always so warm and inviting. She was trying so hard to help him. "I know that, but I need to try things on my own as well. I...I want to try advancing on my own as well."

She sighed.

He wasn't wrong to want that and coddling him like some child would only hurt him. As much as it worried her she needed to let him experiment his strengths on his own.

But that didn't mean she couldn't express her worry.

"Alright then, just promise to be careful Jaune." Jaune felt her arms wrap around him firmly, he returned the action.

"I promise." What a blatant lie. "Alright then, I'm gonna go take a shower now, goodnight Pyrrha." He let go of the hug and walked to the bathroom.

God, it was only going to get harder from here, wasn't it…


Tukson crawled through the shadows of the city. His eyes clung to the forms of three men walking down the street, nailing posters to walls and lampposts. Faunus may have had excellent night vision but they weren't any smarter than other humans, so avoiding their notice wasn't too bad.

"Can you believe this, we're over here on fucking advertisement duty." One man grumbled out as he put up another poster. He was rotund and walked with a slower gait than the other two.

"I know right? Adam says we're going to be 'making the difference' but what the hell is this supposed to do?" A female this time, he noted. She was thin and her tail swung lazily in the air.

"I think it's 'cause-"

"What you think doesn't matter, Adam says this helps so it must." Third guy was big, but not fat big, no. He was a muscle bound freak of nature. Tukson could see the prehensile tail curled around his waist, probably an ape or something else similar. "He's taken the White Fang further than anyone else has before him, trust him."

The other two shut up at his words. Probably their overseer. He remembered his days as a recruiter, his overseer was an asshole.

Though he was a bit sarcastic back then.

"Alrighty then, you're the boss." The two nodded and continued working in silence, posters lined the street they went down.

As their forms melded into the black night and disappeared, Tukson stood up and walked to one of the posters.

Faunus of Vale, do not be deceived by the words of your so called council.

You have no more 'rights' in their eyes as the average lab rat.

You will see the truth soon, I promise.

-Adam Taurus

Was this guy always so dramatic? He tore the paper off the wall and let his eyes wander over it. So it wasn't direct recruitment just yet. Adam was still in the propaganda phase of his plan where he would sow seeds of doubt amongst the local faunus.

"See the truth huh...What bullshit." He crumpled the poster up and threw it into a garbage bin before leaving the area.

He never noticed the pair of eyes following him from afar.


A/N: So there you go. What? Did you expect more? Cmon guys, I'm not some kind of writing savant, cut me a break would you? All joking aside, yes I know I'm not that funny either, how did you guys feel about this chapter? Specifically my view on Tukson.

I felt like changing his character a bit since he doesn't get any love from the community. He's the kind of guy I think I could rely on. He sees that his organization is getting a bit crazy and he does what most people wouldn't have the bravery to do, leave. It takes a good man to own up and admit that he joined the wrong side of a war and actually back away from the crazy, knowing that they'll try their best to kill him off.

It's a very common and well documented feature of the crazier organizations in the world. Look at any dictatorship or religious extremist group. You leave you die is a very common tenant. Even here in America, members of the Mormon sect are very viciously attacked by existing members if they choose to leave; they call it apostasy and it's looked down upon very heavily.

Any guesses as to who was watching Tukson 'from afar'? If you get it right I'll make sure to put your name into the chapter he's revealed. Shitty prize I know but it's the best I got so far.

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You know what, fuck it, if you pm me an email or something I'll send you a shitty email of a picture of a thumbs up I drew when I was like 7 years old.

Next Chapter: April 15th (Or earlier possibly if life permits it)