Chapter Two

Jaune laid in the prone with his sniper rifle a DMR-99s or otherwise referred to by the VATF as the longshot. Jaune was roughly a mile away looking through his high-powered scope at the White Fang members in the village of Alif. The faunus extremists moved equipment to and from the surrounding buildings. Most of the boxes they were carrying looked like food crates but from such a far distance Jaune couldn't be sure. To Jaune's left sat one Samuel Winchester, Jaune's best friend and now second in command of the VATF forces operating in this region of the Vacuan desert.

"What do you see boss?"

Asked Samuel as he too looked trough a pair of binoculars at the village in the distance.

"They have pretty lax security considering they just kidnapped roughly fifty members of the Vale Army."

"Not to mention the fact that the scouts they placed near the FOB won't be sending any reports anytime soon."

Sam was referring to the members of the White Fang that had attacked the troop transport bullhead that carried the members of the VATF into the Vacuan desert. Said attack was also responsible for killing several officers in the VATF, leaving Jaune as the sole commissioned officer in charge of the sixty special forces operatives that were preparing for an operation that would hopefully take place later today.

"I can't see a way to make a sneaky entrance Jaune. The terrain is relatively flat minus the sand dunes that sprout up here and there, but those aren't big enough to hide our entire force."

"There's also the matter of our enemy."

Jaune added cryptically.

"What do you mean? From what we've seen they are relatively untrained, basically a bunch of pissed off civilians that decided the violence was the right answer in regards to the White Fang."

"The fact that they are faunus should give you all the reason you need. Attacking them in broad daylight is just asking to get shot, while attacking them at night won't be much better considering they have basically built in night vision."

"So, what do you suggest we do?"

Sam turned and asked the officer lying next to him.

As the two continued to watch the town looking for an opening in their defenses something happened that caught Jaune's attention. A small pack of beowolves came wandering near the south side of the village. In response an alarm was sounded and Jaune could see every member of the White Fang rush out and began shooting at the wolf like creatures of grimm.

"Did you see that?"

Jaune asked the man next to him.

"Not sure I could've missed it."

"I think I just found a way inside without them noticing us too much."

As Jaune and Samuel returned to the FOB which they were currently stationed in they saw a most welcomed sight. Last night Jaune had been on the radio asking central for air support so they could retake their captured allies. What the two men saw was a little more air support than what they were expecting. Hoping for at least three attack bullheads they men looked on to see more that ten landing at the FOB and beginning to unload the contents inside. As Jaune hurried into the base he saw what was being off loaded from the aircraft. Boxes filled with weapons of all shapes and sizes, mortars, machine-guns light and heavy, a crate full of SAD-R rockets, and more. You would think with all this firepower that the VATF was invading the kingdom of Vacuo.

"Lt Arc?"

Jaune turned his head to see what was quite possibly one of the most attractive women he had ever laid eyes on. Her white hair which was held up in a tight ponytail glistened from the hot desert sun. Her eyes a light blue, that as he stared at them Jaune thought he would be lost to the ferocity and angelic nature of such eyes. Her attire was one of an Atlas female officer, she wore a long white coat the reached about mid-calf, the sleeves were removed at the shoulder but reconnected around mid-forearm, underneath her coat she wore a dark blue vest that accentuated her assets. On her hip she carried a long straight sword, but upon closer inspection Jaune determined it was some type of rapier. As she closed the distance between the two of them she stuck out her hand, military posture never waning. She asked again,

"Are you Lt Arc?"

Slightly caught off guard that such a beautiful woman would want to talk to him Jaune slightly stuttered and said,

"Y…Yes I…I am."

Behind Jaune, Samuel was trying his hardest not to laugh at his friend for being so socially awkward. Jaune had always had that problem whenever the two of them would party on their days off Samuel would always try and get the officer to loosen up and talk to some girls, it never went well. Jaune was more of a battlefield kind of guy all his confidence came to him when he was leading others on a mission. Place him in front of a pretty face though and he would revert back to the awkward nineteen-year-old man that he was. That isn't to say Samuel never made any progress with the adorkable blond through the nearly two years Samuel had known the man Jaune had gotten slightly better at holding a conversation, Sam told Jaune to think of it like a battlefield and go into it with confidence after all Jaune's father had said 'All you need is confidence.' Same still laughed at the horrible advice Jaune's father had bestowed upon him. Don't get him wrong confidence was good but if you couldn't hold a conversation you came off looking like an uptight asshole.

"My name is Winter Schnee a Specialist with the Atlas military."

Jaune quickly came out of his shocked state. A Specialist, why would Atlas send one of their huntresses into a Valian military operation?

"It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am but if you don't mind me asking why are you here?"

"Shade Academy, as you know is basically the only form of government that the country of Vacuo has. And, much like yourself Atlas was given permission to conduct operations in their territory, given that we do not harm any civilians or cause any unnecessary structural damages."

"I figured that was the reason, but I was unsure considering Vacuo and Atlas' very unfriendly past."

If the refined specialist was offended she made no sign of showing it. Instead she merely gave a slight grin and said,

"You would be correct on that matter; my kingdom does not have the most admirable relationship with the one which we are currently standing. That being said, the matter of Vale's missing soldiers has given Shade Academy the cause to accept our offer of assistance."

"Very well, and what may I ask will you be assisting with?"

Jaune asked with skepticism. If this woman thought she was going to take control of his men and women, huntress or not she had another thing coming.

"I will be given a number of troops and will aid them in dealing with the grimm that are drawn in from the negativity of your battles."

"Denied."

Jaune stated without hesitation.

"These are my soldiers, and I won't separate them so you can go grimm hunting. Instead I'll attach you to a squad on the outer perimeter we form for grimm containment. You will take orders from the squad leader and give assistance to them in regards to the grimm threat."

Winter was taken aback by the younger mans words, this was not the stammering man she met when they first shook hand. Instead this was a commander of soldiers and was not going to have his orders questioned especially not by someone from another kingdom. With that though Winter's Schnee pride could not take this man lack of respect lying down.

"How dare you."

She half yelled at the younger officer.

"My orders come straight from General Ironwood himself, if you wish it I can contact him and..."

"Go ahead."

Jaune interrupted her.

"But, while you're making your petty call there are Valian soldiers being held prisoner by a highly dangerous White Fang extremist. So, go ahead and make your call, but while you're doing that I'm going to prepare my men and women to go and save lives, if there are any left to save thanks to you wasting my time."

With that Jaune walked away from the dumbstruck Atlas specialist.

"You told her huh?"

Samuel joked to Jaune.

"Maybe I did come off a little hard on her, after all she's just trying to help."

"I think you did the right thing."

Samuel said as Jaune looked over to his friend.

"Atlas needs to learn that just because they are the most technologically advanced kingdom doesn't mean they can waltz in and do whatever they please."

Jaune laughed at his friend.

"Careful buddy your family wouldn't be very wealthy if it wasn't for those Atlas types." Jaune reminded.

"Eh, I'm sure the old man would bounce back if he lost the contracts with the SDC. Besides a little less money would probably do my little shit brother some good."

"How is Cardin anyway?" Jaune asked with genuine curiosity.

"I love my little brother don't get me wrong. But that kid has such a chip on his shoulder sometimes I question how we're even related."

"I'm sure he'll get better once he realizes the world doesn't revolve around him."

Samuel laughed, "That's what I like about you Jaune, always the optimist. Now come on let's go brief the guys on the mission before female Jack Frost makes good on her promise to call the general."

"Does everyone understand the plan as I've gone over it?"

Jaune asked the VATF members as they gathered around the terrain model build to replicate the village of Alif.

No one raised their hands to ask any questions just like Jaune thought, these were all professionals very attentive, but there was one question that needed to be asked and if no one would ask it Jaune would make the decision for them.

"Who's taking the Atlas chick?"

One of the squad leaders in the back asked.

Jaune cleared his throat the decision he was going to make was not going to make these men very happy.

"Echo squad will have Winter attached to their perimeter detail."

A look of slight irritation showed itself on the face of Echo's squad leader.

"I know she can be kind of icy, but she is a huntress killing grimm is what she was trained to do. You don't have to like it because I'm sure she doesn't like you but I've made it clear that she is to follow your orders or there will be consequences."

Echo's squad leader simply nodded to Jaune, he knew better than to question his commanding officer on such matters.

"Alright prep your teams and get ready to go we leave at 2000 tonight. Dismissed."

As everyone filed out of the room to inform their respective squads what was going to occur Samuel came up to Jaune and asked,

"Are you sure this is gonna work? After all we only watched them react to the grimm that one time."

"It'll work. It has to work, I'm not leaving those soldiers in the hands of the Snake."

"I hear ya buddy. I'm with you till the end."

Samuel held out his fist and Jaune's fist met Sam's.

"Till the end."

The plan was relatively simple three squads would form an outer perimeter to block grimm interference once the mission started. Then the reinforcements that central provided would start engaging the village at aa distance of roughly two thousand meters. Attack bullheads would do fly by's and pepper the outer walls of the village with low yield missiles. Once the White Fang began shooting back Jaune, Sam and three other squads would sneak up near the front and opposite side of the village that wasn't being engaged by missiles. Once everyone was in place fire would stop from the reinforcement machine-guns, and the bullheads would cease their attack runs. At the same time the three assault squads would blow two holes in the perimeter of the village at the same time causing confusion amongst the White Fang and giving the VATF the brief advantage of surprise. From there Jaune and his men would move through the village engaging any hostiles they came across and rescue the hostages.

As Jaune was moving into position at the front of the stack he called over his radio for the support groups to cease fire. Once the shooting stopped Jaune moved to the front door of the village and had two men place breaching charges on the wall. At the same time this was happening Samuel was doing the same thing on the opposite wall. On Jaune's word the detonator was pressed at the doors to the village of Alif were blown open in a massive blast of fire and wooden chunks. Jaune heard some men behind the door scream as it exploded not wanting to waste his opportunity Jaune raised his weapon up and stepped into the threshold of what once was the door.

The White Fang member's nerves were frayed not only did they have to deal with the constant grimm attacks thanks to the prisoners and their negative emotions. But, they also just got attacked by what they could only assume was a detachment from the Vale Army. Several of their brothers and sisters in arms were hit in the ensuing fighting. They had no way to know the number of people that were killed or just wounded. Afeaa Green was with a prisoner currently torturing information out of this pathetic human filth. In Green's mind humans were less than faunus and didn't deserve to have the rights that they lorded over his kinds head. With this thinking it was easy for him to, without mercy, torture and kill several of the prisoners. He wouldn't kill all of them only a few to show the rest he was serious. No, he needed these hostages to facilitate the release of several of his brother-in-arms that were currently being held by the kingdom of Atlas. If Green hated humans he especially hated humans from Atlas, they were the worst kinds of people imaginable in his mind. The way they lorded their power over everyone else's head while his people slaved away in the dust mines for little to no pay, disgusted him. No, he would make the kingdoms pay for the way they treated his people. But first, he would need to move the prisoners if the last attack from Vale showed him anything it was that they were no longer same in Alif.

Just then Afeaa heard and felt a massive explosion and heard the screams of his fellow White Fang members. Afeaa Green hurried outside just in time to see a group of soldiers entering the village with weapons drawn and gunning down any White Fang opposition that got in their way. Green then ran back into the room with the hostages and pulled out his scroll he needed to inform the other leaders of what was happening. The scroll began to ring and on the fourth ring a young man picked up the phone his name was Adam Taurus.

"Adam, we have a problem Vale has found us and are currently attacking, we have no where to go and no way to escape."

"What of the prisoners?"

Adam asked in a voice filling with anger.

"Most of them are still alive but I don't think the soldiers outside will take to kindly to the fact that I tortured and killed a few of their comrades."

There was a brief silence before Adam came back on the line and said,

"Listen to me, here's what you're going to do."

Jaune swept through his targets finding each one with the skill and precision of a trained hunter. As he and his men came closer to the building he instructed them to begin clearing out the structures one at a time till the found the prisoners and the threats were neutralized. Without a word the members of the VATF went to work clearing houses one by one. As a team was about to enter a house several shots rang out from inside catching a soldier in the bullet proof vest. As the man was pulled away another member came up this time a woman and threw a hand grenade inside the building and waited for it to explode. After the explosion she stepped into the threshold and fired four shots at two of the targets to her immediate front. Two in the chest one in the head for each terrorist, just like they practiced. After that she and the rest of the team flowed into the room with a water like grace and began clearing the structure one room at a time. As the members of the assault group cleared more houses they made their way to the back of the village. There, stood a sturdy looking building made of concrete and wood. Jaune knew that if the hostages were in this village that is where they would be. Jaune radioed Samuel to link up with him, once the two were reunited they made their way to the side entrance of the house. Samuel tried the door but it was locked. Jaune then motioned for a member of his team to join him up front it was the woman from before.

"Rita, blow it."

Jaune said forcefully.

Rita smiled at got to work placing a breeching charge on the door.

At twenty-four Rita Obsidian was one of the only females in the VATF. Born to a faunus mother and a human father Rita never really fit in anywhere. This made her develop a no-fucks-given attitude towards authority types. A troublemaker throughout her life Rita finally found a home in the VATF, no one here cared that she was half faunus and as long as she could do her job they treated her like a member of the family. Lt Arc was the first person she befriended in the VATF with her short haircut and slender body type she looked rather boyish. She had a heart shaped face that, although looked feminine was marred by several scars on her face that's to fights she got in as a kid. Her dark brown eyes penetrated into the soul of whoever she was looking at and often used this feature to read those around her. Her hair was short styled similarly to Samuels in the fact that it was faded along the side. Her slender body type was that of a runner, with sculpted abdominal muscles from running marathon like distances on the weekends. This was probably the reason Jaune and Rita could speak so easily. Jaune wasn't bashful about talking to a woman and Rita found Jaune's leadership style to be a breath of fresh air in a community that preached order and discipline. When Rita joined the army, she found she had an unnatural knack for explosives, she could tell when they were harmless and when they were about to go off which made her invaluable to the VATF.

Once the demo was set Rita gave the thumbs up to Jaune and waited for his word. Jaune gave her a slight head nod and she compressed the detonator twice igniting the explosive charges and turning the door into a heap of wooden shrapnel. Jaune was the first into the room followed closely by Samuel. With his weapon raised Jaune took aim at the White Fang members that littered the floor, on his way past Jaune and Samuel placed two shots from their rifles into the chests of the downed terrorists, to make sure they were dead. Once the room was cleared they moved on to the next room then the next until they found another locked room. Jaune motioned for Samuel to kick the door as the rest of the team got set behind the commanding officer. Samuel let out a lightning fast strike with his tree trunk like leg and with a donkey like kick knocked the door from its hinges. Jaune went into the room but found no hostiles instead he found the Valian soldiers with tape on their mouths huddled into a corner of the room. As Jaune took stock of the room he smelt the strong odor of urine and knew it came from the prisoners.

"Airborne One, this is VATF Six how copy?"

"Six this is One we read you over."

"We have the prisoners, I repeat we have the prisoners, send extract and return them to FOB."

"Roger that Six, ETA twenty minutes."

"Roger, Six out."

Jaune then began to usher the prisoners out of the room and told them that they were going to be ok. Jaune didn't see however the faunus in bloody combat utilities shuffling along inside the group of terrorized soldiers.

"Dammit."

Samuel yelled as he identified another White Fang members body.

"He's not here Jaune. Afeaa must have snuck out when the initial fighting started."

"Where could he have gone through?"

Asked a skeptical Lt Arc.

"We had this place surrounded the only way that he could have slipped by is if he went through us and that couldn't have happened."

"Underground tunnel?"

"No, I asked about that when getting information about the village the only ways in or out are what was shown on the map."

The two sat and pondered their predicament for a while until Jaune cursed and said,

"Well better go tell the good general that bad news."

"Want me to come with?" Asked Samuel in an unconvincing tone?

"No buddy I got this link back up with everyone else and get the casualty reports and make sure everyone is taken care of I'll be along shortly after I make the call."

With that Jaune and Samuel loaded into two separate bullheads and returned to the FOB.

"Lt Arc."

Winter Schnee yelled at Jaune as he was making his way towards the ex-prisoners and the radio building.

"Ah M…Miss Schnee, h…how can I help you?"

Jaune stuttered still not used to talking with such a gorgeous woman.

"I would like to apologize for my previous behavior. It was unbecoming of a person in my position and it won't happen again. Thank you for letting me take part in your operation."

Jaune was caught flat footed, he had heard of the Schnee's being prideful but he had never heard of one being apologetic before.

"I…It's quite alright Miss Schnee. I should apologize as well I shouldn't have acted the way I did towards you it was unprofessional. I…I'm sorry."

Jaune said as he rubbed a hand through his longer blond hair. Upon touching his head, he felt all the sweat and grime of the operation that had stuck there. 'Man, I need to take a shower.' Jaune thought.

"Hmph ha-ha"

Winter chuckled.

'Maybe a cold shower, I don't think it was possible to be aroused by such a small laugh. You have proved me wrong again Winter'. Jaune thought to himself.

"Do you mind if I accompany you Lt Arc?"

"To where?"

"The Communication station of course. You were headed there were you not?"

Jaune got slightly red in the face as he attempted to banish the thoughts that came along with Winter Schnee accompanying him anywhere.

"N…No. I mean O…Of course not Winter. I mean Miss Schnee I would like the company."

Jaune then gave Winter one of his best smiles and the two began walking towards the COMM station.

Afeaa Green had done it he had taken the clothes of one of his torture victims and pretended to be a helpless prisoner. These stupid Vale worms were going to feel so stupid when he escaped and took some prisoners with him. All I have to do is keep playing dumb and make my move when the time is right.

These were the thoughts of Afeaa Green before he saw something that made his blood boil in his veins. A filthy Schnee whore is here. Green's mind was a mess of the possibilities. He could kidnap her and get far more than what a few measly soldiers could bring him. But in the recesses of his mind he thought of another plan, he could kill the Schnee bitch and bring justice to his race and glory to the members of the White Fang. After all members of the Schnee family were killed before but never anyone from the main house, never anyone directly from the accursed bloodline. Green weighed his options and steeled himself for what needed to be done.

The two looked like an odd pair one prim and proper in her white clothes and shiny rapier. The other one, was Jaune. Jaune walked with the grace of a newborn baby deer when compared to Winter. Shoulders slightly slouched, head forward, and his hands firmly in his pockets. The two must have seemed an odd pair since every VATF member turned to look their way as they passed. Some of the prisoners even turned their heads to look upon the two. Some were even bolder and got up to thank the two warriors for their help and some nearly cried when thanking Jaune for rescuing them. Winter smiled slightly and nodded her head. While Jaune looked very much out of his element. Not used to being thanked by so many people Jaune just stood there rubbing the back of his head and giving a goofy smile.

Winter looked on in amazement how could one man go from being a special forces badass one moment and a stuttering goof ball the next. These thoughts boggled her mind. Just then Winter felt something prick her in the neck and she turned to see a faunus in bloody clothing staring back at her.

"Don't worry Schnee I didn't give you enough to kill you, just a little hello kiss from a snake to make you relax."

Winter's eyes went wide but she could react her limbs refused to obey her commands and her voice came out slurred and unintelligible. Then the faunus grabbed her and began leading her away from the group.

Jaune was busy with all his new fans when he noticed a distinct lack of white in his close proximity. Jaune began looking around for winter and saw her struggling to stand with a faunus trying to hold her up. Jaune excused himself from the ex-prisoners and made his way over to where Winter was.

"Hey. What's wrong with her?"

Jaune asked the faunus as he walked up behind the man.

The man froze in place like an animal in the headlights of a moving car and slowly turned around to face the VATF officer. With mock shock on his face he said,

"She just started getting woozy and almost fell over. I caught her and am taking her to the medical tent."

Jaune looked at the man and tried to place his face he could have sworn he had seen him before he just couldn't remember where.

"Well let me help you then."

"No! I mean no its ok I've got her you don't have to worry about her."

"You say that but you aren't even heading in the right direction. The medical tent is over that way."

Jaune pointed his finger to the right of where the faunus was headed.

"Ah, well sorry I just get turned around sometimes you know."

Jaune understood but not in this sense the FOB was relatively small and it would be hard to get lost around here. That's when it struck Jaune like a ten-pound hammer he recognized the man holding on to Winter. It was Afeaa Green.

"Why don't you hand her over to me. I'll make sure she gets treated right away."

Jaune said to Green moving ever so slowly closer to his target.

"No, it's quite alright. You seem like a busy man I'll take care of her."

Rage bubbled up in Jaune as he knew what Green would do to take care of her. He knew it would be worse especially because she was a Schnee.

Jaune stepped forward grabbing onto Winters wrist and saying,

"No, I insist. Let her go. Mr. Green."

Just like that Afeaa's plan began crashing down around him his mind wracking to find a way out of the situation he had gotten himself into. With a lighting fast hand Green stepped back and drew Winters rapier holding it towards her throat. All subtly gone from his plan. As he did this however Jaune drew his service pistol from the holster on his right hip. With both arms extended Jaune lined up the sights on the faunus terrorists head and said,

"Drop her motherfucker, or I drop you."

As Jaune shouted this at the man a group of VATF operatives overheard the commotion and moved to investigate. Upon seeing their commanding officer with his weapon drawn on a faunus they immediately did the same attempting to encircle the target at get a clear shot.

"You filthy humans think you can stop the White Fang? No, this is only the beginning of what is to come." Green Screamed.

"All you flighty human degenerates and you unclean faunus who work alongside them will all be crushed under the weight that is the White Fang. We will never stop trying to eradicate you filthy humans from the face of Remnant. As the superior race we will take our freedom, we will subjugate you disgusting humans, and we will take control of Remnant. Mark my words human your kingdoms will all fall to the might that is…"

It was during this rant that Jaune began to line up a better shot on the extremist. Gone was the unsure young man from before, now what stood in front of this psychopath was a trained killer. All empathy was gone from Jaune's being as he listened to the snake faunus spew anti-human rhetoric. Jaune knew in those short moments that he would save Winter's life and put an end to Afeaa Green.

BANG!

One single shot rang out from Jaune's pistol as the faunus was continuing his rant the bullet impacted right underneath the targets nose. The bullet then made its way through the targets mouth and out the back of his head severing his skull from his spinal column. Instantly the Green's lights went out and he fell to the ground dropping the sword and Winter on his way to the sand. Before Winter could hit the ground however Jaune was already there supporting her head and trying to figure out what was wrong with her. Jaune then spotted two fang marks on her neck and knew she had been poisoned. Picking her up bridal style Jaune rushed Winter to the medical tent and into the waiting arms of a doctor.

An hour had passed before the doctor came out and told Jaune that the poison had been removed from her body, and she would make a full recovery. Happiness washed over Jaune as he knew his friend would make it.

Friend? When had they become friends? Well maybe friend was a little strong but if she continued to work with the VATF they would become friends eventually. This brought a smile to Jaune's tired face, and knew he should get some sleep he could check on Winter in the morning, after all he still really needed that shower.