The Name of the Game

by literalsin

A man from Earth wakes up to find himself stuck in the body of a fictional teenage boy with an ability that turns his life into a video game and foreknowledge of events to come. What could possibly go wrong? A take on the RWBY/Gamer crossover niche with an SI twist, a focus on world and character building, and fleshing out some of the details RT missed. Rated 'M' for a reason.

24. Burn For You

The Name of the Game

a RWBY/The Gamer crossover, SI.

Arc 6: Every Shade of Grey

Chapter 24: Burn For You

---

I yawned as I woke up. An attempt to roll over was hampered by a small, warm body currently lying mostly flush atop my own, straddling my waist. I took a moment to simply lay there and enjoy the feeling. 'Last night turned out better than expected,' I thought, my mind turning back to my explanation to Neo and subsequent retelling to the twins. That was after I'd convinced Neo to get out of bed and help me tell the twins, as I didn't feel up to letting it wait until morning. Also after we had relocated to the apartment as I didn't feel comfortable sleeping in an unsanctified area, even if it had been cleared. Melanie and Miltia had been surprisingly open-minded about it—though, in retrospect, I probably shouldn't be too terribly surprised given Neo's own reaction.

I cracked open one eye to find familiar update text floating in my field of vision.

The system has been updated! Would you like to view the Change Log?

Change Log: The Gamer Semblance v. 1.7.1

1. Gamer's Mind can now be toggled. This feature is accessible via the Skills menu.

2. Party members now have access to their own personal Inventory space, accessible via menu, scroll, or equipped bags while in Party.

2.a. Party members now have limited Inventory and Equipment menus available via scroll even when not partied.

3. All kills made by Guild members or former Party members now collect Spirit, which will be stored until the next time they are partied, whereupon they will be granted the levels, stat points, and skill progression they would have been awarded if in Party.

4. Added menu options for Bounties in player and Guild menus. You may now take Bounties directly or assign them to your Guild.

I hummed quietly, careful not to disturb any of the three girls currently sleeping beside me—or in Neo's case, atop me like some sort of human blanket. A human blanket that happened to be drooling on my chest. 'That can't be comfortable for her.'

Opening my skills menu, I found the entry for Gamer's Mind and selected it. 'Okay, so it's toggleable now. Three modes—on, defensive, and off. It's on by default, operating as normal. Defensive mode disables everything but it sits in the background, waiting for mental attacks and only acts when it detects one—but no forced calm. If I want that, I'll probably have to toggle it on. And off is, of course, fully off—no automatic mental defenses, no forced calm, nothing. That's kind of... broken.'

Giving the mental equivalent of a shrug, I toggled the skill to its defensive setting. 'Not really noticing a difference here,' I mused, examining my mental state. Nothing had really changed, as far as I could tell. 'Maybe it takes some time to kick in?'

I rolled my eyes and shifted my attention to the guild menu. Seeing a few people awaiting approval to join, I scanned through their profiles and accepted them, placing them into departments by their specialization and skill levels. 'Going to need to consult with the new department heads today and get an idea of what I need.'

Checking the bounty board section, I smiled as I saw that not only did it list priority targets such as unique Grimm like the Ursa trio I'd taken out yesterday, but it listed lower bounties for a number of Grimm killed in an area. 'A thousand lien per head for some of these really isn't bad. Send in some guys with a load of ammo, lure in groups, and hose down the area, then repeat as needed. I need to figure out how the Guild system works for that, though. If they count as members of my raid party, do they level? Will items drop? Going to need to test that. And since I've got a ready excuse in one of those 'eliminate a large number of Grimm' bounties, I could load up Angel and a few people, take the twins and Neo along, and we can go make a short test to see what it does. Also, need to swing by the bounty office later and turn in the one for Yogi, Boo Boo, and Cindy. Thirty thousand for each of those isn't bad, and we kind of need the money.'

Movement from one of the girls drew my attention away from my menus and I shifted my gaze downwards, finding Miltia's green eyes studying my face—from the look of things, she had been awake a few minutes. I smiled down at her and she smiled back, and I felt my heart skip a beat. Miltia raised an eyebrow, her smile going a bit wider. "What?" I asked.

"You're blushing."

"I am not," I denied, but I knew that was a lie the moment it left my lips. 'Blushing? Check. Heart aflutter? Check. Sudden feeling of giddy euphoria? Fucking check. Yeah, I think Gamer's Mind is off, now,' I assessed, and fought down my blush by sheer force of will.

'God damn this is embarrassing. It's like being a teenager again, with all the hormones that came along with it.' I blinked, before realization set in. 'Right. Teenaged body, adult mind. Without Gamer's Mind keeping things steady, my brain's free to play merry hell with endorphins and such. Oh fuck me. Why did I think turning that off was a good idea?'

"Jaune, are you okay?" Miltia murmured, drawing me out of my thoughts.

I cleared my throat, fighting down most of my body's reactions—like panic, that was one I hadn't felt over a woman in years—through dint of experience. "Yeah, I think I am, now."

The lithe brunette pushed herself up on her arms—giving me an amazing view of her body, from the curve of her neck, over her modest breasts, to the shape of her ass under the sheets, in the process. She crawled up enough to meet my lips in a kiss that seemed to stretch out for an age. "Mm, morning," she practically purred.

"Good morning," I returned with a grin I knew probably looked a little stupid, but I was having problems controlling it at the moment.

A hand snaked out from atop me and I felt Neo shift as she took Miltia's chin in hand and drew her in for her own good morning kiss, before shifting her attention to me. Under the sheets, I felt my cock brush against her wet lips and the tiny girl shifted downwards to rub against me, drawing a groan from both of us. "Yeah, definitely enjoy waking up to this."

Turning an amused look on Neo, I asked, "So you're only this perky in the morning if there's the potential for sex involved?"

Neo shrugged, doing very interesting things to her breasts and drawing my eyes to where they shifted. "What? I like 'good morning' sex."

Neo found herself dragged into a kiss from the opposite side as Melanie joined in and I looked on in interest for a moment before the more direct twin switched her attentions to me. After a moment, she pulled back and hummed in thought before shooting a look at her sister and Neo. "He seems different this morning."

"I'm not complaining," Neo leered, shifting against my cock again.

I resisted the urge to groan and instead fixed the twin on my right with an amused look. "Imagine waking up one morning to find you've regressed to the throes of hormone-induced idiocy that is puberty."

Neo winced. "That's got to suck. What did you do?"

"Got an update this morning that let me toggle Gamer's Mind. Apparently, its forced calm also meant I was exempt from dealing with the ups and downs of teenaged life. I'm getting it back under control, but it may take a day or two. Speaking of uncomfortable," I gestured towards Neo's breasts, "how can you stand sleeping on top of me like that? Having them mashed like that can't have been comfortable."

Neo rolled her eyes and shifted her hips a bit. "Jaune, I enjoy wearing corsets. Sleeping on my boobs doesn't bother me." A small smirk crept across her lips as she added, "It's downright titillating."

"Okay, Yang," I rolled my eyes. The woman astride me raised one fine brown eyebrow, before her body shimmered. Brown hair and eyebrows were replaced by blonde in an all-too-familiar style, brown eyes became lilac, and a glance down showed the carpet now matched the drapes. Staring up into Yang's face, I groaned quietly. "That's not fair."

"Too bad," Neo shrugged, and my cock twitched as I realized she had even gotten Yang's voice down. The girls exchanged grins. "So, in the meantime, you're just as vulnerable and pliable as any other teenager?" Neo lead, and I waved my hand back and forth in a so-so gesture.

"Adult mind, teenaged body," I reminded. I was tempted to protest—to tell her she shouldn't wear a friend's body, but I would have been lying if I said I didn't enjoy Neo occasionally taking liberties like this. And considering Neo herself loved doing it, I didn't think I really had much of a say anyway. For the sake of our sex life, I kept my mouth shut.

"Yeah, yeah. Still," Neo shifted backwards and lined us up, before sliding down my shaft, "Like I said. Pliable. Girls?"

I didn't exactly try to fight back as I found myself attacked by the twins. In the background, I noted the sound of the shower in the guest bedroom turning on. I ignored it as my attention found itself dragged back to the girls in bed with me. "Ooh! Idea!" Neo smirked above me, leaning over and flailing for the night stand while trying to avoid dislodging me from her, her long, blonde hair tickling my chest as she did. "Can't. Reach. Miltia, would you get my scroll?"

The twins shared a look, their faces suddenly lighting up in wicked grins that were enough to pull my attention away from the beautiful pseudo-blonde writhing on top of me and set off all the warning bells in my head. Miltia took out Neo's scroll and handed it to the temporary blonde while Melanie grabbed her own scroll. "Are you planning what we think you're planning?" she asked, and Neo nodded.

"If you're thinking I'm planning to record Jaune fucking me six ways from Sunday while looking like Yang and then surprising her with it later, then yes—I'm planning what you think I'm planning. Would you mind filming?" Neo asked, handing the scroll back now that it was unlocked.

The twins hopped off the bed, moving into a good position, and I shot Neo an unamused look, which just got a saucy wink and my hands grabbed and brought up to her breasts. "Neo, this is a horrible idea. The potential for lulz is exceeded by the potential for drama if Ruby ever sees it," I ground out, having significant problems focusing enough to carry on a conversation with Neo's tight heat wrapped around me as she slowly shifted back and forth in my lap—not to mention the visual distraction of her wearing Yang's body. I seriously considered reaching for the mental 'on' switch to Gamer's Mind—this would be a lot easier with that skill on again.

"Eh, it'll be fine," Neo waved my concern off as she rolled her hips. "We'll be careful. Besides, it's not like you couldn't convince her of the truth."

"And in the process wind up hurting her," I growled, pulling my hands off her breasts and grabbing her hips, bringing her slow, rolling gyrations to a halt long enough to think straight.

It was Melanie who countered that. "Or maybe it'll provide the kick in the ass she needs."

I shot the twin on the left an annoyed look as I sat up, my legs folding to lock Neo's ass in place as she fought to move again, much to her own annoyance. "Too. Young."

"Says you," Miltia shrugged. "I say let her decide. And until then, Yang's fair game for a little harmless teasing. Neo?"

Lilac eyes met my blue and I gave her one last warning. "Fine. I'll go along with this, but under protest. You break it, you fix it."

Neo hummed, considering it for a moment as she tilted her head to the side, blonde hair just long enough to pool on the bed when she did so. A smirk that looked entirely too at home on her borrowed face spread across her lips. "Only if you call me Yang the whole way through."

Narrowing my eyes at the temporarily blonde girl, I'll admit hormones may have had a hand in my decision making process as I ground out, "Fine."

"Deal!" Neo grinned, and with that, she lifted herself off my shaft and pushed me back onto my back. She moved down, her golden hair falling around her face as she brought her mouth to my cock, lilac eyes trailing to the side where the twins were watching with scrolls in hand, and asked, "Got a good view?"

"Hmm. Pull your hair up a bit, so it hides your face. Don't want to make it completely obvious right off the bat," Melanie suggested.

I looked down to see Neo adjusting as directed and sighed. 'The things I do for my girls.'

By the time we'd finished getting our fun in for the morning a good hour and a half later, I was seriously feeling the need for a shower to wash the sweat and other bodily fluids off. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to do that or lay in bed basking in the afterglow with the girls for a while longer—but being comfortable with the girls won out. I idly noted the shower in the guest bathroom cut off. 'I guess Blake really likes long showers in the morning,' I mused, idly activating Listen on top of my enhanced hearing and picking up the sound of her moving about the bathroom. 'Note to self: soundproofing. At least the bedrooms of the new place, along with the dorm rooms once I get to Beacon. If I set it up right, I think I can keep sounds inside from being heard outside, while still being able to hear sounds from outside. On the other hand, cutting off a room from outside noise sounds nice, especially in a dormitory, which is bound to be noisy since it'll be filled with teenagers. I suppose it's a question of security versus comfort.'

Some minutes later I sat up with a yawn and regarded the girls around me. I blinked as something I should have noticed much earlier clicked in my mind, and I felt myself pale. "Neo?" I turned to where she was stretching out on the bed, Melanie curled into her side. "You're on the pill, right?"

Neo giggled as Melanie and Miltia turned their gazes on me, identical smug little smirks on their faces as they too came to the same conclusion I had. "Yes, Jaune. We're fine. No more condoms, though. Fuck those things. We all know everyone here is clean and they only get in the way."

I palmed my face, unsure whether I should feel relieved, angry, or happy—that last one because I'd always hated the things myself. Finally, I sighed and shook my head. "You break it, you fix it," I repeated.

Neo tossed a wave in the general direction of the bathroom. "Stop worrying and go shower."

Miltia rolled off the bed to my right and offered me a hand up. Accepting the help, I moved into the bathroom and turned on the shower. I tested the water and frowned as my hand was met with a spray of piss-warm water as opposed to the steaming spray I preferred. I shot an annoyed glare at the wall, where I knew the guest bathroom mirrored mine on the other side.

"Someone ran out all the hot water," I grumbled to Miltia, wrapping a towel around myself and exiting the bathroom. I moved through the apartment and found the closet with the hot water heater. Placing my hand on it, I focused on channeling fire elemental mana into the water on the other side of the metal. Within a few seconds, I could feel warmth radiating away from the water heater and grinned, closing up the closet and heading back the way I'd come. 'Magic really does solve most problems,' I chuckled quietly. As I neared my bedroom door, the door to the spare bedroom opened and, for a moment, Blake and I danced around each other as we nearly collided.

Looking down, I took in the sight of her and froze. Like me, she was clad in a towel, though hers was wrapped under her armpits and above her breasts. Long, black hair still damp from her shower draped down to her shoulders. Two small, triangular ears atop her head flicked to track me. Her pale skin was still somewhat red from the heat and beads of moisture ran down her neck to the top of her breasts. Her toned thighs and legs were mostly exposed since the towel just barely left her decent. Golden eyes set in a heart-shaped face tracked upwards, taking in my own towel-clad form, dragging slowly over my exposed torso and arms, pausing long enough to take in and pass over the scars this body had acquired before I'd gotten to Remnant, before they locked with my own eyes. And then her scent hit me like a physical blow—light, clean, and with a faint musky hint of lingering arousal, which swiftly grew stronger as we regarded each other, even as her body flushed darker and her pupils dilated. Her own nose twitched and she glanced down, eyes going wide as I remembered I wasn't exactly wearing pants at the moment and the proof of my interest was plainly visible for anyone to see. Her own reaction was equally visible, as I caught sight of her nipples growing stiff under her towel.

I cleared my throat, breaking the spell. "Excuse me." Blake shuddered minutely at the sound of my voice, closing her eyes and nodding slowly as she bit her bottom lip. "You okay?"

One pale hand slowly pulled away from her towel, shaking slightly as her fingers came into contact with my chest. "No." The word came out as one part whimper, one part whisper. Her hand unconsciously clenched slightly and digging her nails in a bit.

I took her hand and it took all of my willpower to resist the urge to pull her against me, let our towels drop, and kiss her where she stood. Instead, I slowly lifted it off my chest, causing her eyes to open again and lock with mine for a moment. I smiled faintly, offering her an out. "I should get a shower."

"Right. Sorry. I just… need my clothes," she muttered, slipping into the laundry room and digging out her clothing, before going back into the guest bedroom and closing the door behind her, her face bright red with a blush that I could see went down at least as far as her towel.

Neo poked her head out of the bedroom door, looking between myself and where Blake had disappeared. "Damnit," she whined, moving aside so I could pass. "This close!"

"It won't be that easy," Melanie rolled her eyes as I passed by. "Poor thing's going to rub herself raw at this rate. Well, that, or damage that shower head. Our water bill is going to suck."

"Don't need to hear that," I grumbled, moving into the bathroom and closing the door behind me. "Problem solved," I announced, turning on the faucet and sighing as I stepped into the downpour of steaming liquid.

"Our hero," Miltia teased, slipping in behind me.

I had fully intended on hurrying through just a quick shower—after all, I'd taken showers with women off and on for years. Those plans went down in flames as we began washing each other off, and I found I couldn't keep my hands off her—and given the little scene with Blake in the hallway, I didn't want to. A quickie in the shower with Miltia turned into more, however, as Neo and Melanie quickly made their way in to take their own turns with me. Eventually, we did manage to leave the shower, however. I equipped clothes and surrendered the bedroom to the girls as they got dressed and made my way to the kitchen to see about making breakfast. 'Need to do laundry again,' I decided, after taking a look at my Inventory. Remembering the update that morning, I poked my head back into the bedroom long enough to tell them that they could now use the Inventory and equipment features—which prompted an immediate rush for dressers and closets as the girls began throwing clothes into Inventory.

The door to the guest room opened as I was putting the finishing touches on pancakes. Blake sat down at the table and I put a plate in front of her, receiving a golden eyed glare in response. "Problem?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl's apparent foul mood.

"I'm fine," she hissed.

Hitting her with Observe, I resisted the urge to smirk. She wasn't angry, at all. She was, according to my Semblance, flustered, embarrassed, frustrated, and aroused. Considering I could still smell her, it made sense. 'I must have blue balled her pretty bad, and now she's trying to play it off as being irritable. I can have fun with that.'

I set places for the others and dropped into my own chair, grabbing butter and syrup. I decided to play dumb on our earlier encounter, or at least as much as was required to tease her a bit. "Hey, look. I know it's kind of personal, but if you've got cramps," her eyes narrowed in silent threat, "I can probably help. I've got more than one healing spell, and I could probably come up with a pain relief spell."

For a moment, the faunus girl lost the annoyed look as her eyes went slightly wide. "You can cure cramps? You can't buy the pills that stop menstruation without a prescription and a valid Hunter's identification."

I blinked at that—I had not been aware there was such a thing. Filing that away to investigate later, I shook my head. "No. Not cure. It's a natural biological process—same reason Aura can't cure them. I can probably relieve most of the symptoms, at least temporarily. So, want me to?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"It's not cramps. Though… I'll keep that in mind, for later," she mumbled.

Shooting her a confused look as I chewed a mouthful of pancake, I swallowed and washed it down with orange juice before asking, "So if you're not mensing, what's the problem?" Inwardly, I was resisting the urge to smirk. I'd blue balled her pretty bad, it seemed.

Blake's glare returned, but she decided against a reply as Neo and the twins made their way out of the bedroom, fully dressed. Instead of their usual thematic clothes, the twins and Neo were all wearing identical, dark green dresses, with black stockings and long opera-length gloves—though I noticed Miltia's set was actually her new weapon. Neo was not quite in full triplet mode, she was wearing her own face but her hair and eyes now matched the twins. Blake and I both stared for a long moment before the faunus girl shook her head, breaking the spell. "It's nothing."

I shrugged. "If you say so." I turned my attention to the twins, sending them a grin. "New outfits?"

Melanie shot me an annoyed look. "Yes. Since ours were damaged, we'll have to make do with 'normal' clothes for a few days, until we can repair ours and make new ones. And on that note, Jaune, you're taking us shopping for replacement materials later."

"Yes, ma'am," I smiled as they took their own seats and dug in. "The dresses look good. They go well with your eyes." I turned an amused grin on Neo. "Neo, your eyes go well with that dress."

The twins exchanged a look before turning identical smiles on me and saying, "Thank you." At the same time, Neo giggled out, "Thank you, Jaune."

"That reminds me. Miltia, your gloves?" I asked, and she passed them over. A quick, small ID duplicated the gloves and I passed Miltia her set and Melanie another. "Now, we just need to get you matching boots."

"Weren't you supposed to take the entrance exam for Beacon today?" Neo asked of Blake.

Blake's bow twitched and she dug out her scroll, flipping through it for a few moments before answering. "It's at 10. I have some time." She trailed off and I saw a flash of gold—what looked to be a contact icon of Yang's head, similar to that in my own scroll—on her screen as she hummed. "Yang offered to go with me last night. She's checking to see when I plan to meet her."

"Did she?" I asked, an amused smile tugging at my lips as I noticed the others sharing similar looks.

"What?" Blake asked, stabbing her pancakes with a bit more force than was absolutely necessary.

"She may be trying to see if you'd make a good partner," Miltia answered, drawing the faunus girl's golden gaze.

Interpreting Blake's raised eyebrow as a request for clarification, Melanie added, "According to Jaune, you can theoretically pick your partner and team for your time at Beacon, depending on a few factors. There's a test, but the headmaster supposedly only uses like five variations, and Jaune's pretty sure he knows what this year's test is."

Neo sighed quietly, sending me an amused look. "Kind of wish I was going, now."

"Ditto," the twins echoed.

I shot a look at the twins. "I thought you two were against becoming Hunters in the first place."

The sisters exchanged a look and rolled their eyes. Melanie lead with, "Yes, initially, it seemed like a good way to get ourselves killed."

"But you're going to be there," Miltia finished.

"We know someone needs to stay behind and keep things running while you're stuck in classes, though," Melanie admitted. "Are you sure you really need to go?"

"You'd have more freedom of movement if you didn't go," Miltia pointed out. "At school, you're going to be stuck there for more than half the day, doing class-related stuff, practicing with a team, and so on. You could do most of that out here, and then some—without being tied to a classroom for hours a day."

Melanie nodded. "And you can go out and level whenever you want, outside of school. Once you're there, you're not going to be able to do that nearly as often."

"And then there's the other ventures to think of," Neo chimed in, getting in on the act.

I sent a long look between the trio before sighing and pushing my plate away. "You three have given this some thought," I pointed out, and they nodded. I shifted my gaze to Blake, blue eyes meeting gold, and asked, "You mind giving us a few?"

Blake shook her head. "No, it's fine. I should start heading towards the transit hub to Beacon anyway."

Seeing an opportunity, I couldn't resist taking it. "You seem to have mellowed in the last few minutes."

Golden eyes once more pinned me with a glare. "You are an ass, Jaune Arc."

"He knows," the twins synced.

Neo snorted softly. "More like he enjoys doing it."

"Yes I do, as you three are well aware," I grinned at the girls before turning back to Blake. "Good luck. Send me a text and let me know how you did, once you're done," I told her, and she nodded, pushing herself up from the table. "Tell Yang I said 'hi,' too."

"Sure," she agreed, seeming to have given up on feigning anger as she made her way to the guest bedroom, presumably to get her weapon.

"Where's Penny?" Melanie asked a moment later, and I sent her an amused look.

"I'll give you three guesses."

The twins exchanged a look before smiling. "She probably left early and went to hang out with Ruby."

"Bingo," I nodded, having checked that as soon as I noticed she wasn't in the apartment this morning. "Which means Yang's been in town for a couple of hours, waiting on Blake."

"Crap," the faunus girl muttered, picking up her pace as she hurried from the guest room with her weapon.

"Take the stairs to your right after leaving the apartment. They lead up to the roof. You should be able to tag the next building over with Gambol and that'll put you in line to swing across the bridge over the river," I told her, and she nodded as she left.

Neo opened her mouth to continue and I held up a hand, waiting. A moment later, we heard the sound of Gambol going off on the roof and I nodded. "This is about the other thing, isn't it? The one you can't talk about."

I shrugged. "I couldn't confirm it if it were," I warned her, and she nodded. "Aside from that, being in Beacon gives me more contacts. It's pretty much the information hub for Vale. Students go out on missions all the time. If I want to know what's going on elsewhere, that's one of the best ways to find out."

"Our guild has an Intelligence division, which we're the head of," Melanie pointed out. "Sure, it's kind of under-developed at the moment, but we do have one."

"We do," I agreed. "But nothing is wrong with more intelligence. Aside from that, Cinder's plans involve Beacon at some point—otherwise she'd have never asked for these." I opened my Inventory and dug out a familiar brown leather tube case. From it, I withdrew a set of rolled up set of papers, dropping them in an empty chair and grabbing everything off the table's surface with Telekinesis, moving the dishes to the kitchen and then spreading the blueprints I'd swiped on the table.

Neo frowned, looking down at the blueprints and shooting me a curious look. "You gave these to Cinder," she pointed out, and I nodded. "And the originals are in the Repository."

"They are," I agreed with a grin.

"He thinks he's been clever," Melanie rolled her eyes. "Otherwise he wouldn't look so smug. So, go on then. Tell us, how did you do it?"

I shot her an annoyed look. "Spoil all my fun," I grumbled. The girls giggled and I sighed, knowing when I was beaten. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a place in Vale with a working plotter?"

"A what?" Miltia asked, trading questioning looks with her sister and Neo, who shrugged.

My grin returned. "It's a very large printer—usually high quality inkjet. They're used to print things like movie posters, or blueprints. Working on one is a bit like working on a small car, and about as fun as you'd imagine. As it turns out, there's only one place in town with a plotter that has a scanner attachment for copying large stuff."

"So you broke in, ID'd the plotter, and copied the blueprints before you handed them over," Neo surmised, and I nodded. "Did you take a copy of the plotter?"

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, remember who're you talking to. What did I say about gamers and taking anything not nailed down?"

"Yeah, but an industrial printer is a pretty random thing to make a copy of," Miltia pointed out.

"Says you. Those things are expensive and useful. And I can find a use for it," I countered.

"Okay, yeah, that's pretty clever," Neo admitted. "So, what are we looking for?"

"Fuck if I know," I admitted, gesturing towards the first page. "I haven't really had a chance to go over these. We've been busy. Whatever it is, it's not on the publicly accessible blueprints."

"So, we compare the two," Melanie suggested, and I nodded.

"It'd be the easiest thing," I agreed, pulling out my scroll as the others did likewise. A quick search was all it took to find the public records, and I brought up the public blueprints and began comparing the two sets.

"So, any other reasons you'd like to share as to why you need to go to Beacon in person and can't just keep in contact with Ruby and the others?" Miltia asked.

I started to answer but Neo beat me to it. "It's them," she guessed, and I looked up from my scroll to meet her eyes with a raised eyebrow. "Ruby, Yang, Blake. Miss Prodigy, the strongest Signal grad, and a former White Fang member—yeah, that one wasn't hard to figure out, either. You've already said you know how the teams are going to be made this year. You're angling to get those three on a team. Why? And with who?" Her eyes slid to the side for a moment before she murmured, "You're not trying to get them on your own team. Conventional naming schemes use the letters from the members' names. Ruby, Yang, Blake, Jaune. There's nowhere for a 'J' to go there. No, it's Ruby, Blake, Yang. R, B, Y. Team RUBY. Who's their 'U?'"

"'W' or 'V' would also work," Melanie pointed out.

"Assuming you're correct about organizing teams before we get to Beacon, who's to say I don't intend to have them spread across multiple teams? That's enough people for anywhere from two teams to four teams, if I include myself," I pointed out, and Neo rolled her eyes.

"Because it's exactly the sort of simplistic, color-themed name the academies tend to favor," the ice-cream themed girl pointed out. "And you specifically went after both Ruby and Blake, and seem to be trying very hard to keep Yang at just the right distance to not upset her sister while still leaving the possibility for something later."

"Playing team matchmaker and getting new members for the group aside," Melanie interrupted, "are those it?"

I nodded and the girls shared a look, before Miltia asked, "And you feel it's more important to be there than out here, with us?"

"I don't know, is being alive important to you?" I asked, not nearly as much sarcasm lacing my words as I felt it deserved—but then, I was filtering myself there to spare their feelings. I could admit I felt a bit guilty, knowing I would be spending a lot of time away from them—they were probably feeling insecure and were worried I'd leave them. It wasn't an unreasonable fear on their part, and it hurt knowing I was the reason they were worried. On the other hand, I knew that sometimes, you had to make sacrifices to keep the things you value most close to you in the long run—and these three had very quickly become exactly that, for me.

With that in mind, I pressed on. "Because keeping you that way is pretty important to me. And if that means I have to spend a lot of time elsewhere, then so be it. We know where Cinder will be—she wouldn't want the blueprints otherwise. Cinder doesn't waste time and resources on things she's not invested in long term. Events are centered around Beacon because of that. She's going to be there in person, because it's how she operates—either due to ego, or inability to trust her underlings, or because the plan calls for it. Being there means I can respond to whatever she intends to do faster than if I were in Vale. You are safer with me there, countering her."

The girls went quiet, not willing to meet my eyes after that and I sighed softly, going back to digging through the blueprints. After several long minutes, Neo broke the silence. "Found something."

"What?" I asked, and she gestured towards one of the pages off to the side.

"The old CCT tower isn't in the public blueprints."

I blinked, moving over and having a look at our copy of the blueprints. "Old CCT tower?"

"Yeah. Originally, Vale's CCT tower was stationed in Beacon. In fact, all the academies have one. Later, it was decided to build new towers in the seats of the kingdoms. Here, ours is in Vale city, on its own campus. But the originals weren't destroyed. I mean, why would they be? The equipment is kept functional and up to date, in the event of a catastrophic failure of the primary tower," she explained.

Well, that explained why I couldn't reconcile the fact that I'd been to the CCT tower with what I knew from 'canon.' There were two towers. "So, it's a backup tower," I surmised, and Neo nodded. "With all the same tech as the primary tower, but I'm guessing it's like any disaster recovery center and is unmanned most of the time?" If so, it was probably only really brought up to full working load a few times a year, to make sure everything worked and possibly to handle the load while maintenance was done on the primary tower—just to prevent calls from dropping, or a temporary communications blackout across Vale. That would be bad—not catastrophic, but potentially bad. 'It's not like taking out one tower would domino the whole network, though. No one would be brain dead stupid enough to design it that way.'

"Probably," Melanie agreed. "We can find out."

"There's also a sub-basement," Miltia cut in, and we turned to where she had separated another sheet. "No idea what's in it, but like the CCT tower, it's not on the public blueprints."

Looking it over, I hummed. "That's big. Really fucking big," I muttered, taking in the scale of the thing. The elevator from the surface opened onto a main entrance hall of some sort with a high, arched ceiling and pillars. Branching off to the sides were doors leading to other rooms, and the entire thing seemed to span the grounds of the academy and occupy at least two levels by itself.

"Look," Miltia pointed at a set of lines on the sheet, "It has its own air and water connections and circulation, water storage, purification plant. Kitchen, cafeteria, security room, sleeping areas. Large, multi-story open area below all of it. It's a bunker."

"A bunker the size of Beacon," Neo pointed out. "It takes up the entire campus and goes all the way to the bottom of the cliffs. What do you want to bet that those empty lower floors can easily be converted between housing and indoor farming?"

"There are other surface connections," Melanie noted, pointing at one in particular. "These rooms here are attached to what look like barracks or sleeping quarters for teams, and are equipped with vertical tunnels straight to the surface." She frowned, reading something on one of the notations. "'Anti-gravity launch and receiving platforms?'" she read aloud.

Realizing what I was looking at, I laughed quietly. "Yeah. Launch tunnels. Look," I pulled out the top sheet, detailing the campus itself, and began pointing out specific areas on the map. "Here," I pointed at a fountain, "And here," a large piece of statuary, "Here too," another area that corresponded with surface decorations. "Disguised surface entrances." I ran a finger over one of the long, straight tunnels leading up to the surface, "And armored barriers in the tunnels themselves. This is for getting people outside in a hurry, and then giving them a way back in where they can't be followed."

I had seen something similar in the past, actually. Though Beacon was smaller in scale than Tokyo-3, and the launch platforms were designed to launch Hunters as opposed to massive Evangelions, the concept was the same: an underground bunker capable of deploying troops quickly to the surface to deal with a threat in any part of the area above the bunker. 'And this has been here for years. Likely from day one. A hidden bunker—a last fallback area on campus to rally, should the campus fall to Grimm.'

"Vehicle entrances in the cliffs," Miltia pointed out. "It's not just for the school. It looks like this entire compound is a command and control bunker for Vale itself, for coordinating an emergency response. I can see why the original CCT tower would have been built on top of this."

Neo frowned, shooting me an uncertain look. "Cinder has this? She's got Beacon by the balls. Forget the backup CCT tower, with this she could move around the campus freely if she ever got in, or move troops where ever she wanted. Can she get in?"

"With the hack tool? Possibly," I admitted. I pulled up my map, looking over Vale for familiar icons. 'Ruby, Penny, Yang, and Blake moving as a group along a flight path to Beacon. Me, Neo, Miltia, and Melanie in the apartment. No sign of anyone else my Semblance gives their own icon. Specifically, no sign of Cinder, Emerald, or Mercury.'

Humming, I felt a smile twitch at my lips as a plan formed. "Okay, I think I have an idea."

"What?" Melanie asked, frowning as she took in my expression. "And why do I feel like I should feel sorry for Cinder?"

I smirked. "Because she's about to become homeless." I began rolling up the blueprints and stuffing them in their carry tube. "So, we've got things to do this morning. If we split up, we can get a lot of them done at the same time. One of us needs to go gather crafting mats. The cloth and whatever else you think you'll need for us to start working on our gear."

"But Jaune, you said you'd go with us for that," Miltia pouted, and I rolled my eyes, seeing it for what it was—and only that through years of experience. Even then, my hormone-addled brain almost fell for it.

"I could, but we'd get more done if we split up and have more of the day later to do other things. Like setting up the bounded fields over the new place," I suggested, and they perked up, knowing that would likely involve getting the Sanctification up and running—which meant more fun for all of us. "Besides, I'm going to need to go off on my own for a while to see if I can't piss off Cinder before she gets back into town. I just wish I could be there to see her face when she comes home to find I've burned the place to the ground."

Melanie sighed as she and her sister nodded acquiescence. "Okay, fine. But you're going to be making it up to us later. You'd better be extra thorough setting up the fields."

"Deal. I'll take my sweet time," I agreed. "We also need the equipment to do Dustweaving. Any idea what that involves?"

"Yeah," Neo agreed, nodding. "It takes some fairly specialized equipment, but it's not outside our price range. I know where it's sold."

Sending her a questioning look, I asked, "What does that involve exactly?"

Neo shrugged. "It's a lot like making Dust rounds, really. You buy a machine to melt Dust crystals, it makes individual fibers, then spins them into thread with selectable thickness—sort of like how wiring is made, really. There are other machines that make Dust-impregnated cloth. You feed in a bolt of cloth of your choice, load in Dust crystals of your choosing, and it'll combine the two. Additionally, I'd like a programmable sewing machine that can sew patterns by itself."

"I see," I murmured. "Okay. In addition to that, we also need someone to head over to the guild HQ and organize a staff meeting to get an idea of what sort of stuff we need there, approve new construction, equipment purchases, and so forth. While that's going on, I've got a few stops of my own to make. Though, if we want to cut that down a bit, someone could run to the bounty office for me and turn in the bounty for the three Ursa yesterday."

"Well, we're still in party from last night. Set up links and we can coordinate and communicate as we go," Neo suggested, and I sent her a grin as I began doing just that. "This is so much easier than using a scroll."

"I can pick up our materials," Melanie volunteered, and Neo and Miltia nodded.

Neo hummed. "It'll probably go over faster if I go to Fox Hunt myself."

"Then I'll take the bounty office. Jaune should be the one picking up our equipment—that way he can just dupe everything and we'll have multiple copies," Miltia suggested, then turned to me with an amused look. "While you're at it, swing by the store where you picked up that machine that makes Dust rounds and pick up a few more of those, would you?"

I rolled my eyes. "I might as well just go and duplicate their stock at this point. And the other place."

"Pretty much," Neo agreed. "Especially since a lot of that is going towards the guild."

"Actually," I shot a look between the three, "We could probably start turning out enchanted items and selling them for profit. How much would a space-expanded handbag go for?"

The girls traded amused looks. "Jaune, no one sells those. Hunters make them themselves."

I blinked. "Wait. You mean you can't just go out and buy stuff that already has basic enchantments like waterproofing, climate control, and space expansion?"

All three shook their heads. "I don't know if it's even taught to civilians," Melanie shrugged. "We know Bounded Fields are rare, as is Dustweaving. It may be one of those things where it's either too time consuming, resource or labor intensive, or simply too difficult for most people to bother with."

I palmed my face. "So you're telling me there's an entire untapped market here, ripe for the taking?"

"Seems that way," Miltia agreed, a slow grin spreading across her face, which her sister and Neo matched as they followed my line of thought. "It's ours now, right?"

"Oh, yes," I nodded, mirroring their grins. "So, we'll test it out and see how hard it is to make the basic stuff, and if it's not that hard we can see about allocating men and resources to producing simple things full time, then turn around and sell them. Also, we need to see if it's possible to patent unique bounded field creations. If so, we'll need to get that filed quickly."

Melanie hummed, drawing my attention. "Actually, Jaune, with the Vytal festival coming up this year, that may be a good time to unveil some of those things. We're already working on the PMC thing. What if we were to buy space at the festival and set up a few stands to sell stuff? Under a different company name, obviously. We could make a couple of batches of things to distribute to our men to test with, spend a few weeks improving designs, then sell the improved models at the festival. After that, if it takes off, we could launch it as a separate business. The problem with going from hand-making a few test models to moving to full production is a lack of manpower—it would be a waste to use people in our PMC for that. We really would need to start an entirely new company."

"Well, why not?" Neo asked. "Actually, why not go to full production for the guild anyway? The four of us could make some test models, get input from the men, modify the design, then hand it off to be mass produced for our men. It's worth the investment in manpower and equipment for the ability to equip our people alone. Having it make money in the civvie and Hunter markets is just a bonus."

"Not a bad idea," I agreed. "It's something to play with later. In the meantime, we've got shit to do today."

---

My eyes roved over the street ahead of me, taking in every detail of the small, morning crowd and looking for anything that didn't belong as a matter of habit. 'I feel naked,' I frowned, stuffing my hands in the pockets of my light, gray jacket as I made my way towards the weapon shop I had visited the previous week. I was only technically in my Shiro disguise—I had the hair and the contacts, but I'd ditched the mask, armor, and weapons save for the longslide holstered under my jacket in favor of a more civilian set of clothes. With my first set ruined by the Nameless and my second set of armor ruined thanks to Penny recreating the damage that had supposedly been done to it for authenticity, and physical evidence should I need it, I didn't exactly have anything to wear for that disguise at the moment anyway. There was also the fact that the local news had begun airing the footage of last night's battle first thing this morning. If I intended to go out as Shiro any time soon, I'd need to do it at night or under Invisibility.

The sound of a circular saw drew my attention to a shop as I passed—a little place that sold armor and clothing accessories. Two women and a young man were in the alley beside the building, working on something between a pair of saw horses—their names and looks marking them as a mother and two teenaged children. The saw passed through a two-by-four, taking the end off, and one of the women affixed it to what looked like a wooden frame, taking a power drill and running a couple of screws in to hold it in place. Curious, I walked over and asked, "What's all this for?"

One of the women, an older one with black hair, looked up and smiled. "Vytal Festival preparations. Our old stand got left outside and dry rotted," she shot a glare at the younger man holding the saw, who took on a chagrined look.

I nodded. "Say, I'm new in town, but I could've sworn the Festival wasn't for months yet. Was I wrong?"

"Well, the City Council decided that local businesses should start assembling and putting out decorations now—mostly because the locals get preferential treatment over booth spaces if they need them. The second semester is when students and visitors from all over the Kingdoms will start gathering and that's when it officially kicks off. The Festival itself will last the full semester, concluding when the tournament ends at the end of the school year."

"Nearly four months?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Aye, that it is. You've never attended one?" she asked, confused.

I chuckled quietly, rubbing at the back of my neck and looking sheepish. "I grew up out in the boonies." She nodded, a knowing look crossing her face, and I waved as I started back onto the road. "Anyway, thanks for the info. Good day, ma'am."

"And a good day to you as well," she returned, turning her attention back to the pair. "Stop slacking and get back to work!"

I allowed my mind to wander to the festival and let my feet carry me to my destination pretty much on auto-pilot, making a mental note to come back here later in the day while I was doing errands and pick up replacement armor. 'So, we've got a semester to prepare before the Festival officially kicks off. Handy to know.'

The bell over the door chimed as I made my way inside and, a moment later, Terra stuck her head out of what must have been her work room in the back. "You got my message, then."

"I did," I agreed, moving to the counter and leaning against it.

"Give me just a minute," she said, and slipped back into the back room. A few minutes later, she returned with a cylindrical tube, a handle jutting out from its center and the straps of a belt wrapped around it. "Try it on, tell me what you think."

I took the offered weapon, surprised by its light weight until I remembered that had weight reduction seals incorporated in its design. Strapping it on at my left side, I turned this way and that, adjusting the belt and the fit the way I liked it, until I could move with it and not feel awkward. My hand resting on the sheath, I found a couple of buttons I wasn't expecting on the sheath's upper handle, along with a pair of trigger switches. "What do these do?" I asked, pointing towards the unexpected features.

"Well, I figured you may want some sort of assisted drawing feature." Terra reached into a drawer under the counter and came out with a hand bound book. "Read the manual before you go to playing with it, though."

Nodding, I asked, "How much do I owe you?"

A few taps at her terminal brought up a number on the see-through screen and I winced, before digging into my side pouch for money. "I know I was expecting it, but god damn seeing that still feels like a kick in the nuts."

The taller woman chuckled. "They do get pricier," she warned.

"I figured," I nodded, handing over the cash and watching as she counted it out, then stuck it in a small safe under the counter. When she popped back up, I subvocalized "Confuse, Charm," followed by, "Dominate." Feeling the spells settle in, I asked, "One more thing. You wouldn't mind deleting your records of me being here, including the blueprints for my weapon, would you? And your security footage, obviously—and make sure to shut it off for the next ten minutes or so. Also, your scroll logs and text messages to and from me, just to be thorough."

"Sure, I can do that," she agreed, already working on destroying the records at her terminal. "What about the discrepancy in my available supplies, and the money? Also, what if I tell someone you've made me delete my files?"

I shook my head. "I appreciate the suggestion, but just erasing the records should be good enough to foil a cursory examination. And we won't need to worry about that last bit in a minute."

"Well, if you're sure," she hemmed, then shrugged. "All done."

"Great. Thank you, Terra. One last thing. Do you take naps on the job?" I asked, and the woman chuckled.

"Yeah, occasionally."

Nodding, I gestured her towards the back room. "Why don't you show me where?" I asked, and followed as she lead me into the back. There was a forge and several pieces of equipment I couldn't name further back in the room, but right behind the door was what looked to be a small break room, with a table, chairs, and a telescreen. "Have a seat."

She sat down and I hit her with Sleep, followed by Forget to erase her memory of anything associated with me, then Confuse again before dispelling Dominate and Charm. With any luck, she would wake up and make up a story to explain what had happened herself. And if not, there wouldn't be much she could find even if she went digging. "Sorry," I murmured, leaving by the back door and slipping into Vale's back alleys for a few blocks before rejoining the crowd, but not before digging the new manual out of Inventory and eating it.

Yesterday, I would have done that and barely blinked at this point. Now? I'd done it, and I'd do it again if needed, but I felt genuine remorse about having to take an innocent civilian's memories just to protect my secrets. Not that I hadn't under Gamer's Mind—the sensation had just been muted and passed more swiftly. Nor could I blame the skill for making me do it—I knew it was a necessary evil and I would have done it either way. 'This 'guilt' thing sucks balls.'

My first stop taken care of, I walked several blocks before finding a side street that was mostly a blind spot in the camera coverage. Strolling nonchalantly out of the crowd, I moved out of view before throwing on Invisibility and switching to my Fox outfit. I moved quickly across town, following a waypoint to a familiar building. Touching down on the roof and checking my map to make sure no one was inside the building, I ID'd the door and cut it open with a wind blade, then slipped inside and down the stairs after closing the ID. Though I'd seen it before, Cinder's bedroom was surprisingly normal for a supposed criminal mastermind—even a bit untidy, really. Shaking my head at the sight of a pair of panties hanging off the back of a chair, I took the opportunity to rifle through her things, looking for clues or anything useful.

Her room turned out to be a bust, I soon realized. Beyond clothes there were no personal possessions, no hints as to where she'd come from, which nation she was working for, or what her next move was. 'She just uses it for sleeping,' I assessed, leaving the room and moving on to the next in my search. Most of the rooms were empty, but I did run across something surprisingly familiar—a room that looked much the same as Neo's sewing room in her old apartment. 'So, she made that little red number herself.'

Picking up what looked to be a copy of the red dress in question, I rubbed the material between my gloved fingers and smirked as I took in the details. It had been sitting beside the sewing machine, unfinished, but the patterns were clearly there and ready to complete the process of adding Dust-infused thread. It went into my Inventory. 'I'll have to see if I can reverse engineer the pattern later. As for the rest of this… waste not, want not.' I ID'd the room, snagging everything in it with Telekinesis before funneling it into my Inventory window. Destroying the ID, I repeated the process in the real world, leaving behind a bare room and leaving me with two copies of everything Cinder had there, including her preferred materials to work with and her Dustweaving equipment.

Emerald's room turned out to be just as barren as Cinder's, with one exception—the thief liked to collect trinkets, and had hidden a good number of them under a loose floorboard. They weren't worth taking, so I left them in place and moved downstairs. Moving into the living room area Cinder had converted into a sort of war room, I spotted the old record player and the records I'd grabbed from the Repository, along with Cinder's own collection.

"Oh, I'm taking you home with me," I muttered, ID-ing her record player and the stack of old records beside it before snatching up the real one as well, then turned my attention to the rest of the room. 'I can have one of these at Fox Hunt and the other in my apartment or something.'

Like the last time I had seen it, there were documents and stacks of papers on the table and a board with pictures of various individuals—though there were some recent additions, as I noticed a photo of myself as Shiro off to the side, along with Neo, Miltia, Melanie, and Junior. 'Is she trying to figure out where I came from?' I wondered, humming as I tried to discern her logic there. 'Could just be known associates.'

Taking out my scroll, I took pictures of the room in its present state from multiple angles, including from the ceiling, before lifting the documents, board, books, and everything that looked important and securing them in my Inventory. A familiar brown tube floating through the air caught my eye, and I brought it forward and opened it, unrolling the blueprints and checking to make sure everything was there before rolling them back up and sending them to Inventory as well. 'What are the odds that she took a picture of them?' I wondered, before shaking my head. I couldn't do anything about it if she had. Taking her copy was the best I could do.

Looking around to make sure I wasn't leaving anything important, and in the process raiding Cinder's collection of expensive alcohol, I checked my map again to make sure there was no one around. Once I was sure, I cast a Fireball in the middle of the room, then went upstairs and repeated the process. Leaving by the roof, I dropped to the ground floor. I spun up a wind blade and etched my fox head calling card into the side of the building beside the back door. After that, I made a quick getaway, knowing from experience that the fire wasn't going to be put out easily—but should burn hot and fast enough to destroy everything inside the building, hopefully without spreading to neighboring buildings.

As I was leaving, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and my detection skills pinged—I was being watched again. A glance at my minimap showed no one in the immediate vicinity and I frowned, dropping down into an alley and turning a blind corner. The feeling followed, seeming to come from my 6 o'clock high, but I knew nothing was there. Annoyed, I made my way across town with the feeling of someone breathing down my neck making my skin crawl, before finding a mall and ducking inside. Opening a small ID inside the men's room, I changed into my 'Jaune' clothes in a stall and dropped the ID and Invisibility, then followed another man outside. The feeling was still there, but it was fainter, somehow. 'Like someone knows I'm in the crowd and is looking for me, but can't seem to pinpoint me,' I assessed, blending with the crowd and making my way outside. 'Question is, if I am being shadowed somehow, did someone figure out I'm both the Fox and Shiro, or are they just following both of us? Or was the fire interesting enough that they took notice and spotted me? Actually, how did they spot the fire this quickly—it hasn't been going a full minute!Also, how the fuck did they spot me under Invisibility, with Aura Suppression running?'

The feeling finally went away after several minutes and I made my way across town again after checking my HUD clock, towards one of the bases belonging to the 'rival' gangs in town. I had already sent orders ahead by text, so all I would really be doing was sorting the men and women there into groups, offering those people who were worth anything the opportunity to join Fox Hunt while conscripting the filth into joining up as front-line disposable fighters for the PMC. I had yet to find any sort of upper limit to the number of people I could Charm or Dominate, but at this rate if there was one, I would find it soon. For today, though, I would only be doing one of those gangs—I could spread out collecting the rest over the next week or so. 'No,' I thought, shaking my head, 'I'll need to be careful for this. I can't disappear them all. Take the best and the worst of them and leave the rest as filler. Disappear a few at a time, use Confuse to make the others think they just quit. If the cops got wind of sudden disappearances, that could be bad. Not to mention, Cinder may have her fingers in the gangs, and she'd definitely take notice if they all just disappeared one day. So, a few today. Pick out the most human of the lot, and the most expendable, and use them to both beef up my numbers with good people and as throw-away front line soldiers.'

I would be changing back into my Fox outfit for this one, but considering I was going to be invisible the entire time and playing 'god' for those in charge who had been hit with a permanent Dominate, it wouldn't really matter. Once I was done there, I would be moving on to our other errands for the morning—like picking up new temporary armor for my Shiro disguise, because I was tired of feeling naked without it. I could replace it with custom gear later. Checking in with the girls before I went inside, I grinned as Neo gave me confirmation that she had already arranged an excursion with some of our men to go and test guild-related stuff in the field.

---

"Two minutes to hot zone," Angel's voice warned over the Bullhead's comms—a headphone and mic setup I had seen back on Earth used in helicopters, and while the Bullhead wasn't nearly as loud as a helicopter it still helped everyone communicate.

"Roger that," I acknowledged, shifting out of my seat and hitting the door controls, sending the Bullhead's sliding doors actioning open in their tracks as I grabbed one of the grab-bars, stuck myself to the floor, and leaned out to have a look around. The force of the wind blew my white hood back, sending my temporarily red hair flying about my head as I turned my gaze on the field below us, the midday sun heating the field below us and an uncomfortable reminder that summer wasn't quite over yet in this part of Remnant. 'Temperature control enchantments soon. Goddamn that's probably going to be the most useful thing on my gear.'

We were outside of Vale, in the area of operations that was designated to be cleared so it could later be walled off and reclaimed as farmland. Right now, that project was in its beginning stages, wherein the Kingdom of Vale had begun paying anyone willing to come into the area and start thinning the Grimm out. This was before any of the first contracts were drawn up, so that groups like mine, or Hunters, could actually come in and set up a base camp to establish themselves before they brought in the engineers who would be building the wall.

Behind me, Melanie asked, "How's it look?"

"That depends," I hummed, pulling up my map and checking local spirit density. 'High, but not horrible.' Closing the map, I pointed out to our east. "Pack of the big ones out there, but it looks like they've spotted us and are moving out of the area." I didn't remember what the elephant-looking Grimm were called, and with my Fox mask on I couldn't exactly equip my glasses. 'Note to self: do something about that. Maybe see about duplicating them, then integrating a set into the mask somehow. Of course, I'd need to make a permanent mask for that, instead of just conjuring one.'

"Goliaths," Miltia supplied, peeking out the side door. "Generally, they avoid humans. Looks like they're moving further east."

"As long as they don't come back into the area behind us, I don't care where they go," Melanie shook her head.

Neo moved to my side, taking hold of the other grab bar, before asking, "Why are we letting them go in the first place? They're land-bound Grimm. We've got a Bullhead and a Razorback, both armed to the teeth. Fuck it, I say we go take them out."

"You're sure they don't have anything that can reach us up here?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Besides," Neo's grin turned avaricious. "Those have to be level what? Sixty? Seventy? Just imagine what they'll drop. Not to mention, there's a bounty specifically for those things, at 100k a head. There are like twenty there."

"Angel," I caught the pilot's attention, "Change course. Radio Foxtrot-two, inform them of our new flight plan."

"Roger that, boss," she agreed, swinging the Bullhead around and switching channels to radio our second pilot—a new recruit Angel had vouched for.

As we neared the Goliaths, I hit them with Observe and winced. "All between level 65 and 70. All gold boss-level," I announced. "Angel, open up on one with the guns and we'll see how that does."

A high pitched whine sounded from somewhere under the craft as the minigun mounted on its nose spun up, then there came the deafening roar of full-auto fire. "Not getting much penetration," Angel announced, and I took a look at our target's HP bar. It had gone down about a hundredth of the way after a good five second burst.

'That would have taken out a tank, on Earth,' I groused, until a thought occurred. 'No, with depleted uranium rounds it would have turned that thing into a puddle. It has to be something else.'

"Angel, what does this thing fire?"

"30MM grade 7 burn, boss," she answered automatically.

Frowning, I asked, "That's not armor penetrating is it?"

"No, sir. Typically, they're used against smaller Grimm for thinning crowds, not for punching through the big ones."

I nodded, shooting a look at Neo, who looked annoyed at the results. Spinning up an AP Round, I sent a volley of them downrange, where they impacted on the Goliath and got penetration, but didn't do much in the way of damage—and by now, the herd had picked up the pace of their escape into a stampede. Doing some quick math in my head, I finally shook my head at her. "It's no good. We could probably wear one down and kill it, but it'd take forever. Fuel and ammo cost would outweigh whatever we got from it, most likely. Penny could possibly punch a hole in it, but she's not here and I wouldn't want to risk damaging something on her. We can come back and find them later, once we've leveled some and gotten some proper armor penetrating rounds for the big guns, okay?"

"Fine," Neo grumbled, disappointed but willing to accept there wasn't much we could do about it.

"Angel, get us back on course, if you would," I ordered as Neo dropped into her seat beside Melanie, a pout on her pretty face. "Do we have a final count?" I asked the twins, who had been studying their maps and counting.

"More than four hundred and fifty lesser Grimm, unknown species, plus twenty four Goliaths leaving the area," Miltia announced.

"Alright, you know the plan," I grinned under my mask.

"It's a bad plan," Miltia frowned, and beside her Melanie shook her head.

"No, what my sister meant to say is it's a stupid plan," she deadpanned.

Neo shot the two an amused look before turning back to me and shrugging. "I don't like it, but I won't say it's not viable."

"I thought it was a brilliant plan," I rolled my eyes. The plan was simple, really. Angel would fly low over the field, drop me and Sanguine off, and then she and our other pilot would pull back to an overwatch position. Below them, I would be flaring my Aura, essentially ringing the dinner bell for anything in the area stupid enough to listen—Grimm other than Goliaths, in other words. Once they got close, I could lay into them with high damage techniques while Angel and our second pilot in the Razorback would provide CAS. With the Bullhead doors open, the girls could provide fire support where needed—either with skills or with the grenade launchers we'd brought along for that purpose. Likewise, the men in the Razorback were similarly armed with grenade launchers and machine guns, and would be targeting pockets of clustered Grimm that I missed, or finishing off the ones we wounded. The girls would be safe a couple hundred feet in the air, and if worse came to worst, I could always dismiss Sanguine and use my line launcher to snag one of the aircraft and haul myself out of harm's way.

"And why can't all of us sit up here and shoot Grimm? Why does anyone need to be on the ground?" Melanie asked.

"Because a proper trap needs real bait," I grinned. "Even the stupid ones aren't stupid enough to fall for it if there's nothing on the ground for them to chase." Though, on that note, Penny was an artificial being with her own Aura. Being able to create Aura, or at least a close approximation, was obviously a part of her development process. I had the majority of those files. How hard would it be to build a simple Aura emitter, put it on something that looked tasty to Grimm, then sit back and bombard the area? 'Yeah, I'm building one of those later.'

"Worst plan ever," Miltia grumbled and I laughed as Angel gave the go-ahead and I dropped out of the Bullhead, landing in the tall, swaying grass below. I watched the aircraft pull back a good distance and, when Angel radioed they were ready, I summoned Sanguine and then focused on my mana, trying to intentionally waste it by releasing a large amount in a continuous surge outwards from my body. White light poured off of my body, at first looking like some sort of glowing field simply surrounding my body, before it began leaking out of my control and took on an appearance that made me laugh quietly. 'I've gone Super Saiyan. Note to self: show Yang at some point so she can laugh. On the other hand, maybe not. Jun didn't know what Kaio-ken was, so DBZ may not be a thing here. I'm going to have to check. And then try to copy Goku's power set, because why the fuck not. Maybe it'll get me flight easier than dumping all my points in INT.'

Interestingly enough, I gained a new skill after only a few minutes of this. The skill was pretty obvious, based on my intent: Lure, which did exactly what it said on the tin and attracted Grimm in the area to me. I was disappointed that the glow effect appeared to be only for show, but I supposed they couldn't all be winners. 'Maybe I'll get something nifty later, when I get Aura to the next tier, at 50 I think.' I shook my head, returning my focus on the task at hand—namely, the swarm of Grimm barreling down on my position.

'Boarbatusks and Great Boarbatusks, Beowolves, Ursai, Stalkers and a couple of Death Stalkers, I think I even see some Creeps down there—at least, I think they're Creeps, except those are supposed to be mostly subterranean,' Neo warned, sending me her view of the area. 'You want us to open fire yet?'

'Wait for it,' I sent, casting my shields and letting Lure drop—they knew I was here now, so there was no point in continuing to ring the dinner bell. A pair of Plasma Blades spun up in my hands and I released them, snagging them with Telekinesis and whipping them into an orbit around me, swiftly joining them with like elemental blades of fire, air, gravity, ice, and force—eight being about my maximum at the moment if I didn't want to burn through my Mana too quickly, I went with seven. Leaving six different-colored Spinning Mana Blades orbiting me, I took one of the Plasma Blades in hand and waited.

'Any time, Jaune,' Melanie sent, her tone clearly worried.

I rolled my eyes. 'Wait for it.'

'Damnit Jaune! Stop screwing around!' Miltia nearly shouted, and I shot an amused look at the Bullhead above.

"Foxtrot-one, Foxtrot-two, commence fire support on the enemy's rear. Drive them to me," I ordered over the radio, and the two airships began circling in, main guns opening up and spurring the already running swarm of Grimm into a stampede.

Multiple blades flew out in sequence in a series of Strike Raids, targeted at specific Grimm or clusters of them—ice, followed by fire, freezing a path through the Grimm between myself and one of the boss-level Greater Boarbatusks, as the frozen Grimm in the first blade's wake exploded on contact with the fire blade that followed. The gravity blade whipped out, sticking into one of the larger Grimm and exploding into a large Lift effect, followed by a Plasma Blade cutting those trapped in the effect down. Wind and force didn't do much together, but swapping the combination around to ice and force as one set and fire and wind as another allowed me to freeze and blow apart Grimm, while the wind blade did an excellent job spreading and feeding the flames from the Fire blade and finishing off anything hit with a Burn effect.

I began throwing out Flash Freeze and Fireball combinations as the swarm got closer, slowing them down and destroying or damaging large swaths of them, followed by spamming AP Round into their ranks with various elemental effects attached. Above me, grenades began streaking out of the two aircraft, targeting clusters of the monsters further away from me and helping to break up their charge. A sound at my back drew my attention to my mostly silent guardian, dragging down a Beowolf that had gotten too close. "Thank you, sweetie," I chuckled at the Spirit, before switching to Conjuration—foot long darts of steel, long holes in their sides exposing a cesium core flying out propelled by force natured Aura and exploding after burying themselves into the soft flesh of their targets upon contact with Grimm blood, messily splattering those they hit in a gory explosion and mowing down or outright killing the Grimm unfortunate enough to be standing next to those hit.

'This is actually a bit of a workout,' I admitted to the girls, glancing at my Mana bar to see I'd depleted the majority of my reserves. 'I'm just kind of annoyed I can't practice most of my 'Jaune' set.'

'You haven't even moved from that spot,' Melanie deadpanned.

I shrugged, but I doubt they saw it from their current position. 'Well, I should probably fix that.'

Dropping into Flash Step, I rematerialized standing on the mask of a Greater Boarbatusk, my Plasma Blade buried in its eye. It opened its mouth to squeal and an AP Round punched through the other eye and out the back of its head before it dropped limply to the ground. 'I do love it when crit-targets are obvious.'

Honestly, I was having a blast finally being able to mostly cut loose. The return of endorphins meant that was even more fun than killing hordes of mobs had been. I'd always been a bit of a gun and explosives enthusiast back on Earth, but being able to fling spells around and wipe out hordes of enemies was so much more satisfying than shooting paper targets. I did not quite have a kill-boner, but it was a close thing. And, if given the chance, I'd almost definitely fall to the allure of post-fight sex. Or 'we're all still alive' sex. Really, any of those fight-related highs leading to sexy situations. It was a good thing we were planning to Sanctify the base later, because now I'd actually gotten the idea stuck in my head.

The mobs here were only in the mid-40s and I was fast enough they couldn't really touch me. The only real danger for me here was getting hit by something I couldn't see that made it through my shields, or running out of Mana. 'How are we looking?' I sent.

A view through Neo's eyes answered, and she added, 'Mostly finished. We're picking off the stragglers now. Finish that group around you and get back up here.'

'Yes, ma'am,' I sent back, adding a heavy layer of snark for good measure.

After that, cleanup was easy, and it honestly took longer to collect the drops than the entire fight had lasted. "So, what'd we get?" Neo asked when I re-boarded the Bullhead and we began making our way back to Vale, Miltia across the aisle with her scroll out, reporting mission completion for the company.

"We have a company bank account?" I asked, and the twins nodded. I shrugged, turning my attention to answering Neo. "I didn't bother counting the potions. Over three million lien—but there was more than one boss mixed in with that group. That's good though, since that money can go straight to buying Fox Hunt new equipment and paying for construction. Some more cloth and other mats—bone, blood, that sort of thing. No skill books, unfortunately, but I didn't really expect any. Also, at some point, we need to publish some sort of SOP manual, letting the grunts know to pick up and turn in drops—explain it as Semblance interactions and leave it at that. Not sure if I want to have them turn over the cash or just divide it evenly amongst themselves so long as they turn in items. Did you all level?"

There were nods all around and I nodded, having leveled three times myself, and I was now sitting pretty at level 35. "What about the others? Angel?" I asked, clicking my mic on and bringing her into the discussion. "Did you level?"

"Seven times, sir," she answered. "Also picked up a couple of skills, according to what popped up on the Bullhead's HUD. Pilot, Use Dust, Armed Aircraft Proficiency as an advanced form of Pilot I think."

I frowned as she went over that list. I had imported Drive early on in my stay in Remnant and it had covered every sort of craft I had tried to use so far. I also didn't have any sort of advanced skills or evolutions for it. The best I could figure was Angel was a trained military pilot and that real-world skill made all the difference. I toggled Angel back out of the conversation. "Okay. We'll sit down with the squad when we get back and go over points distribution. Think we can sell it as some sort of means of tracking progress and advancing through the company?" I asked.

"Makes sense," Melanie nodded slowly. "We could say their scrolls track their kills and treat the whole thing like a game."

"We'll see how it works with this group, first," Miltia agreed.

Neo hummed, shifting and bumping lightly into my side. "Does it awaken Aura?"

I blinked, then shrugged. "No idea. It's a theory worth testing. I don't see how it couldn't, though—at least to some extent. Any ideas on spec builds?"

"High DEX, sub focus on STR or VIT," Miltia supplied, tapping away at her scroll. "That's your basic 'rifleman' build, if I had to guess. You could always add INT or WIS for more Aura, if that's possible for these guys, but my best guess is they're going to want to focus on stats that get their accuracy, speed, and endurance up. Other than that, well, why not leave it up to their discretion and see what comes of it? If someone wants to dump points in STR and DEX, we may get Hunter-level melee fighters out of it. Of course, that's all on top of whatever points they gain while using their weapons, training, lugging around gear, and so forth. Odds are good at least a few are going to gain more than just physical points from daily life." A thought occurred and she asked, "Jaune, don't you gain muscle mass and definition when you add points to strength?"

I shrugged. "I wouldn't know, I've never dumped points there—only gained them through training. Though, considering how I looked when I woke up versus how I look now? Yeah. I see where you're going with that. We'll have to make sure they don't hoard points. If it does happen… well, we'll probably have to give some of the truth and say it's because of Semblance interactions."

Eying her sister, Melanie asked, "Why not have some try to go for an INT/WIS build to see if we can build casters? If Jaune's Semblance awakens Aura, or gives Aura—or Mana—to people who otherwise don't or can't use it, then it'd make sense to take advantage. Think about it: if we could get even a few, we could have healers or magical artillery independent of Dust. We know from the few tests Jaune's run that magic and Dust go well together—Dust tends to amplify its effects—so even if we only taught people one or two spells each, if we equipped them with Dustweave gear or Dustcasters, we could have people throwing fireballs or whatever that can easily burn down large swaths of Grimm. At some point, Jaune, you should try combining both of those to see what happens—see if Dustweave gear and purpose-build Dustcasters stack."

"Yeah, that sounds like something I should get on sooner rather than later," I agreed. I hadn't really had a chance to test a Dustcaster yet, myself. The one Joan had ordered me was due in soon, and I now had a few with my new weapon, but I'd yet to be able to test those. Still, if it worked anything like most other magic systems, then combining one focus with another should stack and amplify the overall effect of the spell used. "Neo?"

"It's up to you, Jaune," Neo shrugged. "I like the idea, but then I'm all about more ability to blow shit up. I can see it potentially causing problems though, if word got out. But if we're careful… well, we might be able to build up our forces to the point where it wouldn't be worth trying to provoke us about it."

Humming quietly, I nodded. "Okay, you have access to everyone's stats in your scrolls from your guild menu, right?" I asked, and received nods in answer. "Start small. Pick one or two of our smartest—highest INT for skill creation—for special training and we'll see what we can do. If we can get a couple of people trained up decently, we'll expand the project. Try and screen for elemental affinities: fire, ice, that sort of thing. Things it'd be real easy to disguise as Dust effects. Also, Loyalty to the guild should be visible, so make sure they're not going to turn on us the first time someone waves around money."

"You can see loyalty as a stat?" Miltia asked with a raised eyebrow, and I nodded. "What's mine?"

"All three of you are at one hundred percent," I answered, feeling somewhat worried about the implications of that question, before asking, "Does that bother you?"

The girls exchanged looks before Melanie shrugged. "A little, but I can admit it's too useful not to have and use. We know you aren't taking advantage of us with it, but the thought that something could somehow discern that is kind of disturbing."

Before I could continue the conversation, my interface pinged and a text box popped up, my eyes tracking to it and finding a message from Blake. I ignored it for a moment, locking eyes with each of the girls in turn for a moment before saying, "I trust you, and I wouldn't game you like that. You all mean more to me than that. But actions count more than words, so I'm hoping I can convince you of that through my actions."

"You already have," Neo murmured, before she shrugged, a pleased look crossing her face momentarily before shifting into a leer. "But hey, I'm all for more convincing. So, who's the message from?"

I allowed the deflection, turning my attention back to the message on my HUD. Reading its contents, I grinned. "Blakey passed her test," I told the girls, shooting off a quick congratulatory text. "Seems Yang offered to take her out to celebrate tonight, and somehow managed to actually convince her to put down her smut and go have fun."

"Aww, damnit. I was hoping for congratulatory sex," Neo pouted, and I rolled my eyes.

"You're not going to be able to rush that one, dear," I warned, and the ice cream themed girl stuck out her tongue.

"I don't know. I think she's pretty close to cracking," Melanie smirked across from me, and I shook my head.

"She's too skittish and she has way more self-control than you give her credit for. Besides, we've barely spoken," I pointed out.

Miltia shot me an amused look. "Then this should provide a good opportunity. Go forth and seduce the cat-girl into our bed."

"Twins," I warned, shooting the pair an unamused look—most of which was lost under the mask. "I distinctly recall neither of you like being reduced to that. Pretty sure reducing Blake to a fetish would be one of the fastest ways imaginable to turn her off." They began to protest and I held up a hand to stop them. "I know that's not what you were doing. What you have to understand is that Blake's got thin skin when it comes to certain subjects. She'll get butthurt over innocuous comments because she automatically assumes the worst."

"She's going to have to grow the fuck out of that. Sexy as hell or not, no whiners," Melanie crossed her arms and huffed, an annoyed look crossing her face.

Miltia sighed, mirroring her sister's position if not her expression. "While not as tactful as I would have put it, Melanie's right. We don't need that sort of drama in our group."

"Jaune, if that's what we're getting here, I'll veto her right now. We're not willing to risk screwing things up over someone who sees everything as an attack or sees insults where there are none," Neo warned, and I shook my head.

"It's not that bad. I'm not saying walk on eggshells, I'm saying give her time. She'll grow out of it." I hoped, at any rate. "What she needs most right now is acceptance and inclusion—to feel like she's wanted as an integral part of something and accepted for who, and what, she is. That does not mean, in any way, shape, form, or fashion, indulging in her selective blindness regarding her people. Don't antagonize, but don't hesitate to call her out on her bullshit if you see her doing it. I don't want that shit coming back to bite us in the ass later."

"Is that you talking out of your ass, or something else?" Melanie asked, raising one fine eyebrow.

I sighed quietly, palming my masked face. "It's what I've read off her so far, between my Semblance and experience. If it were also 'something else,' I couldn't confirm that."

"If you know it could become a problem later, why bother?" Neo asked, meeting my eyes with a knowing look.

"That thing I can't tell you? Stop picking at it," I countered, and she turned away, leaning back as much as she could in the Bullhead's jump seats and taking on an entirely too smug look. Shifting my gaze across the twins, I said, "If you want to veto, now's your chance. I'll handle taking care of whatever needs to be taken care of."

Miltia and Melanie shared a long, silent look before turning to me and syncing, "Abstain."

"Neo?" I asked, turning my focus to the girl beside me.

The girl in question sighed, shooting me an apologetic look. "There's no point in calling it now, Jaune. We've known her less than a week. There's little harm in giving her a chance." Turning to the twins, they apparently shared a quick conversation I wasn't privy to across our links, before she turned back and continued with, "We weren't trying to upset you—"

I rolled my eyes. "You didn't," I interrupted. "I'd tell you if you had."

Neo nodded. "We just want you to know that we are willing to defend whatever this is we have together. We can't have someone causing needless drama—and I know you agree. This is already complicated enough without infighting."

"Yes," I nodded agreement. "Okay, I get it. Like I said, we're taking a wait-and-see approach with this one." Neo's wording did not go unnoticed, however, and I made a mental note to sit the girls down soon and talk the relationship thing through to figure out where we all stood and where to go from there.

The girls nodded in silent agreement and I settled back into my seat, wondering if the faunus girl was really worth the effort. She was an integral part of Team RWBY, but that didn't necessarily mean she had to be more than that—especially if it turned out that the idealistic tendencies I'd seen of her in what passed for canon were true here. I couldn't have her betraying us to go off and rejoin the Fang, or running off on her own to investigate them. Almost as bad, I couldn't have her ignoring the faults of her people while lambasting those of ours—it was divisive and would serve no purpose, except to drive our group apart along ideological lines, at best. I didn't tolerate SJWs on Earth and sure as fuck wouldn't on Remnant. Willful ignorance, moving the goalposts, making special exceptions for one group in particular, cherry picking examples or arguments—all of those things had been done on Earth in the name of 'equality,' as though oppressing one group was somehow okay as long as that group was the supposed 'oppressor' themselves. I was willing to give her a chance because I hadn't seen her do it yet, and because she didn't seem particularly intellectually dishonest from the one conversation we'd had on the topic.

I spent the rest of the ride back to the new base thinking it over before being jolted from my thoughts as we touched down. Neo put a veil over Miltia and hit Melanie with an illusion to change her hair to a fetching shade of bright red and shift her green dress to white with silver trim, while Neo's own hair shifted to strawberry pink and her dress to white with gold trim a moment after. I conjured a couple of masks like my own and passed them to Melanie and Neo and we made our way inside, where we were greeted with salutes by a small group of soldiers on duty, along with Jim. "Welcome back, sir," he greeted.

"Melanie, would you please see about showing them the points system?" I asked, and the girl turned on her heel and hurried back out to the landing pad where the group was still disembarking. "Jim, do we have some kind of secure storage set up yet?"

"We have an armory and Dust storage," he answered.

"How big is our Dust storage room?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"Four hundred square foot room, or there about."

Opening my Inventory and taking in just how much Dust I had, I shook my head. There was a lot, all in different colors and grades—enough that I wouldn't be going over it all at a glance. What I could discern quickly though was that, even after the cut I'd have to pass to Cinder, there was way more than a room that small would hold. "That's not going to cut it."

"What did you have in mind, sir?" Jim asked, bringing out his scroll.

"We're going to need something a bit bigger than that. A lot bigger, really. Secured room, preferably underground, at least two thousand square feet and ten to fifteen feet worth of vertical space—though if we can make it larger, you won't hear me complaining. Guarded at all times. We'll need storage racks for crystals and canisters. Also, we need a separate room, near the armory probably, for storage of these." I fished out a red potion from my side pouch connected to Inventory and passed it over for him to inspect. "I'm thinking we can put together field packs and include a couple of those for everyone per mission, then everyone would return the unused ones and they could go back into storage. They're kind of valuable, so I don't want anyone getting the bright idea to try to sell them."

Neo leaned up and cupped a hand to my ear. "What about cash?"

"Good point," I agreed. "Think you can get ahold of a couple of old bank safes?"

"Excuse me? Bank safes?" he asked, eyebrows twitching upwards in confusion.

"For money," I explained. "Maybe just a vault, instead. Whatever works. Something we can store cash for expenses. Maybe give our members the option to keep their own earnings here." I turned to Neo and sent, 'Do banks generally charge interest for keeping an account open, or do they pay interest? Or neither.'

'You pay to keep an account open,' she answered, and I frowned at that.

"I think that may be a hit with the men, sir," Jim smiled. "I wouldn't mind closing my account and using cash for everything myself, if it meant not paying bank fees to keep the damn account open."

"Let's do that, then. Maybe security boxes or something," I shrugged.

With a nod, Jim asked, "Anything else?" I traded a look with Neo, who shook her head.

"I think that covers it, Jim," I nodded.

Beside me, Neo sighed softly. "Sorry this didn't come up in the staff meeting earlier. We're kind of bringing things up as they're needed at times."

Jim simply shrugged. "We'll get it done, sir, ma'am. I'm sure our other department heads would appreciate if things like this were brought up at meetings, but everyone knows we're still getting set up here. Most of us are former military, so we understand that new orders come in as the situation changes. If something else comes up, don't hesitate to let one of us know."

"How's Candice settling in?" I asked, and he winced. "Not well?"

The older man frowned, shaking his head. "She went back to work."

Frowning, I asked, "Really? Did you explain why that was a bad idea?"

"I did," he agreed. "She disagreed. I've got a couple men watching her."

"I'll try to talk to her later," I grumbled. "Maybe talk some sense into her."

Jim snorted. "Good luck, sir."

A finger poked me in the back and I turned to see Melanie coming back. "Right, well, let me know if anything comes up. We'll be on base for a while, working on some things."

"Sir," he saluted, turning and heading off, presumably to find someone to talk to about new construction.

"Okay, let's go see about making some new gear, and then getting the bounded fields up, since I know that's what you three are waiting for," I grinned at the girls, and the four of us made our way out of the admin office to the barracks.

"You got everything?" Neo asked, and I nodded.

"Everything you wanted and then some," I bragged. The girls exchanged wide grins.

We made our way into what had been marked off as our quarters in the barracks. Stepping out of the elevator, we found the first room from the elevator converted into a guard post and a steel door separating the elevator and guard post from the rest of the rooms. The soldier on duty stood to attention and saluted. "Sirs."

"At ease," I ordered, and she dropped the salute, before opening the door to the guard post and taking a clipboard off a desk, along with a set of badges on lanyards.

Handing the clipboard over, she dropped into an at-ease stance. "Sir, guards have been stationed here and on the floor above. Access to the VIP quarters is granted by electronic lock, keyed to your badges and combinations you will be asked to set upon first use. On the suggestion of our Intelligence Chief, the locks are not tied to scrolls and the computers controlling them are on an isolated network."

I turned a look to Melanie and the currently invisible Miltia, who simply grinned. I rolled my eyes and passed Neo and Melanie their badges. "Anything else we should be aware of?"

The woman gestured towards the clipboard. "It's all on there, sir."

"Thank you, Private." Having a look at the clipboard, I passed it off to Neo so I could go ahead and register my badge and password. The door locks had a full QWERTY keyboard, as opposed to a number pad, and the keyboard itself was an actual pushbutton model, as opposed to the holographic interfaces seen just about everywhere. Once we were done with that, we passed through what I realized was a sally port, locking it behind us and making our way to the new crafting room.

"Looks like they finished moving everything in," Miltia assessed as she regained visibility.

Sighing softly, I swapped into my Jaune gear and dropped into a chair. "I kind of wish they'd have warned me before adding the sally port and guard station. I'll have to adjust the bounded field scheme to exclude it from the Aura Isolation seal, when we set that up." I flipped through the clipboard's contents. "Looks like we're the only ones with full authorization up here. The guards, Jim, and Angel can get in in an emergency at the moment. We'll probably want to add Ruby, Blake, and Yang to the guest list if we're going to be having them over.

"We can decide on that later. When are we doing the Sanctification?" Melanie asked from nearby, inspecting a project they had apparently been working on earlier—what looked like new dresses for the twins, along with a couple of uniform dresses.

"Do we want to do it right now, or later?" I asked, opening my skill menu and going over the patterns I would need.

"Later. We can take our time with it, then get cleaned up and go out," Neo suggested, and I nodded. "Crafting first, or we'll get distracted having fun and it won't get done. Or worse, it might feel rushed."

"Agreed," I nodded, knowing exactly how distracting the girls could be. Opening my Inventory, I reached in and dug out a bolt of cloth, dropping it onto an available table. "We should start with this," I told them, drawing their attention to the desk. The cloth itself was thinner than either the Ursa or Beowolf fur bolts and appeared to be covered in black feathers. Also unlike the Ursa and Beowolf cloth, this particular cloth couldn't be Observed—when I tried to use the skill, it returned no results. No stats, no special abilities, not even a description. Then again, being able to no-sell Observe like that was pretty much an ability in and of itself. It's part of what excited me about trying this thing out—both the unknown factor and the implied potential there.

"What is it?" Miltia asked, and I grinned.

"This dropped from that thing up in Atlas. The Nameless," I answered. "Along with a very large talon and something I'm not entirely sure about." On their curious looks, I rolled my eyes and dug out the third item—a small face mask, white with red lines, and four red eye holes. When worn, the mask would cover the eyes before tapering down to a point at the chin. Hitting it with Observe, I read off the description. "The Raven's Mask. Epic level. Allows the wearer to see through illusions and disguises, grants protection from negative mind-altering effects, grants the user a Fear effect mental attack, can see Aura, and—get this—discern the truth. Sounds like a built in bullshit detector."

"Sounds pretty nice. What's the catch?" Melanie asked.

"Bind on equip. Not soulbind, oddly enough. Becomes bloodline bound on equip. I've never seen that before, though, so the best guess I can give as to what it does is that it would only allow family members—members of the bloodline of whoever it's bound to—to use it. Siblings, parents, children, maybe even further relatives." Though, that was all speculative until someone actually put it on.

Something about that particular power set niggled at the back of my mind, and it wasn't long before a memory shook loose and I resisted the urge to sigh. 'Give it a few tomoe in each eye and it's like having a Sharingan in your pocket. Hell, with the raven theme, it'd fit Itachi to a 'T.' I know that the Nameless used at least four of those abilities against me while I was trying to run. Saw through my Invisibility, no-sold my mental spells, tracked me in that swarm of Grimm using my Aura, and had a persistent Fear effect that Gamer's Mind protected me from.'

"The thing is, while being able to see through illusions like Neo's would be great, the rest of those effects are pretty redundant for me. Gamer's Mind already protects me from mind-altering effects and my Semblance points out people on my map, so I may as well see Aura—and if I needed to, I'm sure I could create a spell that would do it. I might be able to make one to penetrate veils and the like as well. And mental spells are kind of my thing, so I don't exactly need an item that gives me a Fear effect when I have Intent."

Sitting down on the table beside me, Neo regarded the mask in my hands thoughtfully before turning to give the twins a look. "That seems like something the head of our Intelligence Division should have." Shifting mint green eyes on me, she smirked. "Imagine what this could do for internal security. I mean, sure, you've got your Semblance, but even with Guild functions we don't get a tenth of the options you do for spotting infiltrators and the like. Whoever wears this could screen people and detect lies just as well as you could."

"Did you already duplicate it?" Miltia asked, and I nodded.

"That, but not the cloth or the talon. I was unsure if we'd want to dupe the mats or the finished products," I admitted. "What could we even use the talon for?"

Melanie raised an eyebrow, asking, "How big a talon?"

"Four feet long, a foot wide at its widest, tapering down to a point and razor sharp on the inside," I shrugged.

"Well, going with Neo's suggestion, suppose Miltia and I use one mask, shared between us. That will give us one more to keep for someone else to use, if it's needed. We've both got a copy of Miltia's new claws, so why not cut the talon down into a set and make it part of a new boot weapon and then duplicate it so we both have one? Use part of the bolt of cloth to make a cloak and we've got a disguise," Melanie suggested.

"It's pretty thematic," Miltia nodded in agreement with her sister. "We've been trading off weapons for years so we each know how to use the other's gear—so the person we would be pretending to be would be about equally skilled with both."

"That leaves me kind of jealous that I don't get a cool mask," Neo pouted. "Sure, I could use the spare Raven's Mask, but if that's iconic for you two, I'd rather have something of my own. Jaune's already got a fox, or I'd go with that—foxes being all about illusions and tricks in legend, at least in Menagerie, before it was wiped out and… made into Menagerie."

I rolled my eyes. "Shit like that is part of why I kind of need to go to Beacon. I don't know the culture, or the history, beyond the very basics. I actually need to study. And if you want a mask badly enough, I'm sure we can find or make you one. Speaking of making one, I need to. My Semblance treats the one I conjured to replace the illusory mask as permanent or re-conjures it every time I equip the Fox set, but I don't want to have it destroyed in combat. Later, though. For now, do we want to make a cloak and dupe that, or dupe the bolts and make a cloak and something else? Then again, I'm not one hundred percent sure I'll be able to dupe whatever we make, whereas I'm pretty sure we should be able to duplicate the cloth by itself. And with that in mind, we should consider asking the same question about the talon as well."

Examining the bolt of cloth, Neo hummed. "There's enough here for at least two pieces of equipment. I say dupe the cloth, then make a couple of cloaks from one and hold onto the rest for later. I'd rather not risk not being able to dupe a cloak once we're done if it's something that can't be duplicated for whatever reason. Same with the talon."

"Agreed," the twins synced.

Nodding, I made a small ID and duped the cloth and talon, tossing the new items back into Inventory before destroying the ID. "And done. Since it's for you, what did you have in mind for a design?" I asked the twins.

The pair exchanged a look and shrugged. "We'll do that part. You worry about picking out a decent set of enchantments."

"Okay, then," I agreed, handing them the bolt and taking out pen and paper as the three girls began talking over what sort of design to use. Digging through my menus, I found my list of available patterns and hummed in thought as I looked them over. 'Durability is a must. I know it's Grimm hide and pretty durable on its own, but I might want to give it a bit more in the way of protection to keep it from getting destroyed.' Marking that down as a possibility, I began looking through the rest for interesting things. Nearby, the girls had spread out the cloth and were already sectioning the material in half.

A few quick adjustments allowed me to display only patterns I had the Dust to use, narrowing things down a bit, but not by much—I was honestly surprised at exactly how wide a variety of Dust I seemed to have on hand. Drawing out Sanguine's notes, I flipped to the section on Dustweaving—specifically, I was trying to figure out how these things were supposed to be powered. As it turned out, there were a few ways.

Option one: if you used enough Dust in a pattern, the pattern would power itself—which was, I suspected, how Cinder's dress worked, seeing as the lines on that were pretty thick. The downside was, once the Dust lost its power, the user would have to go back and either replace the Dust thread used, or replace the entire garment if that wasn't feasible.

Option two: the most cost-effective method was to use thinner threads and lines for the enchantment pattern and connect them all to a central point, where one would attach a shaped metal button-like slot to fit a cut Dust crystal. There were machines that, like Dust rounds, melted down Dust crystals and poured them into molds. Once it cooled, the resultant 'cut' Dust would fit one of these universally sized slots. There were a few different sizes to choose from, between shirt-button sized slots and crystals up to an inch wide. Smaller crystals would not last as long as larger crystals, but would produce the same grade of continuous effect. Crystallized Dust was like using a liquid fuel source—a gallon of gasoline had the same effect in a car's tank as an ounce, it just lasted longer. Also like the gallon vs ounce comparison, if you detonated one of the smaller crystals, it would have a lesser effect than detonating the larger crystal.

Option three: depending on the type of enchantment or bounded field, it was sometimes better to actually seal the Dust powering the desired pattern into a storage seal of sorts, similar to the space expansion seals we would be using to store armor plates. It wasn't very cost effective, but it was far safer than having Dust crystals out in the open where they could potentially be set off.

The notes also gave me a soft limit to the number of patterns I could have on a garment. Due to space requirements for most enchantments, it was hard to add more than a few to a single piece of cloth. A glove might be able to hold one, perhaps two enchantments, while something like a shirt could hold more because there was more space to work with. That was where the notes suggested layering and careful placement of patterns. For instance, on my new jacket, I would have things like durability, damage conversion, and weather resistance patterns on the outer layer of cloth, while the liner could hold temperature control and more. With the cloak, however, it looked like the girls weren't going to be using a secondary inner layer or lining, so my choices there would be limited.

'Well,' I thought, shooting a glance at where the girls were taking scissors to the cloth, 'it's supposed to be a stealth piece, similar to my Shiro set of spells. I think I can manage something similar here. I could throw on this Noise Suppression enchantment and it'll silence their movements. And the Aura Containment ward doesn't actually have to go on a room. On a piece of gear, it should have the same effect as my Aura Suppression—that is, reducing Aura output to zero.'

That decided, I picked out the Dust needed: Silent Silver, White, and Colorless. I decided to hold off on durability for the moment, until after we'd gotten the thing put together and the first two enchantments on it. Picking out the appropriate machines, I set them to spitting out cut crystals for Silent Silver and White, and had thread spun from colorless. While that was going on, I began the task of transposing the patterns I'd eaten from my Semblance onto paper. "When the Colorless finishes, go ahead and use it to sew up the edges, and sew on three or four sockets for cut crystals. It's up to you on what size you want," I instructed. The second option for powering the enchantments was going to be my best bet with these things, until or unless I came up with something better.

"How many colors are we going to be using?" Miltia asked as she moved to take the completed spool of thread.

"At least two, possibly as many as four. It's going to depend on whether or not you want a durability enchantment on it," I answered distractedly.

Melanie hummed, digging out the required sockets, and sending me a questioning look. "Are these enchantments always on or should we be able to turn them on and off? Because there's two types of socket here."

After a moment of thought, I said, "They should probably be toggleable."

"So, if we're using the cut crystals for this, and twist-to-toggle sockets, why not double up on them?" Neo asked, and I looked up to send her a questioning look. "These things are basically batteries, right?"

I resisted the urge to facepalm at the obviousness of what she was suggesting. "Yeah, I don't see why you couldn't use them in sequence. Or, if I know where you're going, as backups. Have one on, and when it runs out, you've already got a spare to turn on until you replace the spent one. Okay, let's do that. We're using the highest grades of this stuff that I've got available, but there's no reason not to take precautions."

I went back to my drawing as the girls worked. After a few minutes, I felt a pair of breasts pressing against the back of my neck as Neo draped herself over my shoulders and watched me work. Soft lips found my ear and I shuddered briefly, drawing a chuckle from the girl at my back. "This is nice," she murmured, and I nodded. She immediately went back to teasing my ear, before her lips trailed down to my neck.

My restraint snapped—not that I was fighting all that hard in the first place. I growled and reached back, threading my fingers through the hair at the back of her head, and pulled her down hard—my lips crushing against hers as I kissed her soundly, nearly dragging her into my lap in the process. Several long minutes later, I pulled back and looked her in the eyes—vanilla and strawberry, and having gone very wide. Her breath came in short pants and her skin was flushed, her lips slightly swollen and red. Taking a slow breath, I gathered the tattered remains of my self-control and clamped down on the urge to simply take her there.

"Down, girl. Save it for later. We're going to be breaking the living room in shortly, remember?" I reminded, and she nodded, moving to nuzzle her nose into the place where my neck and shoulder joined.

It took a few minutes, but I finished transposing the patterns and handed them to Neo. "Here you go. You've got the higher sewing skill, and putting these on run off of that as opposed to Enchanting. And since you're using colorless Dust, try not to get the patterns crossed, or it'll be bad." I would have to level my sewing skill soon, so I could do my own enchanting without fucking it up—I wouldn't be able to rely on Neo or the twins for fast modifications in Beacon, after all.

The ice cream themed girl rolled her eyes, an amused lilt to her voice as she asked, "Anything else?"

"Not really. This array should let us expand on it in the future and give room for at least one more enchantment, maybe more," I shrugged, standing and making my way over to watch her work. Melanie vacated her seat at one sewing machine while Miltia held out her hand for one of the sheets.

"It'll go faster if we each do one, then switch," she suggested, and Neo passed her the second pattern.

While they worked, I opened my Inventory and took out the oversized talon, placing it on top of an unoccupied table. "What do you think?"

Melanie hummed, looking it over. Running a finger down the smooth back side of it, she hummed. "We're not weaponsmiths, so I've got no idea how to work this. We had our weapons built for us. Didn't Ruby and Yang build their own at Signal? Not sure about Blake, but hers seems pretty customized as well."

"They did, but I don't think Ruby's ever worked with something like this before. I do know of a good weaponsmith, but I kind of mind-wiped her, though," I admitted. "I had her construct my new weapon for my Shiro disguise."

"It wouldn't hurt to check," Melanie shrugged, and I sent the usually white-clad a text with the relevant information.

"I need to buy my uniforms, soon, so I can alter them," I mused aloud, watching Neo and Miltia work.

Turning green eyes on me, Melanie asked, "You wouldn't rather make them from scratch?"

"No," I shook my head. "It'd be too much trouble. And before you ask, no I wouldn't just ask you all to help when there are more important things you could be working on. I can buy a few made from combat grade material in a uniform shop and add enchantments to them here, and it'll be good enough."

"What the fuck?!" Neo hissed, jerking back from her chair. Beside her, Miltia likewise nearly fell off her own chair in her haste to scramble back.

Readying a spell on my lips, motion caught my eye from both tables. The cloth, which had previously been inert, had begun writhing—looking for all the world like animals trapped under their respective sewing machines. Grabbing one, I yanked it out and threw it on top of the nearest table, where it stilled. Behind me, Melanie had done likewise with the second cloth, and it likewise went limp. Frowning, I hit the first one with Observe. "I think you're done," I told them, chuckling quietly at what I found there. "So, it's a cloak. It doesn't have a name. It does have a description that reads, 'Nameless Here For Evermore.'"

"What do they do?" Neo asked, pushing herself up off the floor as Melanie helped her sister.

"Well, a few things," I picked it up, rubbing it between my fingers. The outside was all feathers facing downward, giving it the same coloration as a common raven—black, with a faint dark blue undertone, giving it a vaguely inky look. The inside was soft and supple like leather, and the whole thing was faintly warm to the touch and hugged the flesh of my fingers—in a literal sense, as the thing seemed to be trying to grab my hand. The only reason I didn't try to shake it off was because, while it was a bit weird, it didn't seem to be trying to do anything malicious. The enchantment patterns were visible on the underside of the cloak, dark since their power sources had yet to be installed. The buttons that would hold those Dust crystals were actually on the inside of the collar, to prevent the glow from them from being seen, while on the opposite side of the material was a small metal button, dark in color, that could be twisted—I assumed to bring the Dust on the other side into contact with the rest and close the circuit.

I handed the cloak to Melanie. "Put it on. I think it'll be better to show you."

"It's safe, right?" she asked, regarding it doubtfully.

Shooting her an unamused look, I asked, "Do you really think I'd hand you something that wasn't?"

Sighing, Melanie shook her head. "Fair point," she muttered. Taking it in hand, she made a face as it grabbed her back. "If this thing eats me, I'm haunting you."

"Just put the damn cloak on, you big baby," Miltia hissed to her side, and Melanie stuck her tongue out at her sister.

"Fine, then," Melanie grumbled, before twirling it around and allowing it to settle around her, the hood settling over her head and the rest falling about her body, hiding her from view. The whole thing twitched, before shifting to conform to her body, and her face disappeared into suddenly unnaturally dark shadows within the hood. Above her head, I watched as her nameplate changed. Her name disappeared, replaced by a line that looked like someone had taken a pen and stricken through that field. Her title likewise changed, shifting to display, 'Nameless Here For Evermore.' Her level, however, remained the same.

Then things got weird, as the cloak tensed then contracted, pulling flush against her skin. Melanie went limp and fell, her knees giving out. Reacting quickly, I caught her with Telekinesis as worry flooded my mind. Movement from the corner of my eye drew my attention to Miltia, who had doubled over and fallen to her knees, Neo having kept her from smashing her face against the ground.

"Jaune, what's happening?!" the shorter girl cried, and I shook my head.

"I don't know," I got out, hitting both with Observe as I flipped the mental toggle switch for Gamer's Mind back on so I could think and act without panic and worry gnawing at my mind. 'Worry later, fix this now.'

Observe failed entirely on Melanie, while on Miltia it latched on for a moment before failing there as well. Their HP and Aura bars in my HUD's party menu ticked downwards slowly, as did my Spirit meter. Melanie convulsed in my arms as the cloak seemed to burrow into her flesh, slowly disappearing into her body. A glance to my right saw an inky blue-black substance slowly exuding from Miltia's visible skin, and I realized what was going on. "I think I get it. I think they're okay. In a lot of pain, but okay. Give it a minute," I murmured, casting diagnostic spells and throwing out a heal DOT just to make sure. The continuous heal was more than enough to match the slow drain on their HP. 'Okay, now to stop their Aura from bottoming out.'

I'd never tried any sort of Aura transfer, but now seemed like a pretty good time. Wrapping a hand around Melanie's wrist, I focused on pouring Aura into her and was rewarded with a Skill Creation notification. I dismissed the window, only reading it long enough to note the skill name as Aura Transfusion, and watched the readout on my HUD. Melanie's Aura ticked back up to full and I reached out and put a hand on Miltia before recasting the technique.

"So, they're not dying?" Neo asked, and I shook my head.

"No," I answered distractedly, still watching their gauges on my HUD.

After what must have been ten minutes, but felt more like a small lifetime even with Gamer's Mind on, the twins relaxed and stopped losing HP and Aura. A glance showed Miltia now completely covered by a copy of the cloak Melanie had equipped. The twin in my arms stirred and drew my attention, and I saw that her nameplate and Observe readout were back to normal. An Observe at Miltia proved ineffective, as her nameplate now appeared as Melanie's had before. "Ooh, that sucked," Melanie whimpered. "You lied, Jaune."

"Not intentionally," I denied. "How the hell was I supposed to know it'd do that? I'm sorry you were hurt, though. How do you feel?"

"Achy all over," Melanie sighed, and I helped her to her feet. "It's getting better quickly though. Miltia?"

"Oww," Miltia whimpered, and I raised an eyebrow at her voice. "That was weird." She paused, then tried again.

"What the hell?" Melanie asked.

Miltia stretched a hand to her throat. "That's not my voice."

I hummed, shooting a look between the two. "That's kind of nifty."

Shooting a look between the twins, Neo asked, "Okay, Jaune, what the hell happened? Are they okay?"

"We're fine," the twins synced.

"I have a theory," I admitted. "The description said they were 'bloodline bound.' I'd assumed that meant only blood relatives could use it. I think it's a bit more literal than that. Miltia pretty much bled—or sweat—out a copy of the cloak after Melanie put it on, while it burrowed into Melanie. There are no obvious wounds, no signs of damage. I think it may have changed you both—become a part of you, on a genetic level. As in, having a cloak of living material with supernatural powers is part of your DNA."

"Is that a guess…" Miltia began.

Melanie finished with, "Or something else?"

I shrugged. "Something else. The concept is not new, but it was mostly popularized in recent memory on Earth by one particular manga. My Semblance has a bad habit of pulling concepts from odd places at times. Or it could be something specific to the Nameless, or some combination of the two. The 'why' isn't testable without another Nameless-style Grimm encounter, and I don't want one of those any time soon. The 'how,' on the other hand, is testable—but we can look into that later. Long explanation short, those sort of inheritable traits are called a 'bloodline limit,' in the source material. The mask is also bloodline bound, so whoever puts that on is liable to go through much the same as with the cloak."

Melanie and Miltia exchanged a look, half of which was hidden under the cloak, before Melanie asked, "So this could be passed down to our children?"

I nodded. "Or up, to your mother. Might want to text her and ask if anything weird happened. If not, then it probably only applies to people in party. Second thoughts about the mask?" I asked, and the girls shrugged.

"Okay, so, the cloak disguises whoever wears it?" Neo asked, and I nodded.

"That, and more. We only know it's Miltia because we watched it come out of her, we know she has it, and she's in party. It's more than a disguise—it's actually a mental effect. I can tell, because Gamer's Mind engaged the moment she put it on. The description is accurate: whoever wears the cloak is nameless—literally unidentifiable." Reaching over, I attempted to flip the hood back, only to find it refused to budge.

"There's something else," Miltia hummed, and a moment later the whole thing shifted into a different style—going from a long cloak that stretched down to her ankles and covered her front, to a small hood and cape, which stretched down to just beneath her shoulders. A moment after that, it shifted again into a jacket, and then a dress, before she pulled the hood back and the whole thing shifted down to drape over her shoulders and upper chest like a shawl. "Okay, that's awesome."

"So, hood up, Nameless effect on. Hood down, Nameless effect off. Even her voice is back to normal," Melanie pointed out. "And I know it's the same garment, but it's like my brain doesn't entirely want to make the connection. It… itches."

"Yeah," Neo agreed. "It's weird. If the effect is complete, that probably means that it'll attempt to protect your identity even when it's not fully active. Like a little suggestion constantly telling people, 'this can't possibly be the same person.'"

Melanie frowned, crossing her arms as a look of concentration came over her face. "I can kind of feel it, in the back of my head. It's like a switch, waiting for me to press it. I think we can both use the cloak at the same time."

"Which would confirm my theory of it being a bloodline limit style trait," I murmured. "Flip it."

Blue-black ink flowed out of Melanie's skin for a moment before solidifying into a cloak matching the one her sister was wearing. "Looks like you were right," she confirmed. "And no pain this time, yay! Cause having it hurt every time we used it would suck."

"Well, good news is, I can ditch the durability enchantment," I grinned, drawing questioning looks from the girls. "It's living cloth. It self-repairs. Unless you destroy part of it, like by fire, then even if part of it is cut off it'll seek to rejoin the rest. Watch." Taking out one of my sabers, I cut a strip off the end of it, holding it up for the others to see. The section of cloth writhed in my hand, jerking towards the rest of the cloak as I held on to it. Letting go, it jumped off my hand and flew through the air before reconnecting with the rest of the cloak. When it settled, I couldn't even tell it had ever been cut. "I'm pretty sure that even if it did get destroyed, you could just sweat out another."

"So, what's this mean for adding that last enchantment?" Neo asked, and I shrugged.

"It'll probably let Melanie or Miltia do it," I pointed out. "It's bloodline bound—so odds are good, it's not going to fight either of them trying to modify it by adding new patterns or treat it like damage and try to 'heal' it." I took the mask they were going to use off the table, while throwing the second cloak into Inventory. Passing Melanie the mask, I grinned. "Try it on."

The girl sighed and took the mask, flipping it over and examining both sides. The back side was smooth, with no string of any kind to hold it in place. "Wait!" I called, turning to Miltia. "Both of you, will your cloaks off or something, then Miltia needs to drop party."

"Okay," the girls nodded, and the cloaks both shifted into shawls. A moment later, Miltia dropped from party. "So, testing to see if it's a party-only thing?"

"Right," I nodded, turning back to Melanie. "Whenever you're ready."

"This is going to suck," the girl whined.

"I know, and I'm sorry," I agreed.

"Well, here goes nothing." Shrugging, she held it up to her face. When the mask was less than an inch from touching her skin, the whole thing jumped, latching onto her face.

"Shit!" Neo yelped, jerking back, along with Miltia. "That is freaky as fuck."

Pulling the twin into my arms, I cast the same spells as before and monitored her health while I watched the mask bond to her. The eye holes all immediately closed, as the beak opened and Melanie let out a moan of pain. The edges of the mask seemed to gain a slimy consistency, rather than the bone it was previously, as it oozed around her head, covering her ears and over to the back of her skull. Long, blue-black hair slowly pushed itself out from the surface of the mask, replacing what it had covered. As the mask hardened again, the empty eye holes reopened, bulges of flesh swiftly swelling outwards before shifting and rotating, resolving into a set of what looked like four real eyes. The eyes peering out from the mask were all a bright shade of red, as opposed to Melanie's green. After a few moments, Melanie settled down, panting in my arms.

"Yep," she croaked. "That sucked."

Leaning down, I kissed her cheek, murmuring an apology where her ear should be before straightening back up. "What was it like?" Miltia asked.

Melanie shuddered. "About as pleasant as something crawling into your face through your eyes and nose can be expected to be."

"Oh. Shit. And nothing happened to me, so I'm probably going to get it as soon as I rejoin party, huh?" she asked, and I nodded. "Oh, that's going to suck."

The twin in my arms chuckled softly. "And there you were, calling me a big baby earlier."

"Alright, that's enough sniping," I intervened, releasing Melanie to stand on her own. "Melanie, why don't you put the cloak back on."

Melanie rolled her eyes—all four of them—and the shawl shifted again, crawling up and draping the oversized hood over her head while the material filled out to cover her from head to toe in something close to its original full cloak configuration. Where before, the interior of the hood had been empty of everything but shadows, now we should see the white and red mask, with four glowing red eyes burning within it. Only the mask showed up, while not a hint of her face was visible. "That's actually really fucking cool," I sighed, a bit jealous I wasn't going to be wearing it myself. "Toggle the enchantments, would you?"

Shrugging, Melanie reached up and turned two of the buttons at her neck on the outside of the cloak. Once more, her nameplate changed, as her level disappeared—not question marks, not a strike through, but no numerical value or level field. Opening my map, I found her icon had gone transparent. "Well, even my Semblance says that works. You don't have a level any more, and my map doesn't want to acknowledge you're there. Let me test something." Dropping her from party, her icon faded completely from the map. "Yeah, I can't even track you if you're not in party."

The cloaked form brought its hand up, switching the second button down over to the 'off' position. "Can't talk with this on. I can hear myself, so radio or scrolls will probably work, but you obviously didn't hear anything."

"Not a peep," Neo agreed.

The cloak shifted again and Melanie pulled off the mask, handing it to Miltia, and I noticed that her eyes were still green under the mask. "Your turn."

I blinked, reaching out and taking the mask before Miltia could put it on. Hitting it with Observe, I frowned. "It's inert."

The twins blinked in confusion as Neo asked, "What?"

"It's just a mask," I shrugged, holding it up for her to see. The mask had reverted to its hollow eyed configuration. Putting it up to my face, it did absolutely nothing—it had all the life of a piece of ceramic, or old bone. "Melanie, got any more of those mental switches?"

The brusque twin frowned, then nodded slowly. "Yeah, give me a—ah, there it goes," she grinned. Seeing no obvious changes, I hit her with Observe, and saw nothing in the description that would indicate anything had changed. She continued, drawing my attention from my menus. "I can see Aura again. And Neo's hair and eyes look funny. They're brown, but I can see what looks like a sort of transparent shell of Aura over them. It's kind of really cool."

Neo hummed. "I get it. It's part of her. She can toggle the abilities without calling up the mask itself. But what about the mask? Is it like the cloak, and you get a new mask if you want one, or do you just get the abilities? Also, can you use the cloak's abilities without the cloak active?"

"Well, there are switches," Melanie admitted, and a moment later white and red flowed out from the corners of her eyes—her tear ducts—swiftly expanding to cover her face. "Ugh, that feels funny. Like crying out a gallon of water all at once." The cloak joined the mask again as she brought them both out, then both disappeared the way they'd come. A moment after her cloak had disappeared, her nameplate changed, then reverted back to normal. "Yeah, the cloak abilities work independent of having the cloak out or not." Turning to Miltia, she grinned. "Your turn."

"Fun," Miltia sighed. "Okay, I'm ready Jaune."

Nodding, I pulled her into my arms and sent a party invite. As I'd suspected, she began convulsing a moment later and I started casting. Watching the process in reverse on Miltia, as the mask bled out of her tear ducts the first time to cover her face, was no less disturbing than it had been the first time with her sister. Thankfully, it was over quickly. Once it was finished, both twins began practicing using both their new items, creating new garments with their cloaks and bringing their masks out and back in again.

Beside me, Neo shook her head. "I don't know if I could do it. Sure, the abilities are awesome, but the thought of something inside me like that…" she shuddered, and I nodded.

"Alright, that's enough playing for now. We've got one or two more enchantments to add. I've made a list of stuff, so have a look," I said, passing over the notebook with the list of enchantments and effects. "They're arranged by effect strength and the amount of space each pattern takes. Near as I can tell, I have access to three distinct grades of stuff at the moment. Minor enchantments are small things and take up little room when you make one. Moderate enchantments take up roughly twice the size of minor enchantments and tend to be pretty decent effects. Silencing and space expansion are moderate enchantments, for example. Major enchantments are the largest, twice the size of moderate—or four times the size of minor enchantments. Aura Containment is a major enchantment—usually something you'd put on a building, or room. Technically, it's one that would normally only be used for bounded fields—along with Sanctification."

The twins took the list, looking it over as they carried on a silent conversation. A moment later, they came back and pointed out two in particular. "These two."

I blinked, looking over the enchantments they wanted. "Veil of Shadows and Fog?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. The first had a cool name, but wasn't actually all that useful in most situations. Veil of Shadows acted sort of like active camouflage, using any shadows the user happened to be in. They would grow darker and cling to the user, making that person more difficult, but not impossible, to spot. Even under full light, the target would still be partially obscured—but that was actually a negative, depending on the situation. An area of unnatural shadow in the daylight tended to draw attention. For a stealth build, it wouldn't be terrible, and I could see how it could have some pretty dramatic visual effects. The second pattern, aptly named 'Fog,' did exactly as it said on the tin: it collected water vapor in the air and created fog. It could fill a closed room almost instantly, making it more difficult to see, or partially obscure someone using it in the open. Combined with Veil of Shadows, it would make them difficult to spot, at least at night. During the day, inexplicable fog may tip people off. I took a moment to explain all of that, and the twins nodded.

"It'll be good for breaking line of sight and getting to where we can actually throw on Invisibility without someone seeing us do it," Miltia explained.

"Once you teach us Invisibility," Melanie hinted, and I rolled my eyes and nodded.

"Fine, fine. I'm leaving the rest of the other cloak's slots empty for now, though. That way, if something comes up and we need to add something different for whoever gets it, we can," I warned, and they nodded in agreement.

Neo sidled up to me as I started drawing out the two new patterns. "So, we've got a spare cloak and the cloth to make two more. Who do you think they should go to?"

I shrugged. "Not sure yet," I admitted. "If you want one…"

Neo hummed, then shook her head. "I'll hold off. It may be a good idea to give one to one of the girls at Beacon, though. It seems more Blake's style, but honestly, it'd be more useful for Ruby. She doesn't exactly seem like the stealthy type, so she could kind of use all the help she could get." She hummed quietly, before adding, "If Ruby ate one of the cloaks, do you think Yang would get it as well, being only a half-sister?"

"That's a good question," I admitted. "No idea. As for giving one to her… we'll see." I did not particularly want to bring Ruby into this side of things, but if it became absolutely necessary, I would. "We'll do the bounded field array for this place next. Sanctification, Aura Containment, Silencing, and some skill enhancement buffs to begin with. Once we've got those laid into the array, the whole upper two floors should count for being within the field for tantric rituals. Well, everything inside the boundary described by the Dust I'll be marking out the area with. I'll exclude everything from this side of the sally port outwards, so the guards won't be affected."

Chuckling, Neo ran a hand through my hair, dragging her nails gently along my scalp. Shivering slightly, I remembered that I'd toggled Gamer's Mind back on and flipped it back to Defensive mode. "In other words, any time we fuck here, we'll be renewing those buffs."

"Well, any time anyone does. You could also just apply enough Aura to it to receive the buff, but it's far less effective and you waste Aura doing it that way," I explained. "I plan to do the same thing in the dorm rooms, once I get to Beacon."

"I'm sure they'll appreciate it," Neo hummed, and I rolled my eyes.

"Behave. I am not trying to seduce Ruby, Yang, or Blake," I denied, and she snorted.

"Pull the other one. It's got bells on."

I sighed quietly, refusing to rise to the bait. "You're incorrigible."

Neo nodded her agreement. "Absolutely. You wouldn't have me any other way. Now, hurry up. We're getting antsy."

"Yeah, watching your verbal foreplay over there is kind of a turn-on," Melanie smirked.

"Please won't you hurry, Jaune?" Miltia asked, a grin twitching at the edges of her lips.

The girls burst into giggles, and I knew I'd lost. 'In loss, victory?' I wondered, a smile playing across my own lips. Yeah, I couldn't exactly consider it a loss, given that these three were already planning an afternoon of adult fun and games for the four of us.

---

"Not that I mind," I lied, glancing around at our surroundings. Shitty electronic or techno music blared in a way that caused my newly heightened senses to make me want to cover my ears and the acrid scent of smoke hung in the air from smoke machines. Lasers and strobes pulsed to the beat as bodies ground against each other on the nearby dance floor and the stink of a hundred bodies worth of sweat and arousal hung as a faint aftertaste under the artificial smoke. Before, I hadn't minded it too much. Now, I minded it a lot, because the place had become offensive to the senses—but the girls liked it for some reason, so I tolerated it. I would seriously have to create a 'suppress senses' spell or something in the near future though. Something like that could come in handy for more than just saving my poor nose and ears in places like this. "But what was so important you had to do this face to face?"

Across from me, Hei watched the crowd. We were seated in the booth furthest back in the corner of the club, pressed up against the wall, and Hei sat facing the door. It made my paranoia itch, so I had shifted so I could look out over most of the floor and had a view of the door to my right. "She's here."

My red contacts met his sunglasses and I raised an eyebrow. "Going to have to be more specific."

"That request you made. Your target."

I stilled, eyes shifting over the crowd as a mild sense of panic set in. I didn't know much about Raven Branwen, other than some basic facts as presented in what passed as 'canon' for the RWBY universe on Earth. She was Yang's mom, Qrow's sister, had been on a team with Qrow, Taiyang, and Summer Rose, and was enough of a badass that Neo had—at the end of Season 2—known enough to run. I'd asked her, but my Neo had no knowledge of the woman, so whether it was something she had learned later or simply an instant assessment of Raven's threat level didn't particularly matter so much as the fact that I knew that she'd run. Also, there was the fact that the woman could somehow make fucking portals with a Dust sword. I had no idea how that worked—whether it was a Semblance granted power or if it was some type of Dust, but I didn't want to find out. I had absolutely no desire whatsoever to cross blades with Raven Branwen. Tai and Qrow trying their hand were bad enough, I didn't need the mysterious swordswoman giving me a go too.

"Here?" I hissed, still scanning the crowd.

Hei's shaking his head drew my attention. "Dust no. Not here here. In Vale. One of my guys saw her."

I blinked, throwing him a curious look. "What was she doing?"

Hei rubbed at the back of his neck, looking suddenly unsure of himself. "Buying milk, if you believe that. Not dressed like a Huntress, but I've put the word out so they have her picture, and that face is pretty recognizable. Woman like that, you don't tend to forget or mistake for someone else."

I palmed my face. "I want to call bullshit on that so hard, but… well, even Hunters have to eat. And actually, put a blonde wig and some purple contacts on her and she'd pass for her daughter."

"Familial resemblances aside," Hei shrugged.

"So, your guy didn't happen to get an address?"

Hei shook his head. "Nah. She pulled a disappearing act."

"Anything more useful? You know, like what the fuck she's doing here? I mean, I suppose she could just be in town to check up on her kid, who she hasn't bothered to check in on for going on a decade, or her estranged husband, likewise on the time-frame."

"Seems unlikely," Hei admitted. "If she'd taken any official Hunter contracts through the usual channels, I'd know, and she hasn't. So either she's here on personal business, or she's here for work through unofficial channels."

"Government, in other words," I deadpanned, and Hei shrugged.

"There's any number of possibilities. Old Oz likes to keep in contact with his former students. Could be she's running an errand for him."

I sighed quietly, running a hand through my temporarily dark hair. "Thanks for the heads up. If you can get me anything else, it'd be appreciated. My friend isn't exactly going to take 'she's in town' as an answer and be able to leave it at that."

"Fair enough," Hei rumbled, leaning back in his seat.

I tossed Hei a wave and left the booth, moving across the floor to where the twins and Neo were enjoying themselves. "What's the news?" Melanie asked, somehow having won their short debate over who'd get to dance with me first. The girl had pulled herself tight against my chest as she swayed, mostly ignoring the beat in order to talk. Miltia and Neo danced beside us, if the frottage they were engaging in could be considered dancing—though, I didn't mind too terribly much, considering they were providing me with a nice show. Mostly, I was annoyed that it wasn't a private showing. Then again, I couldn't really decide if I should be watching Neo and Miltia, or the twin pressed up against me. 'Damn hormones! I have more self-control than that, damnit.'

"Yang's mom is in town but Hei has no idea where she is, or why she's here. He didn't exactly say why, but he's scared of her." I shrugged, but the movement was mostly lost in the press of bodies and ebb and flow of what was loosely called 'dancing' in this place.

Around us, the music change, and I frowned as something niggled at my memory. "I know that song," I muttered quietly as the rhythm changed and the movement of the crowd changed with it. 'It's some techno remix of Red Like Roses—'

"Hey Jaune," Neo murmured in my ear, sidling up to my side and effectively distracting me for a moment as I found my eyes drawn to her corset-clad bust and the nice view down her cleavage she was providing. "Did Blake say where Yang was taking her earlier?"

"No," I denied, dragging the word out as I shook off my distraction and realized why she had asked. I turned towards the door, at the same time catching sight of familiar icons on my minimap. I caught a flash of golden hair as the crowd parted enough for me to get line of sight on the door and my Semblance picked that moment to announce her arrival.

BGM Image Song – I Burn (Yellow Trailer) – Unlocked!

I turned my facepalm into pulling up my mask. "Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine," I shrugged, watching as the blonde moved onto the dance floor before catching sight of us. Her lilac eyes locked with my red contacts for a moment, then took in the twins and Neo near me, Melanie still holding on to me and Neo pressed into my side and not visibly bothered by the fact that I had a view down her top. Lilac flashed to bloody red and golden Aura exploded off the blonde. "I stand corrected. Not going to be fine."

"She's glowing," Miltia deadpanned as the crowd took notice. "And looking right at us."

"She looks really pissed, for some reason," Melanie added.

Neo turned and looked, and a small smirk stretched across her lips. "She's really, really hot when she's pissed though."

Beside her was Blake, whose gold eyes locked with my red contacts for a moment before she frowned. A step behind and to one side were the third and fourth in their group—Ruby and Penny side by side. Silver eyes met mine before shifting to Yang and back, and she winced. I rolled my eyes and tossed Ruby a party invite and a link, and Penny an invite.

'She looks pissed,' I pointed out. 'Ruby, why does Yang look like she wants to tear us several new assholes?'

'I don't know!' Ruby's worry came through clearly over the link. 'She saw you guys and went all glowy-glowy. I mean, she doesn't know you're Shiro, so that could be it.'

'Okay, try and pull Blake and Penny back. Let it play out. I can't blow my cover here,' I sent, and the girl quickly moved to do as I'd requested.

While I was directing Ruby, Yang had stormed over, dancers between us taking notice of her burning gaze and parting before her, scrambling to clear a path. She stopped just outside of reach, blood red gaze shifting between the twins and Neo. "You've got some nerve."

Yang, from what I thought I knew, was the sort of hothead that didn't tend to banter once she got pissed—let alone reason. This was not that. What I was seeing was burning anger, yes, but it was tightly leashed, yoked and pointed one direction—and entirely under her control. "This is…" Miltia began, wincing.

Melanie finished with an annoyed look, "Not what it looks like."

"Really?" Yang hissed. "What is it, then? Because it looks a hell of a lot like you're cheating on one of the few decent men I've met, who happens to be my friend."

"We're not," Neo deadpanned. "Shiro is a business associate. I assure you, Jaune knows exactly where we are and who we're with."

Blood red eyes shifted to the ice cream themed girl and narrowed into a glare. "Uh huh. So, you won't mind if I call him, right?" she grinned, digging out her scroll.

I winced and stepped in, my gloved hand coming down atop hers over her scroll. "Let's not do that." Yang's lips curled into a silent snarl, but I didn't remove my hand. Meeting her eyes, I continued calmly, "Girls, we were pretty much done here tonight. Why don't you go on home?"

'You're sure?' Neo sent, and I sent the mental impression of a nod in answer.

'Yeah, we're fine,' I agreed. At level 35, I was a level above Yang still, while Neo was on the low side of 37, and the twins had hit 33 recently—I wasn't too terribly worried about Yang being able to hurt us. I was more worried about blowing my cover. I turned my attention back to Yang. "Problem solved, right?"

"No," the blonde denied. "Don't think I don't know who you are."

I blinked, raising an eyebrow. 'This should be interesting,' I mused. "Who am I?"

Yang's eyes narrowed and she yanked her hand back. "You've been on the news twice now. First you tricked my sister into helping you rob a Dust shop, then you got your ass handed to you by that fox masked guy last night. How's that healing, by the way?" she taunted.

"Oh, you're little red's big sister," I hummed, eying her up and smirking under my mask at her renewed glare. I really couldn't help needling her as I added, "Don't see the resemblance."

"Well, I was going to tell you to take your own advice and leave, but you know what? I think, after the beating you got, I can take you," she smirked, twitching her wrists and deploying Ember Celica.

I took a moment to take a long, exaggerated look around us, taking in the other patrons giving us a wide berth, but not exactly running away. "Okay, you want a fight? Fine. Two things first, though. Firstly," I gestured vaguely towards the ceiling, indicating the speakers above us, and in general the music—specifically, how the song was approaching what I knew to be the point where it stopped being remixes of the three before it and became 'I Burn.' "This shit has got to go." I fucking knew better than to fight her with her own theme music playing. There were rules about that kind of thing.

I turned and made my way towards where the DJ was currently doing his thing and pushed him aside. "Hey, you can't—"

"Take it up with Junior," I growled in his direction, and the man wearing an oversized bear head cleared off. "Now, let's see," I murmured, digging through his selection before coming across something I couldn't pass up. I had been looking for something that would be fun to fight to, but what I found fit entirely too well not to use. Queuing it up on a thirty second delay, I hopped down and strolled over to the blonde. "Secondly," I continued as though I hadn't just walked away, "We're taking this outside."

Yang rolled her eyes and made to follow me as we left the club. We hit the street and the pounding beat of 'I Burn' stopped. The blonde frowned as I turned back to her and grinned. The grin immediately fell off my face as the feeling of being watched by someone hidden returned.

BGM – Sweet, The Ballroom Blitz – unlocked!

The sound of drums rolled over the street from the open door and I bobbed my head to the tune for a moment before I held out a hand, gesturing her forward and shrugging off the feeling of being watched. "Are you ready?"

Yang hummed, head tilting to one side as she listened, then rolled her eyes. I couldn't help the way my eyes were drawn to the sway of her hips as she stalked forward, and promptly pulled back to smash my face in. About that time, I realized I should probably re-engage Gamer's Mind, but honestly I was having entirely too much fun for that. My left hand came up, fingers catching her wrist and pushing the fist to the side of my head, following the parry up with an open-palmed strike. The blonde parried my parry and we began trading blows. I blocked a cheap shot at my balls and shot her a glare. "Hey, I need those!"

She ignored me, a hand sweeping in low and I moved to intercept, only for her weapon to go off as she rolled with the momentum, spinning around and bringing one of those muscular legs up in some sort of spinning axe kick that threatened to make a nail out of me. I backstepped and the pavement exploded outwards as her foot hit the ground, and then she was on me, launching herself with both gauntlets into a blur of punches and shots as I dug deep into Haste and met her attack head on and unarmed, using the speed boost and perception dilation effects to stay a step ahead of her and counter everything she threw at me. She grew progressively more frustrated as I continued to stymie her efforts to land a solid hit, and I smirked under my mask as her movements began to grow sloppy.

As we danced and weaved between each others strikes, Ember Celica's Dust rounds streaked out, hitting the street, lamp posts, and the front of the building. Eventually, a one-two combo of those rounds that had been intended for my face slammed into the club's door and blew it off its hinges, the second round streaking inside to screams from the patrols, who started pouring out by the emergency exits. The music skipped, and stopped.

I held up a hand to the blonde bombshell, turning to check and make sure no one had been hurt. Surprisingly, Yang did not take advantage of my distraction to lay into me. That was good, seeing as we had apparently drawn Hei's ire. Junior stalked out of the club, bat in hand, followed by his hired thugs with their blades and axes. He turned an unamused glare on me, before pointing at the door. "That is going on your tab."

"Ha ha!" Yang laughed behind me.

"Shut up, blondie," I hissed. "This is your fault."

"Right. Play time's over," Junior growled. "Everyone attack!"

The music started back up where it'd left off and I nearly groaned. 'Never should have chosen this song. It's a fucking curse.'

Yang and I caught the first of them at the same time, fists streaking out and breaking noses, sending two men to the pavement. "This is not your fight," I warned them.

"Boss said it is!" one of them countered, and apparently decided I'd made myself a viable target by attacking one of their own.

"God damnit Junior, I'm going to put my boot in your ass for this!" I threatened, punting the nearest henchman in the balls. Backhanding one of his thugs into unconsciousness, I remembered one important fact about the man-bear I'd learned recently: he was hiding his power level and could probably stomp a mudhole in me and walk it dry. Well, the fact that he hadn't stopped suppressing his own Aura probably meant he wasn't going to fight—for which I was grateful. 'Correction. I'm going to get Joan to break her foot off in his ass for this.'

My detection skills blared a warning and I ducked backwards, dodging a gauntleted punch that would have struck the left side of my head. Instead, Yang followed through by firing her gauntlet, putting a Dust round in a henchman's face to my right and sending him sprawling to the ground. I was not entirely sure if the guy had an active Aura or not, because he went down and did not get up again, and I didn't exactly have time to check or fucks to give for someone who'd tried to stab me in the back in the literal sense.

"Thank you," I called at the blonde as I righted myself.

"I wasn't trying to help you!" she yelled back

Reaching down, I snagged one of the dropped axes the henchmen carried, flipped it around, and hurled it at Yang's head. "Dodge!" Pavlovian reflexes kicked in and Yang ducked, the blade sailing over her head and smashing the last of the henchmen standing in the face with the blunt side. "You're welcome."

The blonde turned a glare on me. "I didn't ask for your help!"

"Why do I pay you incompetent shits," Junior lamented, throwing his hands up. "Blondie, you break it, you bought it."

"Just put it on his tab," Yang countered, winking at the bear of a man, who gave an annoyed sigh and turned to go back inside.

"Huh," I mused aloud, as the DJ tried to leave by the side exit, only to get his over-sized bear head stuck. "There goes what passes for the band. And I think that guy you shot in the face just stopped breathing."

Yang's eyes narrowed and she turned her attention back to me, punting the man in question towards the front of the building, where the rest were quickly pulling their comrades inside. A glance that direction showed he had started breathing again. She launched herself towards me in a flurry of blows, punches and kicks streaking in like lightning, and for a moment I was genuinely afraid I'd incited her to murder, before we resumed our dance.

"Stop," she growled as I deflected a fist away from my nose.

"Fucking," another fist, aimed at my solar plexus, her weapon going off as I side stepped just enough to put my body out of the path, but not enough that my new armor escaped unscathed. 'Damnit, I just replaced that this morning!'

"Around!" her Aura exploded into a fiery conflagration, singing my clothes and hair and forcing me back. The asphalt under her feet steamed and began to bubble as the tar in it cooked off, and I winced. I would have to talk to her about that later—this was not what I would consider an emergency.

Blood red eyes met contacts red as the sun, and I smirked. "God damn you're beautiful when you're angry."

"Shut up, shut up, shut UP!" Yang yelled, and I laughed.

"You want me to take you seriously?" I asked, my left hand drifting down to the case for my new weapon—which I needed to name at some point. My thumb found the selector and I counted out clicks until the blade cycled to the one I wanted—the one less-lethal blade in my small arsenal at the moment. My right hand came down and grasped the hilt as I held a trigger on the handle of the tube case, pulling my wrist back and flipping the blade upside down in its sheath. "Okay then. Hit me with your best shot."

The blonde smirked, then launched herself into the air, drawing back her right arm in what was sure to be a punch that would blast a hole straight through me if it connected. 'If. But it's not going to,' I thought, eyes focused on the fist in question as she seemed to float down in slow motion. 'Sorry, Yang, but I warned you about this shit.'

I Stepped forward, hitting the assisted draw on my weapon. A small explosion sounded from the sheath and I drew, the blade streaking out in an arc and intercepting her arm just below the gauntlet. There was a brief look of confusion on her face as she fell, passing out of my sight as I dropped out of Flash Step behind her, having moved all of three feet. Yang hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. To her credit, the blonde didn't scream or pass out. She did freeze, however, cradling her clearly broken arm to her chest and gritting her teeth in pain. I moved around her, the tip of my sword scraping the pavement as I moved, drawing her attention—her eyes, having shifted back to lilac, meeting mine again as I lifted the blade from the ground and tapped the side of her jaw with the flat of it. That feeling of being watched, which had intensified the moment I took my Iaido stance, suddenly felt as though someone were breathing down my neck. I could almost imagine the feeling of a blade brushing the back of my neck, waiting. I ignored it—looking around for an invisible presence would break character, not to mention make me look crazy.

"Look at it," I told her, and her eyes slowly tracked to the blade resting against her flesh. "That was the back of the blade. I don't have a quarrel with you, or your sister. Even that Fox bastard is just a consequence of doing business in this town—nothing personal. Don't make it personal, Blondie, or next time it won't be the back of the blade. Fools rush in."

I pulled the blade away, spun it once out of habit, and slipped it back into its sheath. The feeling of imminent death passed, and my unseen watcher's vigilance returned to what I'd come to associate as its normal level. When I turned away, I was surprised to find Ruby nearby, along with Neo. Then again, I'd had all of my focus on Yang and staying just far enough ahead of her to frustrate her. "Hello again, Red. Neo, I thought you were going home to your boyfriend."

"Yeah, well," Neo sighed, casting a look down at Yang, "Yang's a friend of a friend."

"Well then, you should see to her. We take care of our friends. Good night." I started walking away and blinked as a skill creation window popped up, letting me know I'd successfully created the skill Acting. 'So, I can now officially bullshit people and have it count as something beyond lying.'

I threw on Invisibility, Aura Suppression, and dropped into Flash Step. The feeling of being watched followed. There was no detectable Aura, no killing intent, nothing at all that would give away a human presence—or there had not been, until I'd laid my sword against Yang's face. The hairs on the back of my neck refused to lay down, now. I sighed quietly, finding a public place to change and blend in with the crowd to lose the feeling. 'Ruby, how is she?'

'Upset. What should I do?' she sent back, and I ran a hand through my hair in irritation for a moment, before moving through an ID and changing outfits, then moving into the crowd.

'Take her back to my place. I'll be there shortly,' I told her, and strolled through the mall. I was surprised when, as I was picking up a pretzel, I felt the general feeling of being searched for seem to settle in on me again. Keeping a straight face, I broke pieces off my pretzel to eat as I walked back towards the apartment. 'No one here. Nothing of interest. Just a normal dude on a normal night doing normal dude things.'

By the time I had made it to the apartment, I was barely suppressing the instinct to look for the source of the feeling again—and that was mostly because it had even followed me into the elevator. Instead of sticking to its usual third person perspective of behind and above me, the sensation had moved to directly ahead of me. Even with it seemingly right in front of me, I hadn't noticed a thing—no energy, no sound, no light, no invisible person, no visual distortion of space, nothing. 'What if someone has a semblance that lets them phase? Kitty Pryde, essentially. Except, in this case, what if it obeys some of the laws of physics and light passes through them, rendering them effectively invisible? No, that wouldn't explain how it's always above and behind me. Third person perspective about where I'd expect a camera to be—with my being a game character, supposedly, maybe someone somewhere is 'playing?' No, that's out there even for Bizarro Remnant. What about something similar, though? Scrying is a thing in some games, like D&D. Could it be some sort of Dust or Semblance effect that does the same thing?'

The elevator opened and I made my way into the apartment, and the feeling of being watched stopped as the door closed behind me. I blinked, wondering what had changed. 'Well, the apartment's warded to contain Aura. Maybe that has something to do with it?'

I shrugged it off, moving deeper into the apartment and finding six girls on my couches—Neo and the twins seated on one couch, with Yang sitting on the other and glaring in their direction as she cradled her arm, Ruby to her side and Penny on Ruby's other side. Blake stood unobtrusively nearby, leaning against the wall and out of direct line of sight of either group—interested, but clearly not taking sides. "Okay, let's see it," I sighed, moving over to Yang and kneeling down in front of her. She hissed as I took the arm in hand and cast Aura Examination, but that returned no results as it was designed to hunt out debuffs and status effects mostly, not physical problems. So instead, I began carefully probing it internally with Telekinesis, trying to get a sense of how it was broken and hit her with Observe. After a few moments of this, I was rewarded with a skill creation window giving me Diagnose, which would allow me to scan a person for any form of non-magical malady. Yang's results were a fractured ulna and radius, showing multiple breaks.

"What happened?" I asked, beginning the slow task of gathering up broken or fragmented bone and carefully shifting it back into place. It was a lot like trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together under water, in an opaque container—if the container occasionally flinches and throws things off.

"Why don't you ask them?" Yang answered testily, shooting a glare at the girls on the opposite couch.

I shook my head, squeezing her arm slightly and drawing a hiss of pain from her lips as she shot me a betrayed look. "I am aware of the events, Yang, and I'm asking you. Why'd you react the way you did?"

The blonde in front of me blushed, turning her head away and breaking eye contact. "Do I have to say it?" she asked quietly, and I shrugged.

"No," I answered, while the girls on the opposite couch vocally countered, "Yes."

"Girls," I warned, shooting an unamused look at Neo and the twins. "Behave."

Turning my attention back to the blonde, I said, "Talk to me, Yang. I'm not going to force you if you don't want to, but I guarantee it'll help if you do."

Yang sighed, narrowing her eyes at me in irritation. "We're friends, Jaune. I got pissed because I saw them with some other guy. What they were doing—what I thought they were doing, anyway… it wasn't right."

I nodded. It didn't register as a lie to my Semblance, but I was well-versed enough in the language of half-truths to know one when I heard it. If she wasn't ready to say more, I wouldn't push, though. "Okay, fair enough. And this?" I asked, tapping her break and drawing a wince.

"It was that guy the police suspect has been robbing all the Dust stores in Vale, the one on the news this morning who got into a fight with some other guy—in the middle of robbing a Dust store. They," she indicated the girls on the opposite couch, "were meeting with him for some reason. He ran his mouth, I ran mine, and things kind of escalated from there. We fought. He was toying with me, and it pissed me off. Then he stopped playing."

"So, what you're saying is, you let your mouth get you into trouble, and then you did exactly what I've been warning you about," I squeezed the break slightly, drawing a whimper from the girl, "and you telegraphed one of those haymakers from a mile away, and he took advantage."

"Yep," she hissed, eyes closed in pain as she nodded.

I sighed, calling up mana and focusing on casting something to stop the pain. Skill Creation did its thing and I was rewarded with the skill Anesthesia—which allowed me to numb pain in others and myself, and could be leveled up eventually to completely remove pain altogether. Yang sighed in relief as the green light effect washed over her break. I held off for the moment on following it up with Aura Healing. "And what have we learned?"

Yang looked contrite as she answered, "Don't pick fights with strangers."

"And?"

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Stop telegraphing."

"Or next time, it won't be the back of the blade," I deadpanned.

Yang frowned, sending me a confused look. "That's exactly what he said."

I turned and sent the twins and Neo a questioning look. "Really? We can't stay? This is entertaining," Neo whined.

Miltia sighed, hopping up and taking one of Neo's hands while Melanie took the other, hauling the ice cream themed girl to her feet. "Come on. Let's go work on stuff."

Blake pushed herself off the wall she'd been leaning on, sending me a long look before nodding and following the twins and Neo. I shot a look at Penny. "Your choice, Penny."

The gynoid hummed, placing a finger against her bottom lip momentarily. "I will join the others. That will give us a chance to work on my new outfits."

"Thanks, Penny," I murmured, and the girl skipped out, one hand reaching out and patting my head as she passed.

"I could…" Ruby trailed off, gesturing towards the door, and I shook my head.

"Stay," I told her, pushing myself up from where I'd been kneeling and making my way into the kitchen. Opening the freezer, I dug out a couple of glasses and a bottle of the good stuff. Pouring two glasses, I replaced the bottle and dug a can of soda out of the refrigerator before making my way back into my living room. Passing the can to Ruby, I handed Yang one of the glasses before dropping into my preferred chair and taking a sip from my own. Wondering how to start, I shrugged. "It'll be easier to show you," I decided, opening my character sheet.

"Show me?" Yang echoed, then blinked as my outfit was replaced with my White Fox gear. "Huh. Okay. That's unexpect—" Another menu selection swapped that for my replacement set for Shiro. "—ed. What the fuck?!"

I rolled my eyes, switching back to my Jaune gear, taking in her wide-eyed stare. "Sorry about that."

Yang twitched before slowly shifting her gaze to Ruby, who was sitting nervously beside her, but otherwise appeared to be unsurprised. "You knew?" she asked, and Ruby nodded. "You knew!" Yang accused.

"Duh, sis," Ruby sighed. "Jaune told me a while ago."

"And you… what?" Yang floundered. I gestured at the drink in her undamaged hand and she growled at me, before throwing it back in one pull. "Start explaining."

"Well, Jaune is Jaune. And also the guy in black—Shiro. And the Fox guy," Ruby explained, and I nodded.

Shooting her sister an incredulous look, Yang asked, "We both saw that fight on the news this morning. How was he in two places at once?"

"I wish I could say it was a clone technique, because that'd be kind of cool to have. But no, it was just me, Penny, and Neo—using illusions to make it look a lot worse than it really was. But hey, if you bought it, then it's doing its job," I grinned.

Lilac eyes tracked between me and Ruby as the blonde asked, "So the Dust robberies…?"

"Real," I admitted.

"Wait, did you steal that train-load of Dust?!" she asked, and I wagged a hand back and forth.

"The White Fang got on board and tried to steal it first. One of their operatives turned and fled with most of the cars. That part of the train actually made it to the station. Then I stole it," I admitted. Well, I had ID'd the Dust, stuffed it into Inventory, then done my impression of Solid Snake and disabled the guards outside, took out the cameras, and then stole the Dust in the real world. There was now visible proof of Shiro stealing Dust and taking out Schnee and Atlas personnel, in the event Cinder or someone followed up on it.

"I.. I trusted you! I defended you, Jaune," Yang yelled, eyes shifting to red as she glared at me.

"Yang, it's okay," Ruby tried to placate her sister, but Yang shook her off.

"No, Rubes, it's not. He's a liar and a thief."

I nodded. "I am," I admitted. "At least about some things. And I feel horrible about it, but that doesn't change the fact that it needs to be done." The blonde's expectant look prompted me to continue. "There's someone new in Vale, causing problems. The Dust heists are her plan. I replaced the guy she had doing it originally—Roman Torchwick—so I could get close enough to figure out what she's planning, beyond simple Dust robberies. I took over his gang and shut down the drug trade he had been running, along with the protection rackets and everything else, and absorbed the men who were worth anything into a new group: Fox Hunt. You've been there, actually. We—that is, Neo, Melanie, Miltia, and myself—are building a PMC to protect Vale. Officially, to protect the city from Grimm. Unofficially, to protect it from whatever comes up. Especially her."

"So you're what, playing both sides?" Yang asked, her eyes having bled back to normal as I'd explained.

"No," I denied, shaking my head. "I'm on my side—our side, really. I'd kind of hoped to hold off on this until after we got to know each other better, but… Yang, would you like to be on our side?"

"What… what do you mean?"

Smiling, I answered, "Do you want to help us save Vale?"

Yang flinched when Ruby put a hand over hers and sent her big sister a smile. "We could use the help."

"I don't know. I mean, why not just go to the police or Ozpin with what you know?" Yang asked, and I shook my head.

It was Ruby who answered, however. "What are the police going to do, Yang? And the headmaster, well, uh… Help me out here Jaune."

"Information compartmentalization and operational security," I answered, getting a confused look from the blonde. "I think there's a leak in Ozpin's organization, firstly. Secondly, even if there's not a leak, he has no official power to do anything about her unless she's caught in the commission of a crime. He can investigate, he can have her watched, but he can't legally bring her in until he catches her doing something, except for questioning, and doing that without hard evidence will tip his hand. Thirdly, I don't necessarily trust some of the people working with him. General James Ironwood, for example—a member of the Atlesian Navy."

"And Atlas is bad. Or at least some of it," Ruby tacked on, and I nodded.

Rolling her eyes, Yang shot me an annoyed look. "So, your reasons for doing this yourself are, 'the cops are incompetent,' 'Ozpin's useless,' and 'Atlas bad.'"

"Pretty much," I shrugged. "I can get more done outside of official channels."

Sighing, Yang leaned back on the couch and winced as her arm twinged. Seeing it, I tossed a heal her way, and the blonde sighed in relief. "You sure know how to pick 'em, sis," she snarked at Ruby.

"Jaune's a good person, Yang. You know that!" Ruby protested. "Everything he's doing, he's doing for the people he cares about. Our friends. Me. You. Yeah, it sucks knowing you can't know everything about what's going on, but we can help. You and me. Together, Yang."

Yang sighed, bringing one hand up and covering her eyes. "Fine," she whispered. "What about—"

We were cut off by the sound of a scroll ringing, and I blinked as my HUD popped up its caller I.D., complete with a photo beside the name and number. I palmed my face. "Not now. Why now?"

"Who is it?" Ruby asked, and I shook my head.

"I need to take this," I grumbled, hopping up and moving quickly into the bedroom, pulling the door closed behind me. Making sure the call was audio only, I hit 'accept.' "Cinder," I said, by way of greeting, using my Batman voice just in case she had me on speaker or the call was being recorded.

"Shiro. Are you busy?" she asked, and I frowned. There was something in her tone that I couldn't readily place.

"Not as such," I answered slowly.

"I'm sending you an address. Be there soon," the woman said, and the call cut out as she hung up. A moment later, I got a text with an address. Feeding it into my map, I saw it was on the northeast end of the Commercial district.

Leaving the bedroom, I blinked as Yang pointed an accusing finger at me. "You were just toying with me!"

"Well, yes and no. I wasn't trying to hurt you, so by that measure, no, I wasn't treating it as a real fight," I explained, then pointed at her newly healed arm. "But you got my message, didn't you?"

The girl winced. "Yeah, I suppose so."

"Also, later, you and I are going to sit down and have a long chat about what, exactly, you define as an emergency. Because that fight wasn't it. And now, you've been seen using shit I taught you in a very public venue, in front of cameras, and worse, against me. Think about it, Yang. Video of me has been on the news twice now. How much do you want to bet that our fight is going to be on first thing in the morning?" I asked, drawing a frown from the blonde. "You may have just painted a target on your back. With any luck, I might be able to pass it off as a drunken brawl or a poor reaction on your part to me making a pass at you. I don't exactly trust my luck, these days."

I shifted my gaze to Ruby. "Your choice about whether you want to stay and watch that."

Ruby shot a look at her sister and shook her head. "No. I don't think I'd want anyone watching you chew me out if I made that sort of mistake."

I sent the small girl a smile. "Good choice."

Deciding to change the subject, Yang asked, "So, who was that?"

I sighed, gathering my dirty glass and moving it to the kitchen. "My—that is, Shiro's—'boss.' She wants me to meet her for something. Didn't say what, but she sounded… upset." Turning back to the pair, I asked, "Mind locking up when you leave?"

"I don't have—" Ruby began, and I rolled my eyes and tossed her a spare key. "Oh! Uh, does this mean…?"

"You're welcome to drop in whenever you want," I told her, heading for the door.

"Hey, wait!" Yang called, and I turned back to meet her eyes. A smirk stretched across her lips as she crossed her arms under her bust, pressing them up just that much more. My eyes tracked downward momentarily and Yang's smirk widened that much more, and I mentally kicked myself for falling for that—damned hormones. "You were totally checking me out, earlier."

"Yaaang!" Ruby whined, and I shook my head.

"I'll catch up with you two tomorrow." I left, before Yang could try to stir up any more trouble.

Changing to my temporary replacement Shiro gear, I threw on my stealth set of spells and headed out and up to the roof as I sent a message to Neo, the twins, and Penny letting them know I might not be back that night. The feeling of being watched returned and I frowned under my mask before shaking it off. 'Maybe you're just getting paranoid in your old age,' I chided myself. I had yet to see any sign of any hidden watcher, so the possibility existed that my Semblance really was just acting funny. On the other hand, I couldn't discount the possibility that I really was under some unknown form of surveillance.

I followed my waypoint across town, which lead me to a small store that had, at one point, apparently sold shoes. The building was two floors tall and only the upper floor appeared to be lit. Checking my map confirmed Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald as being present. Shrugging, I went around to the back side of the building and dropped my stealth spells before knocking. I heard footsteps within and, a moment later the sound of deadbolts being undone on the other side of the door. When it opened, I found myself staring into a set of red eyes set under green hair. "Oh. It's you," Emerald deadpanned. She seemed to consider simply closing the door in my face before thinking better of it and stepping aside to let me pass. "Upstairs."

Deciding to ignore her attitude, I made my way further into the building. The bottom floor housed what had once been part cobbler, part sales floor, divided by a wall. The stairs were on the workshop side, and lead up to what I assumed had once been someone's home. The entire place looked like it had gone unoccupied for a few years, if the dust and the recent trails through it were anything to go by. The upstairs area was just as dusty, but areas looked to have been recently cleaned—such as the sitting room I found Mercury and Cinder in.

Molten gold eyes tracked me as I crossed the threshold, taking in my new armor—already scuffed and showing some burns from my fight with Yang—and lingering a moment on my new weapon. We locked eyes for a moment. "Rough night?"

I sighed quietly, bringing my hand up to palm my face. "Got into a bar fight."

Cinder's gaze shifted to Emerald, slipping quietly past me. I felt a brush against my side and reached down, snagging her hand as it passed my side pouch. "Careful. It might be full of mouse traps," I warned, my smirk plainly audible.

Emerald jerked her hand free and sent me a glare. Cinder ignored the byplay, dropping into a high-backed chair and crossing her legs, and in so doing providing a marvelous view of her toned thighs. Seeing as Emerald and Mercury had taken the only other chairs, I leaned against the wall beside the door and crossed my arms, then I waited for her to speak first. It didn't take long, as she steepled her fingers in her lap and regarded the three of us. "In light of recent events, I once again find myself in need of your skills," she began, eyes locking with mine.

I shrugged. "What do you need me to steal this time?"

"Not what. Who." Her lips twitched upwards into a small smirk. "Roman Torchwick."

'Fuck,' I cursed internally. "Ah. You've finally decided to retaliate over his desertion?"

The smirk dropped off Cinder's face, a look of annoyance replacing it only momentarily, before shifting to distaste. "No, unfortunately. Given the recent interference in Vale, I feel it might be best to attempt to retrieve Roman and retain his services again."

"Saw that, did you?" I asked, and she nodded. "Well, it was only a matter of time. I've since done some asking around. Police are now watching every Dust shop in Vale—and with the so-called White Fox around, it's even odds as to whether any Dust robbery in the near future will go sideways."

"Heh. Yeah, it looked like he handled you," Mercury chuckled, and I threw him a glare.

"Look, kid, I know you're looking to prove yourself and step out of daddy's shadow," I began, and Mercury's amused expression fell into something murderous, "but shit talking isn't going to help. Best thing we can do right now is try to avoid him."

"Just because you're too chicken-shit to take him on doesn't mean we are."

I sighed, palming my face. "I'm a thief with a sword, not a hired blade. I steal things. I occasionally stick the pointy end of my sword into Grimm and the occasional asshole if it pays well. I don't get paid to fight guys like that. It's not profitable. It increases the risk of every job—the risk of getting caught, pulled into a running battle, or even killed. It's why you don't do jobs without backup. I've got backup now and she's the only reason I made it out of that."

"Merc, he's right," Emerald cut in, and I raised an eyebrow at the thief coming to my defense. "The fucker burned down our home. If anyone has personal reason to go after him, it's us," she said, gesturing between herself and Cinder. "And it'd be fucking stupid to. It's obvious bait, otherwise he wouldn't have left the calling card. He wants a fight. He wouldn't put out a challenge like that if he didn't think he could back it up."

Mercury crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head. "Yeah, well, he's never met me."

"No one will be fighting him," Cinder interrupted. "Shiro is correct. The Fox is an unknown variable and presents too great a risk to go looking for conflict with him. For that reason, I feel it will be best to bring Roman back into the fold. Shiro, where is the Dust you've procured stored?"

I met her gaze a moment before flicking my eyes towards Mercury and Emerald. "I'll get you the address later."

"Fair enough," she allowed. "For now, forget Dust. When we have secured Roman, we will shift our efforts to procuring hardware. Air transport and droids specifically, for the moment."

"About that," I began, drawing her gaze back to me, "How were we planning to spring Roman?"

Cinder's lips twitched upwards. "Leave that to me. I still have one more task to complete before we go after him."

"Is he even worth it?" Mercury asked.

Across from him, Emerald shrugged. "He's a thug."

"Much as it pains me to admit it, he is also brilliant and resourceful," Cinder countered. "Roman Torchwick is very good at working with little in the way of resources or oversight and achieving the desired result."

Frowning, I shook my head. "I don't care if he's god's gift to Remnant, he's not getting my gang, or my partner."

Cinder chuckled quietly, crossing her arms under her breasts. "So you've grown attached to her?"

"Competent help is so hard to come by," I countered, shooting a glance at Emerald.

"Hey!" the greenette hissed.

"Just saying," I shrugged at the girl. I turned my attention back to Cinder. "When are we going after him?"

The brunette shook her head. "Soon. Roman is scheduled for a preliminary hearing the week after next."

'I'll be in Beacon by then,' I mused, shaking my head. "I have a job coming up. I may not be able to make it. I'll let you know when it gets closer to time."

"Would Neo be available?" Cinder asked, and I shrugged.

"Maybe. I'll see, once I work out the last few details and get things to where she can hold down the fort while I'm busy."

Kicking his feet up on the coffee table, Mercury asked, "So, what are we doing in the meantime?"

Taking out her scroll, Cinder swiped away at it for a minute before both Emerald's and Mercury's scrolls pinged with a text message. Before she closed it, I caught an image of a girl—shoulder-length brown hair, tan skin, light brown eyes. "Ask around. Find her."

"Who is she?" I asked, drawing an unamused look from Cinder. "Eh, it's fine. I know a guy. Junior, runs a club out on the edge of the Industrial district—imaginatively named 'The Club.'"

"I know of it," Cinder nodded.

"Then you probably know he's an information broker," I continued, adding, "In addition to running his own petty gang of hired thugs, for sale to whoever has the lien to pay."

Cinder shook her head, a small smirk tugging her lips upwards. "I did not." Turning to Emerald and Mercury, she nodded. "You heard him. Go on."

Emerald frowned, red eyes tracking between me and the still seated Cinder, before she sighed and pushed herself up out of her chair. "Come on, Merc. Let's go pay this guy a visit."

"Yeah, sure, whatever. A club sounds like fun," Mercury agreed, following the shorter girl out.

"Well, then. I should—" I began, making to push myself off the wall, before Cinder interrupted.

"Stay." The word was spoken at somewhere between a request and an order, but there was an undertone there that sounded almost longing. It froze me on the spot long enough for her to stand, slip one finger down the top of my shirt under my armor as she walked by, and pull me towards one of the bedrooms.

"Oh really?" I asked, a small smirk hidden by my mask as she pulled me into the room, before locking the door behind her.

I turned around in time to watch a fist sailing towards my face. My eyes narrowed as I pulled on Haste and the world slowed. I took a moment to take in the sight of her—lips curling into a look of anger, throwing her full weight into the punch, but unarmed and with no Dustcasting backing it up. 'Non-lethal,' I had time to assess, before I made a decision. I dropped Haste and the world returned to normal.

Her fist struck and my head rolled to the side, my nose and upper lip bleeding as one shifted uncomfortably and the other split. Cinder was already following the first punch up with a left hook. 'I was right. She's pissed. Either about me burning down her apartment as the Fox, or over losing the White Fang. I'll let her get it out of her system. Still, she needs to know I have rules. You hit me…' I stepped into her punch, my left hand coming up to parry it aside while my right fist sought its target. She staggered under the force of the blow, bringing a hand up to wipe at the blood staining her lips crimson—her beautiful face marred only by stray blood. 'I hit back.'

Molten gold eyes locked with my red contacts and several emotions crossed her face almost too quickly for me to catch, even with Observe going: anger, eagerness, respect, arousal, and oddly enough hope. I didn't exactly have time to psychoanalyze at the moment, however, as she resumed her attack, breaking out a high-low kick combo, likely expecting me to back off. I caught a glimpse of black bike shorts pulled tight against her thighs and crotch as the second kick went for my head before I stepped in, grabbed her by the thigh, and spun—using my superior weight to slam her into the door. Shaking off the blow, she twisted and freed her leg, grappling me long enough to swing her legs down and sweep mine out from under me, throwing me to the ground and sending the air rushing out of my lungs.

Dropping down, Cinder followed the throw up with an elbow to my solar plexus with enough force to knock the wind out of me through my armor before I could get my guard up, and then she straddled me, punching my chest and face again twice before I finally got my hands into position to ward off her strikes and return fire. In between knocking her next two blows aside, I struck her in the stomach once, following it with an open palm strike to the jaw. While she was shaking that off, I rolled her over and captured her wrists, dragging them up above her head and locking them in place. Her chest heaved as she caught her breath, doing interesting things for her breasts—but it was her eyes I was drawn to, as they locked with mine. "Feel better?"

Her wrists twisted, the right one slipping free, and I caught an open-palmed blow to the cheek for my trouble. I returned it with one of my own before catching her wrist again. Pulling up Charisma and Intent, I slapped her with both much the same way I had with Blake. "Stop," I growled, and she froze, eyes going slightly wide as her pupils dilated.

Seeming to shake it off after a moment, Cinder's eyes narrowed and I felt something wash over me—Intent and power strong enough I could taste it, easily exceeding what I'd hit her with. The difference was, while I could feel what she was doing, I was unaffected by it—Gamer's Mind shrugged it off like water off a duck's back—while she, on the other hand, was clearly still under the effects of what I was still doing. "Make me."

Seeing the challenge for what it was, I transferred her wrists to one hand and reached down, taking hold of her shorts and yanking them down, leaving them bunched about her knees for the moment. Pulling off my glove with my teeth, I sent my hand down to explore her sex, my fingers moving past her bush to her outer lips, finding them soaked. Spreading her lips, I slowly stroked her, drawing a gasp from her mouth.

Cinder shifted, bringing her mouth up to my ear, her lips just brushing my flesh as she whispered, "Do not tease me. If you don't put your cock in me, push me down, and fuck me right now, I am going to rape you." Her teeth caught the edge of my mask and pulled it down, before she sought out my lips with her own.

I pulled away long enough to send her an amused smirk. "You can't rape the willing."

"Tease me and I will certainly try," she warned.

Shrugging, I continued teasing her. "Sounds like a win/win for me."

"Shiro," she growled, twisting her wrists again in an attempt to break free.

Removing my hand from where I'd been teasing her, I brought it up and slapped her across the cheek, leaving behind a streak of her own fluid in the process. She froze as our eyes locked and we fought a small battle of wills. I put a finger on her lips and she opened her mouth, her small tongue flicking out to lick at the tip, apparently not bothered by the taste of her own arousal. Smirking around my finger, she bit down gently. Snatching my hand back before she could get any ideas, I reached down and got the bike shorts the rest of the way off of her, then freed myself from my pants.

"You're going to get rug burn on your ass if we stay here," I pointed out, and she frowned.

"Bed?" she asked, and I nodded, standing and helping her back up. Her hands sought out and found the clips holding my armor in place and hit the release, and she began pulling it off as I grabbed her dress and began working it up her body. Stripping each other of our clothes, I pushed her down onto the bed, where she had stripped the sheets off the mattress and laid out a sleeping bag and blankets in what looked to be a temporary arrangement until she could get clean sheets. Obligingly, Cinder brought her hands back up above her head and brought them together at the wrist, a small grin playing across her lips as she did.

Taking her wrists in hand, I positioned myself between her legs, which immediately wrapped around my hips and crossed at the ankle. With a bit of adjusting on both our parts, I slid home, burying myself in her tight heat to the hilt. A quiet sigh escaped Cinder's lips and she shifted her hips upwards a bit, urging me on as she renewed her 'struggling' to get away. Knowing exactly what she wanted, I gave it to her—hard, fast, and rough as our fight renewed. She was just as rough as I was, all claws and teeth and the occasional attempt to hit me again as we fought for dominance. When she finally came, screaming, around my cock I reached down and grabbed her slender neck, squeezing just enough to surprise her and send her into a second orgasm on the heels of the first. She went rigid for a long moment as her muscles locked, her cunt clamping down on my cock with a force that felt like it should have crushed steel, finishing me off in the process.

The brunette below me went limp, panting quickly as she simply lay there. Removing my hand from her throat, I took note of the visible hand print there and shook my head. "So, what was that about?"

Cinder sighed quietly, wrapping her arms around me and dragging me down to lay beside her, burying her face in my chest. "Can we not talk about work?"

"That bad?" I asked, and she nodded. "Okay, then. So, what should a man talk to a villainess about?"

The women in my arms snorted, stifling a laugh. "Is that what I am?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"If the shoe fits," I lead, and her gold eyes met my red for a moment, before she shook her head.

"One man's terrorist—"

"Is another man's freedom fighter," I finished for her.

Her face went back to my chest. "Maybe I want to be a 'normal' woman for five minutes."

I scoffed softly. "Sure, okay, we can play that game," I nodded. "So dear, how was your day?"

Cinder chuckled, and then I hissed as she lightly bit my chest. "You are an ass."

"So I've been told. It's part of my charm." I grinned down at her, giving her a squeeze. "Comfortable?"

"Mm." The brunette shifted a bit. "If this is what Neopolitan gets whenever she pleases, I think I'm jealous."

Humming, I checked my HUD clock—just after midnight. "So," I asked, "How long will the kids stay out?"

Cinder shook her head. "If they know what's good for them, until I tell them to come back. I had planned to keep you 'til morning."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You sure you aren't letting me get too close?"

Golden eyes tracked down to our entwined limbs and back up to my eyes and she sent me a deadpan look. "I don't care. Spend the night." Her gaze broke from mine. "Don't make me say please."

"Your pride couldn't take the damage?" I asked, and she shook her head. "I guess I'm staying, then."

"Thank you," she murmured, shifting again and throwing a leg over my waist, before shifting her weight and pushing me onto my back as she straddled me.

I raised an eyebrow. "Again?"

Pink lips pulled up into a small smile and she nodded, shifting atop me and easing herself back down onto my shaft. "Again."

"As you wish," I murmured, bringing my hands up to cup her absolutely marvelous breasts, squeezing her nipples gently between my thumb and forefinger.

"If you keep talking, I will find or make a ball gag," the woman atop me threatened, her eyelids going half-lidded as she slowly rode me.

I shrugged. "Sounds kinky, but it'll be you wearing it, not me." One fine eyebrow raised as she took a moment to consider whether to take that as a challenge or not. "Of course, there is a third option. I'm sure Emerald would love to wear a ball gag if you asked."

"I do still need to work out her punishment for wasting my alcohol and trying to eat my panties," Cinder murmured. "She would be absolutely devastated if she were made to watch this…"

I shook my head. "You're going to break that girl." After a moment of consideration, I shrugged. "Sounds fun."

"Later, perhaps. For now, I have you to myself. No Emerald, no Neopolitan, just us." I opened my mouth and her hand came down and covered it. "No more Princess Bride. I hated that movie."

"As you wish," I got out around her hand, smirking as she glared, mouthing the word 'ass.'

---

Golden eyes tracked me as I made my way into the apartment from where Blake sat at my kitchen table, eating what looked like a bowl of fruit and toast while reading. As I passed, she sniffed and closed her book around her finger. "Another one?"

I blinked, realizing what she meant, and shrugged. "Don't ask."

The brunette nodded, reopening her book and going back to her smut. "So, how did you do it?"

"Do what?" I asked, heading for the washer and drier.

"Pull off being in two places at once."

I shot her an unamused look as I got started on laundry, starting with my Shiro outfit from the night before, pulled from my Inventory. The apartment was empty this morning, aside from Blake. My map showed the twins, Neo, and Penny all at Fox Hunt's barracks. "You're going to have to be more specific."

Blake rolled her eyes. "You came to me as the Fox. You are also the guy in black. Ergo, you were in two places at once two nights ago."

'God damnit. Is there even any point to trying to keep who I am secret?' Sighing, I leaned against the washer/dryer combo for a moment before pushing off and joining her in the kitchen. I'd had a long night and hadn't gotten much in the way of sleep, though a lot of that had been spent thinking. While Cinder and I could both go for hours, she had deemed herself satisfied and gone to sleep around two or so. We'd showered together when she finally woke up and I'd left out shortly after we exited her room to the sight of an annoyed Emerald sitting in the little shop's kitchen eating breakfast. While behind closed doors Cinder had been surprisingly… needy was the best way to put it, in front of her people she was almost a different person.

"Was it the smell that gave it away or the voice?" I asked, pulling out a chair and sitting down across from Blake.

The brunette shook her head, marking her place in her book and setting it to the side. "That was part of it, but it's also the way you move, the way you speak, the way you carry yourself. Yang couldn't see it, because she was too personally involved, but you were just playing with her the entire time. You were having fun."

"I was," I admitted.

"Until you stopped playing," she pointed out, and I nodded again. "You hurt her. I know you broke her arm, but she seemed fine when I came in last night as she and her sister were leaving."

I raised an eyebrow, deciding to go on the offensive. "Getting attached, Blake?"

The former White Fang member looked away. "Is it so bad if I am? Yang is… nice. She's outgoing, easy to talk to, not judgmental, and she doesn't expect me to carry a conversation by myself."

"Pretty much everything you'd want in a friend?" I asked, and she shrugged. "It's not bad, no. I'd say it's very good, really. If you're making friends, it means you're healing." She shot me an annoyed look, and I shook my head. "You can't bullshit me, remember? You were hurt. This is good for you. And to answer your question, like I told you yesterday, I can cast healing spells." I would need to go level those soon, actually. While I was getting plenty of experience with my fighting and defensive skills, my healing skills had suffered from lack of attention lately.

She nodded, sitting there quietly as she ate and observed me for several long minutes. I went into the kitchen and set about preparing my own meal while she thought. 'Steak, cheese, bell pepper, tortilla… looks like I'm having Mexican for breakfast.' I actually preferred real food to 'breakfast food' for breakfast, most days, so I didn't mind a little extra work to make something I'd truly enjoy.

"I think I get it, now," Blake finally spoke up. "Why you came for me, how you know so much about Cinder. You're infiltrating her organization as one identity and actively fighting against it with the other." After a moment, she added, "And that's her scent all over you, so you're also sleeping with her."

"I couldn't confirm if I was," I denied.

Blake shrugged. "You can't bullshit me, either," she pointed out, tapping the side of her nose. She watched me cooking for a while, seeming to be trying to decide whether or not to say something, before she finally continued. "It won't work. She won't change. She can't. She's gone too far, at this point."

"Oh? You've seen her all of once. What makes you say that?" I asked, looking up from my work long enough to catch a look of what registered to my Semblance as shame cross her face.

"Take it from someone who knows," she murmured, turning away and burying her nose in her book again. "But I couldn't exactly blame you if you wanted to try anyway. Just know that it hurts that much more when you realize that the person you've loved has become something unrecognizable."

Humming, I stirred the mix of chopped steak and bell pepper in the pan, turning down the heat to let it brown properly and soak in spices. "You're talking about Adam," I guessed, and the faunus girl shrugged. "So, he wasn't always a genocidal maniac. Not terribly surprising, really."

"He's not a maniac," Blake denied. "Obsessive, driven, and yes, genocidal—but sane. It's not his fault, though. The way he was raised—"

"Blake," I interrupted quietly, drawing her gold eyes to my blue, "No. Don't make excuses for other people. He made a choice." She opened her mouth and I help up a hand. "No, he always had a choice—just as you did. Otherwise, we're back to our humans versus animals discussion. If you kick a dog, you'll either make him skittish or mean. If you kick a person, he can choose to be either. Saying he didn't have a choice, when he clearly did, is like saying you think he's not capable of making decisions for himself—that he's just some helpless entity with no agency, incapable of acting himself and only capable of being acted upon. Which is clearly not the case."

"Okay, maybe you're right. Maybe he did have a choice. But when your choices boil down to either starve or join a group that will feed you, it's kind of a hard choice to make," she countered.

"Most of us don't get up in the morning and decide, 'You know what? Today, I want to kill everything not my species.' It's not on the table," I sighed. "One day, when you trust me more, I'd like you to actually tell me what you know of his upbringing. I'll listen, because I'm going to need to understand him, but it won't change what I've said."

"Maybe," she murmured, stabbing at a piece of fruit with her fork.

"That can't be filling," I chuckled, turning off the fire under my own breakfast. "Are you still hungry? How do you feel about steak?"

I heard her stomach rumble from my place at the stove and the faunus girl blushed. "I'm fine."

Raising an eyebrow, I set about rolling up two wraps. "Really? You know, if you're trying to watch your figure or something, that shit will get you killed in Hunter school. You need protein and carbs—food that builds muscle and will provide Aura. Fruit won't cut it."

Blake shot me an annoyed look. "I spent most of my childhood digging for scraps out of garbage cans. If I want fruit for breakfast, I will have fruit for breakfast."

Shrugging, I dropped back into the seat in front of her and began cutting up one of my wraps. "If you say so. But if you're still hungry, I made extra," I pointed towards the second wrap with my fork. "But if you don't hurry, I'll eat it myself."

She glared, but after a few moments of watching me eat, slowly cut off a piece and tried it. An instant later, the wrap had moved onto a spare plate and sat in front of her as she chewed happily at the steak. "At least you can cook," she murmured around a mouthful.

"I have many redeeming qualities," I shrugged.

We ate in companionable silence, and it wasn't until she'd finished her meal and washed it down with juice that she spoke again. "I want in."

I blinked, raising an eyebrow. "Going to have to be more specific."

Blake frowned, pushing away her plate and leaning forward in her seat. "You have a PMC—a group you claim you'll be using to protect Vale. You need fighters?" she asked, and I nodded. "Skilled workers—craftsmen, carpenters, and the like?"

"We could use a few, yeah," I agreed.

"I know where you could get all of those things."

"Faunus," I stated, and she nodded. "From where?"

"All over," Blake shrugged. "I'd suggest the Schnee mining towns, first. You'll pay a fair wage?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, I just hire people and expect them to work for free," I snarked. Blake sent me an unamused look and I sighed. "Yes, I pay fair wages. Yes, I will provide equal pay for equal work and equal quality work. I won't take on slackers or people just looking to make a quick lien, and I'm not going to let people do half the work as someone else then claim it's unfair they're getting paid half what that other person is making."

"I would like to join, then," she repeated. "I can help find recruits willing to work under those conditions."

I frowned, shaking my head. "I need you to understand something, Blake. I can't bring you in if I don't have your loyalty. If you're just getting ready to run again, or worse, rejoin the Fang, then I can't have you knowing all my secrets."

The faunus girl nodded. "And what can I do to earn your trust? If you're helping my people like this, then I want to be a part of it. I won't run, and I won't go back to the Fang."

"I believe trust between us is going to take time. We can start by working on this project for you," I suggested. "How about we get together with the girls and go visit one of these mining towns you suggested, some time in the next few days? I'll give you a chance to try and recruit them and we'll go from there."

"That would be nice," Blake agreed, and my eyes shifted focus into the middle distance as a quest alert popped up.

Recruit the Faunus

Help Blake convince faunus to join your PMC.

Success: new recruits, increased closeness to Blake, 2000EXP/recruit, quest continuation. Failure: no new recruits, no EXP, Blake will lose faith in you and leave.

Shooting me an amused look, the faunus across from me asked, "You just got a quest, didn't you?"

I chuckled, nodding. "Yeah. Loyalty mission, I think."

"Oh?" she hummed. "Mine? What if I don't want to be loyal?"

"Well, in that case, I put my boot in your ass and wish you good luck in life," I shrugged. "But near as I can tell, this doesn't force you to do anything, it just guesses at your actions and reactions somehow. So tell me, would me doing this for you improve my standing in your eyes? Would you feel like I was a person worth giving your loyalty to?"

Thinking about it a moment, she answered slowly, "Yes, I believe so—at least somewhat. Your Semblance can really tell you if a person is loyal to you or not?"

"Yeah. Along with emotional state, fishing out background details, and a whole host of other shit that kind of honestly scares the girls at times," I admitted. "Good news is, I'm not using it to game you or anything. I genuinely want to help you. I want us to trust each other. And not just because I need your help with Cinder, or the Fang, or because I think you're hot."

"Well, that's good to know," she murmured, before a small smile crept across her lips. "You really think I'm hot?"

I rolled my eyes. "Pretty sure you got visual proof of that this time yesterday," I reminded, and was rewarded with a blush. "So do the twins, and Neo, for that matter. You would not believe how hard it is to keep Neo from trying to convince you to 'join up,' as it were."

"I'm not that—"

Ah, insecurity—I know thee well. "They seem to think so, and you know what I think. And before you ask, no, I'm not telling you this to get into your pants. It's the truth, and I felt you should know, after yesterday—so there's no misunderstanding. None of us is going to sneak into your room at night and molest you while you stay here. You are perfectly safe, on that front. On the other hand," I added, thinking over what I knew of the girls, "If you make an offer, don't be surprised if Neo or the twins jump on it."

"Twins," Blake murmured, eyes going momentarily vacant. She shook her head and shot me a glare when I snorted. "You saw nothing."

"Uhhuh. Sure," I nodded. "Don't worry, everyone does that. It seems to be a pretty common fetish."

"I don't want to know," she denied, opening her book and attempting to hide behind it.

"Oh, you should have heard their reaction to you," I continued, a smirk playing on my lips as her ears twitched. "It went something like, 'Mm, cat-girl.'" The book lowered enough for golden eyes to glare into my own. "Oh come off your high horse. The twins are perfectly aware they tick certain boxes for the vast majority of people: short, loli-goth, and twins for starters. Is it really so surprising you'd tick boxes for other people?"

"It's different," she shook her head.

"Is it really?" I asked, reaching out and pushing her book down again to force her to look at me. "Melanie and Miltia have spent years knowing that, for most people, they've been reduced to a fetish—not even seen as individuals or people. It's dehumanizing. I'm sure you can relate, when people only see you for what you are as opposed to who you are. I got onto them about that for pretty much the exact same thing I'm telling you. Talk to them. You'll find common ground. Okay?"

"Okay," she murmured, breaking eye contact.

"So, are you staying here or are you coming with me?" I asked, pushing myself up from the table and taking care of the dishes.

"Where?"

I shrugged. "Not sure yet. Back to the barracks to pick up the others, for starters. After that, I suppose I'll have to check my itinerary. Either way, it's likely to be a busy day. Not much longer until Beacon is scheduled to start, and I don't know about you, but I'd like to have as much of a head start as possible before we go."

Putting away her book, Blake made her way to the spare bedroom, coming back out a moment later strapping Gambol Shroud into place. "Sounds like a plan. Let's go."

As we stepped out onto the roof, I pulled up my map and set a waypoint as a force of habit, and frowned as something caught my eye—a symbol I didn't recognize, moving through the Commercial District. "What the hell?" I murmured. Blake turned a curious look on me and I shook my head. "Run on ahead. I'll meet you guys there. I've got something to check out." With that, I took off at a run, changing into my Shiro gear mid-step, one hand moving to check my new weapon. 'Who are you?'