Jäger Chapter Six: Revelations

Three months.

It had been three months since Jake had been captured. Three months since he met the energetic but occasionally awkward red-and-black haired girl known as Ruby Rose. Three months of attending Beacon under duress. Three months since kicking Team CRDL's ass. Three months of mostly useless schoolwork about knowledge and history he either already knew or (for only a very small part of it very recently and as under the nickname of the Jäger) been a part of it.

Surprisingly, it could have been a lot worse.

That thought causes Jake to shiver slightly as he hunches over his work desk, alternating between drawing plans for his suit of armor and making some brand-new tungsten-core anti-Grimm rounds for his beloved rifle. A gift from Team RWBY, as a sort of apology for the noise they have made that disrupted his concentration as work, a pair of blue ear buds, plays music in his ears. Currently, he is listening to a song that Ruby had picked out and interestingly enough, had been the song playing when the Dust shop she was in was robbed by Roman Torchwick, who he had been about to kill before being interrupted by the headmaster of Beacon Academy, Professor Ozpin.

He will admit, it does seem to be a good song to listen to. After a month of trying to get the silver-eyed scythe wielder to bug off, Jake had (for the first time in years) finally given up. If there is one thing Ruby has, it is determination. Seeing that trying to avoid her wasn't working, the reluctant student had decided that it would be for the best to be…friendly to her. And to a slightly lesser extent, the rest of Team RWBY. He isn't sure if he would call the 15-year old girl a friend, though. He shakes his head in slight irritation as he finishes making another anti-Grimm round.

As the song ends, Jake turns his head to his dorm room's door at the sound of knocking. There are only two people who would be at his door, and of which there is only one of them that he has zero interest in shooting. Considering that it is a Friday afternoon and that he had been keeping a low profile, Jake highly doubts that it is Ozpin. "Enter!" He says evenly, dropping his normal gruff tone. He takes out the ear buds and grabs a rag to wipe off his hands.

Sure enough, it is a smiling Ruby who opens the wooden door.

"Hey Jake," She says cheerfully. Said teen nods his head slightly, grunting out a greeting in return.

"Weiss is having us go down to the docks in a few minutes. Something about a ship arriving at the dock carrying students from Vacuo for the Vytal Festival. You wanna come along?"

A ghost of a smile touches the corners at the offer. For a brief second he actually considers accepting. "Damn it! What the fuck is wrong with you? You're a lone wolf, remember?" But is that true anymore? Jake shakes his head. "No thanks. Got to work on my armor design. Catch you later," He says, only a trace of his characteristic gruffness present.

"Oh, ok. Well, have fun! Catch you later!"

With that, she closes the door, leaving the Jäger to his work. He does with vigor, trying to put his frustration over what he perceives as him going soft due to being the unofficial partner of Ruby Rose. "Damn Ozpin," He growls as he finishes the helmet design.

Time goes by quickly when he hears an alarm go off on his scroll. An alarm he hadn't used since he had been captured. "Wonder what he wants?" With that thought in mind, Jake opens the device to see a message on the holographic screen.

Have information regarding R. Meet me at the club in an hour. Try to be subtle-Junior

A smile takes its place on his lips. The hungry smirk of a predator that has discovered the trail of a wounded animal. The game is finally afoot once more. Or at least, that is what he hopes for.

One hour later…

Jake enters the unusually empty club owned by Hei Xiong, or Junior. He wears his normal clothes minus the tattered brown cloak, having switched it out for a trench coat that he had bought last month for undercover work, such as now. He left his normal weapons in his room, not wanting to draw attention to himself as being the Jäger or to Junior. After all, Jake eneds an information broker who is alive, not dead. Though, from what he had heard from Yang one night, he really, really needs to improve on his security.

"Mister Jake!"

Speak of the devil. Junior is dressed in his normal outfit, though he is standing behind the bar, two empty shot glasses in front of him, along with a bottle of beer. None of his employees are here, save for his two personal bodyguards, the twin raven-haired girls Melanie and Miltiades Malachite. Jake always gets the two confused, but he doesn't really care which one is the one who fights with bladed heels while wearing white and which one is red and carries claws as weapons. He makes his way to Junior, his face looking like it was carved from a statue.

"Come, sit! Drink?"

Jake shakes his head before replying. "Nah, kicked the habit not too long ago. So what do you have for me?" Inside he relishes the fact that he can be completely gruff once more. Here, while Junior may own the club, he more or less owns Junior, or at least his loyalty. After all, with such shitty bouncers, the man would have been driven out of business within a week if it hadn't been that the Jäger saw a useful ally (note pawn) in hunting the top dogs of the underground crime network.

Junior takes a moment to pour himself a shot of the beer, chugging it down in a single gulp. "Ah, that is some good stuff. Just like the information I've got to tell you," He says, tweaking the patience of his 'boss' with an amused smirk. Jake takes a deep breath.

"Information. Now."

Junior places the glass down on the table before raising his hands in mock surrender. "Fine, fine. As blunt as ever. So, remember when Torchwick hired four of my boys to assist him in robbing a Dust ship three months back?" Jake doesn't say anything, giving him a deadpan stare. Junior winces slightly when he realizes mistake.

"Right…of course you do. Well, there has been a large string of robberies all connected to Torchwick and Dust. You were right, by the way. It seems that the White Fang has formed some sort of partnership with Roman. One of my informants in the White Fang has confirmed that there is going to be a massive raid on the docks tomorrow night. A huge shipment of Dust, courtesy of the Schnee Dust Company. Roman himself will be there."

"Your source is sure?"

"Tuskon never lies. He knows that bad information means bad business."

"And he won't rat you out?"

Again Junior nods his head with confidence. "Not with the amount of Lien I had paid him. Worst case scenario, he runs off in a couple of months. He runs a cover job as the owner of Tuskon's books."

Jake nods, grabbing several hundred-Lien notes and placing it on the table between them. "Half the agreed payment for information. As this is personal, I will pay you the rest, and maybe even a bonus, Sunday evening. Deal?"

This time it is Junior who snorts. "It's not like I have the choice to say no. You call the shots, remember?" Jake grins, his eyes completely cold as he observes his secret information broker.

"Good. Just wanted to make sure you remember that," With that, Jake stands up and starts to walk to the door. He stops when Junior speaks up again.

"Hey, how's Beacon by the way?"

Jake takes a moment to make up his mind. If it had been during the first month, he would have said that it had been an absolutely horrid situation. But now it is different. Again, he is not sure if he should be comfortable by that or absolutely alarmed. Remembering that he should just answer the damn question and leave before anyone can realize who he is and then connect Junior to him, he makes up his mind.

"It's been…bearable. Just remember, if anyone comes knocking for information regarding Torchwick, tell them as little as possible. And do not mention our association at all. In fact, just say that he hired some of your boys and stick with that. Clear?"

"Of course."

"Good. Word of advice: If a blonde girl named Yang drops by, don't piss her off again. You have no idea how much I am making an understatement when I say that you were lucky after she trashed this place." With that being said, the Jäger quickly exits the temporarily closed-down club and heads to Beacon.

Later…

"There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

"People like me?!"

"You're discriminatory!"

"I'm a victim!"

Jake growls as he is forced to listen to the argument going on next door. After arriving back at Beacon without being seen, he had taken a nap, wanting to make sure he was well-rested for tomorrow night. The Jäger plans on leaving early in the morning, before others are awake. Using his stealth semblance, he would sneak off of the school's grounds and make for the docks, grabbing some food along the way once he was in town. After that, he would set up shop in the maze of storage containers and cranes, waiting for the damned orange-haired, hat-wearing, cigar-smoking, cane-wielding bastard to show up. And this time, there would be no Ozpin, no Ruby Rose, no one, who would stop him from delivering his justice. Ozpin would disapprove, but to hell with the coffee-addict. Damn the consequences and full speed ahead.

That plan, however, is being slightly mauled by the shouting match between Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna. "Fucking hell," He says to himself tersely as he stands up, heading over to the door. He isn't surprise to find that one of the girls of Team RWBY to be in a shouting match is the Dust heiress, but he is slightly taken aback by the normally quiet and reserved book-reader who is Yang's partner. That must mean that it isn't a petty matter, or at least, not to Blake.

That still doesn't make the Jäger any less aggravated by the noise.

He throws the door open, walking over to the door next door. With a frustrated growl, he raps his knuckle against the wooden panels. The sound of raised voices doesn't die down, however. Thankfully, Jake is received by the door being open slightly. An uncomfortable-looking Ruby pokes her head out.

"Oh, hey Jake. Um, sorry?" Jake sighs. Why is it so damn hard to be angry at the red-and-black haired girl?

"What's going on?"

"Weiss and Blake are having an argument over the White Fang and Faunus. I don't think there's anything Yang or I can do about it right now," She says in an apologetic tone, clearly uncomfortable at the situation. Jake sighs again, maintaining his temper. He nods his head in understanding.

"Very well. I guess I'll just use those ear buds you guys gave me. Good luck with those two."

"Yeah. Good night Jake."

"Night Ruby."

With that, Jake heads back to his room while Ruby closes her dorm's door. Tomorrow is so going to be worth it when he doesn't have to listen to either of those two continuing to bicker at all. Nope, not one single bit. It'll be like the good old days, where he was a lone wolf looking out only for himself, and delivering justice to crime lords and top gang enforcers. It will probably be the last one for four years, so he plans on enjoying the complete solitude to the fullest extent.

The next night…

Blake grbas Roman Torchwick by the shoulder, Gambol Shroud pressing against his throat. Torchwick instinctively tenses his body, caught off guard.

"What the-oh for f-" He starts, rolling his eyes slightly as he starts to curse.

Blake cuts him off before he can finish swearing. "Nobody move!" She says, her voice hard. One of the White Fang soldiers raises his rifle. A scraping sound indicates that the second masked Faunus has unsheathed his sword. Torchwick speaks up again.

"Whoa, take it easy there, little lady," He says as two more members of the White Fang appear. One carries another rifle, while the second carries two swords. For a few seconds it looks like a stalemate. The cat Faunus member of Team RWBY reaches for her black bow, preparing to remove it and reveal her black cat ears. The air is tense as her hand slowly grips the black cloth.

Suddenly, a loud crack breaks the tension. The eyes of Blake, Roman, and three White Fang members all widen as the center of the single sword-armed Faunus rapidly turns form white to red. The dying terrorist looks down at his chest as he falls to his knees, not understanding what had just happened. With a gurgle, the member of the White Fang slumps forward into a growing pool of blood, completely lifeless.

For a second, all is silent. Then Blake's hidden cat ears twitch slightly as she hears the faint sound of footsteps somewhere up ahead. To other ears, it would have been extremely difficult to pick up. The other Faunus nearby also picks up the sound as it draws closer. But everyone hears the sound of a gun being reloaded. The others don't recognize it, but Blake does, causing her already-wide amber eyes to nearly bug out of her skull. "What is he doing here?"

Her superb night vision quickly picks out a cloaked form of a human male approaching them. His upper body and face are hidden by the shadows of the large Schnee Dust cargo crates, but retreat rapidly as he continues to move closer. His long rifle is aimed slightly towards the gun, appearing to be casual, but ready to be used in an instant. Blake gasps as she realizes who it is, while Roman Torchwick's green eyes narrow. His well-used saber jingles in its now-leather coated sheathe. His sword bayonet is in its own sheath across his chest. With a final, ominous step, the teen readies his single-shot black powder rifle. His usually stoic face is contorted in rage and disgust as he addresses the silent, mostly stunned crowd.

"Good night, gentlemen, Blake. Sorry to drop in unannounced, but I had some business to take care of. Very personal business. Wouldn't you agree, father?"

And there we have it! The first of several big reveals! Same thing about reviewing, etcetera, as always, thank you guys so much for taking the time out of your busy days to read my story, really mean it! Next time: Jake versus Roman. Until next time!