Jäger Chapter Twenty-Eight: Of Mornings and Headaches

With a barely-suppressed yawn, Jake gets out of the warm comfort of his bed. His katana, Sōryū, rests in the area between his bed and the nightstand. After making it through the rainstorm and dodging cops, the Jäger had placed the legendary blade that marked the leader of his Order somewhere close by, just in case. Now standing in the middle of his assigned room, Jake takes a quick look around. After all, it would be pretty damn stupid if he got caught now just because he was carless.

Was his revolver hidden? Check.

Cloak? Dry (or rather, at least somewhat) and folded.

Bayonet? Cleaned and placed securely in the sheathe he uses, currently held by Neo.

Jake pauses for a moment, eyes widening slightly. Looking again, he sees that his twin sister is indeed in his room, with a small and mischievous smile present on her lips. She winks playfully at him before tossing the bayonet and its scabbard towards her brother, who deftly catches it in the air. His brief expression of surprise swiftly morphs into a grin of pleasure. Placing the leather scabbard onto his nightstand, Jake addresses his mute twin.

"I didn't expect you to be here this early, sis. I'm guessing that the bomb is no longer a problem." Neo nods her head once, still smiling. Then an absolutely deadpan expression appears as she gestures to him in sign language.

Sounds like you were rather busy last night, bro. Care to explain? Upon finishing signing the last word, she holds up a copy of the local newspaper. On it, in bold print, is the headline: 'Mysterious Fire and Slaughter in the Warehouse District'. A semi-sheepish expression grows on the face of the Jäger. He walks over and silently cracks it open slightly, just enough to allow him to peak out into the hallway. After checking both directions and seeing no one, he gently closes the door before turning to his diminutive twin. Said sibling is now tapping her left foot on the ground, her arms crossed, clearly waiting for an explanation.

"I promise I will explain everything in detail tonight, but for now, allow me to give you a short summary of what has happened to me since the last night we saw mom alive. I ran into the Emerald Forest, and an old hermit who turned out to be a high-ranking member of a secret warrior society dedicated to protecting the four kingdoms took me in as his apprentice. He told me later that I was actually the next leader, and gave me my katana. I took over, and now I am investigating a plot to conquer the kingdoms. A plot, if I might add, that would have involved you, had I not jammed that bomb yesterday."

There is a long stretch of silence. Neo stares at her taller brother with pink and brown eyes. A look of utter disbelief graces her features. Finally, she makes a single hand gesture. Seriously? Jake nods with a grunt.

"Seriously." Before either can continue, however, a rapid series of light knocks is heard from the other side of the dorm room's door. Jake grabs Sōryū, though he doesn't pull it out of its lacquered scabbard. Instead, he clutches the laminated wood just above the hand guard, holding it by his side casually. Then he opens the door, present is a calm, if somewhat stone-like, look on his face. Said expression quickly morphs into a gentle smile as he looks down at his shorter girlfriend.

"Good morning Jake!" Ruby says with her usual chipper energy. Jake lets out a chuckle as the arm holding his sword is lowered. He holds the door open, allowing the leader of Team RWBY into his assigned quarters.

"Good morning Ruby. You actually picked a very good time to show up. There's someone I want you to meet," Jake tells his girlfriend, who looks up at him with questioning silver eyes.

"Oh? Who is it?"

"Ruby, meet my twin sister, Neopolitan Torchwick. Sis, this is Ruby Rose, leader of Team RWBY, youngest student to ever attend Beacon Academy, and my girlfriend." The short girl with red-and-black hair looks at the aforementioned, shorter girl. Ruby's already wide eyes somehow manage to widen even more so. Activating her speed semblance, the reaper darts forward, leaving behind her typical trademark rose petal trail behind.

"Oh my god you're here finally! I've been waiting for this! Jake, I just realized she is super cute!" Upon hearing this last part, Neo's face twists into a grimace, her hands becoming a flurry of movement as she signals her extreme displeasure to her brother. After letting out a short chortle, clearly amused by the scene, Jake addresses his extremely energetic girlfriend.

"Yes, Ruby. Neo is going to be staying here. Speaking of which, do you have any idea about how we should address—"

"Oh, hey guys!" Jake closes his mouth with an almost-audible click while Ruby greets Weiss and Blake. The face of the former has a mixture of irritation and sleepiness present on her features, while the latter has a rolled up newspaper in her right hand. "Jake's sister is here! Where is Yang? I want to show her this!" The BY of Team RWBY both raise an eyebrow at that last sentence. When their young team leader pauses with a silent, questioning look, Blake lets out a sigh.

"Don't you remember what Yang said last night about what happened between them?" Alarm floods Ruby's face.

"Oh, no. This is bad! Quick, we got to hide—"

"There you are Rubes!"

'Shit,' Jake thinks to himself as the very girl they were talking about enters the room.

"So, what do you and your boyfriend have got planned today? A long romantic walk? Geeking out over weapons?" Ruby's half-sister only stops walking halfway between the door and the center of the room, still in her pajamas like the rest of her team. A wide, almost-infectious smile graces her face.

Then the buxom blonde brawler notices a certain mute, tri-color themed girl, sitting on Jake's bed and trying to not draw any attention. Her smile dies an ugly death before a large scowl appears. In an instant, gentle lilac orbs become bright red pools of blood. Golden hair becomes brighter, and her fists are clenched so tightly, it is a wonder that no blood has been drawn. Knowing that in her anger, Yang would most likely ignore any verbal warnings, Jake slowly shifts his body until he is between the two rivals. Sōryū, still in its equally-ancient sheath, is clutched in his right hand as a simple warning, not a threat. Ruby's silver eyes bounce back and forth rapidly between her older sister and her boyfriend, while the rest of RWBY steps back, equally nervous. No one says anything as the tensions continues for another minute or so.

Finally, Yang lets out a sigh, though her eyes remain red. "I'm going to go train. After all, since classes are canceled and whatnot, I've got plenty of time to kill," Yang nearly hisses in a mixture of anger and disgust. Then, spinning around, she stomps out of the room and down the hall. Yet another moment of awkward silence hangs in the area. Letting out a weary sigh, Jake pinches the bridge of his nose between his left thumb and index finger, shaking his head slightly. Ruby shoots an extremely apologetic look to both her boyfriend and his sibling.

"I'm so sorry about that. I will talk to Yang about that today, I promise!"

Jake gives her a gentle hug. "It's fine Ruby. Let's be honest, Yang very well might have been killed yesterday if I hadn't made it in time. So of course, she has a pretty good reason to be mad, and if there is anything I have learned about your sister, it is that when she is angry, she isn't likely to listen to reason. Give her some time to cool off, ok?"

Though her child-like face has a pout, giving the mental image of a sad puppy, Ruby nods her head once, sighing at the same time. "Oh fine, I guess," she mutter to him. After another few seconds of relative silence, Blake lets out a slight cough, which gains the attention of her two shorter teammates and the leader/sole member of Team JÄGER. The newspaper that the former member of the White Fang had been holding rolled up is now held open. Once again facing him are the words Neo had shown him not that long ago.

"I just found this in front of our door. Everyone else has a copy as well, it seems. Busy last night?" The cat Faunus asks, part dryly, part accusingly. Jake scoffs, easily feigning ignorance.

"I wish. Pity I wasn't the one who was doing that clean-up," Jake lies smoothly. The heiress to the Schnee Dust Company again raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest before speaking up.

"So, what you are saying is that you had absolutely nothing to do with this so-called massacre last night?" Despite himself, the Jäger lets out a smirk.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that. Just relax. It's not like we're going to be missing any of those terrorists responsible for the Breach." Ruby nods her head rapidly, with a single one from her partner. Meanwhile, Jake notices the unconvinced look on Blake's face as she purses her lips together. The leader of the Order of the Shrikes of the Mournful Dawn can clearly see the desire to press on with the topic. Eventually, however, Yang's partner lets out a disappointed sigh before she too nods her head slightly.

"Now, fi that is all settled, I'm hungry. Let's grab some breakfast before I get any more of a headache."

This afternoon, however, Jake will be contacting his second-in-command, to discuss the coming war.

Elsewhere in Beacon…

With a growl, she tosses the now-crumpled newspaper into the trash bin. Her two minions are both, thankfully, silent. She finally stops outside the window, both of her hands pressing down on the wooden still. Cinder Fall was not happy. Not one bit at all happy.

First, the quasi-Fall Maiden finds out that Torchwick's daughter, who was going to be playing a rather key role in her master plan, is missing. Then she finds out that warehouse the White Fang survivors from the Breach went out of contact during the night. Now, this morning, the fiery, amber-eyed girl finds out that they had all been slaughtered, and a fair amount of her valuable resources had been destroyed. If this keeps up, her mistress is going to not be pleased.

Finally, she turns to her right-hand woman. "Emerald." Said girl/suck-up looks up rapidly.

"Yes ma'am?"

"Send a message to dear Adam. Tell him to start applying the disguise for Unichtozheniye, and then to send it here before the tournament starts. Adam should also be told to start training a special squad of his followers to act as members of a boarding party. In the meantime, both you and Mercury will also keep an eye on this…son of Roman. He is starting to be more of a problem than I expected. Don't engage him in combat, however."

Emerald nods her head rapidly, determined to please her mistress. "It will be done at once." Mercury simply grunts as he lunges lazily on his bed, a comic book in his hands that only has part of his attention on.

Cinder merely nods her head, still looking outside. "What will be your next move, Jäger?"

And done early! Sorry, I just struggled with this chapter in making it long enough, but hopefully the next one will be much closer to the previously-stated goal for words per chapter. Heads up, we will be seeing more OCs next chapter. As always, please feel free to leave reviews/thoughts/comments down below! Have a wonderful day and until next time! Next chapter: Preparing for War