Hey there, everyone! I hope that your Sunday is going well.
One little request I'd like to put out there: If you're going to write a review for one of my chapters (and I really love it when that happens, it's a huge motivator for me), please kindly allow me to be able write a reply back. It's fun to be able to talk with a reader about the story; it really helps me to brainstorm about it.
Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this next chapter of "Huntsman, Student, Rogue Agent". Happy reading!
Edited as of 2/12/2023: Added list of Jaune's cybernetic implants in post-chapter Author's Note.
Re-edited as of 3/2/2023: Removed Jaune talking about specifics of his cybernetics in the story.
Arc One, Part Five
Through the streets of Vale, Jaune and Pyrrha ran through the night at blinding fast speeds, leaping over traffic, both vehicular and foot, laughing at the indignant shouts thrown their way. The night air whipped by their faces as the buildings and people of Vale flashed past. At one point, Jaune and Pyrrha found themselves on a highway, leaping from car roof to car roof, the beeping of their horns and curses filling the air.
Unless pursuing a criminal or engaged in combat, they weren't actually supposed to run pell mell through Vale using their Aura (or implants) to augment their strength, speed, and agility. Huntsmen were capable of incredible damage, both to people and to property, and so their activities were regulated within the kingdoms. Vacuo was the sole exception, which wasn't surprising.
However, between being pressed for time and the freedom that the photostatic masks bought them, Jaune and Pyrrha weren't concerned. With the top authority in Vale nothing but a bunch of aliens in disguise, following the rules had suddenly just become a lot less important. This was especially so with those same aliens about to be coming after them when they figured out that Jaune had turned on them and saved Ozpin.
A few blocks away from the airport, Jaune and Pyrrha finally came to a stop, both of them breathing hard and laughing. It had been awhile since they had done anything like that in Vale, what with Adam Tarus running with his tail between his legs back to Mistral, and Roman Torchwick deciding to stay low since Ruby almost took his head off in their last fight.
"I win!" Jaune said, pumping his fist in victory.
"No, I win!" Pyrrha protested, grabbing his fist and holding it down.
"I landed first," Jaune replied, pointing to the cracked concrete where he had landed. "Therefore, I win."
"I ran ahead of you," Pyrrha laughed, pointing at Jaune's feet and her own. "You gave up, so I won."
"Well, seeing as neither of us actually made it to the airport," Jaune pointed to the far off lights of their destination, "how about we call it a tie? Unless you want to finish racing."
"Not really," Pyrrha shook her head. "A tie it is," she agreed.
After catching their breath, they began to walk the rest of the way to Vale International Airport (VIA). Jaune's hand found Pyrrha's and their fingers interlaced. For about a block, they walked in a comfortable, serene silence. Just a happy, young couple going on vacation.
"Um, Jaune," Pyrrha broke the silence. "I have a question for you, if you don't mind."
"Go ahead," Jaune answered.
"If you don't have Aura," Pyrrha began, "how were you able to keep up with me? How are you able to run or jump, or to even heal like we do? Is that more psionics?"
"Nah, psionics can't do stuff like that," Jaune replied. "It does allow us to hit harder, though not as hard as a Huntsman can, and some psychics are capable of regeneration or healing others. That's not one of my talents, before you ask. I'm able to imitate a Huntsman's abilities thanks to cybernetic implants."
"Cybernetics? So you're like General Ironwood then?" Pyrrha looked down at his hand. "Your hand doesn't feel like it's metal."
"My implants are different from his prosthetics," Jaune began explaining. "I didn't get entire limbs replaced with cybernetic ones; my implants are designed to, uh, blend in? So they're not noticeable. In reality, I'm the equivalent of a typical Remnite. My implants make me stronger, faster, more durable, and I heal faster than usual. Also, I have a shield generator to imitate Aura."
"Whoa." Pyrrha was looking over like she was trying to see his implants. "Do all, uh, 'Commonwealth' agents possess such equipment?"
"No," Jaune shook his head. "No, these implants were expensive and extensive, and only a small number of agents were given them. Their assignments involved pretending to be Huntsmen or, in my case, Huntsmen-in-training. I don't know how many there are total. Definitely four, myself included, whose mission was to spy on the headmasters."
"You were spying on Ozpin?" Pyrrha looked mad, then conflicted. "That makes sense, I suppose," she murmured. "He is an important man."
"He's the most important man in Vale," Jaune replied, frowning. "Now that I think of it, they should have sent me to kill him, not another agent. Why didn't they?"
Pyrrha pursed her lips as Jaune mulled the question over in his head.
"Maybe they thought you wouldn't be able to do it?" she guessed. "After all, you have turned on them. Perhaps they knew that you were going to betray them?"
"No, they'd have brought me in," Jaune countered. "They wouldn't have risked me turning on them if they thought for a moment I was going to. Maybe they figured that because Ozpin was my psionics teacher that he'd have an advantage over me or something?"
"Ozpin taught you psionics?" Pyrrha was surprised. "I don't understand; how would you learn psionics from him?"
"Ozpin is a psychic," Jaune said, then winced. "And he told me to keep that a secret. Dang it."
"Ozpin is psychic?" Pyrrha's eyes widened and then she made a face. "That does explain a few things though, such as how he always knew what was going on."
"Yeah," Jaune sighed. "My handlers were so excited when I reported back to them about Ozpin. When my own psionics manifested, they were relieved because then they didn't have to create a special implant to imitate a Semblance. I think they panicked a bit when they learned that Ozpin was also a psychic, but they got happy again when they realized what a platinum mine of information I had stumbled upon."
"And yet they wanted him killed?" Pyrrha said, grimacing.
"He's the most influential man in Vale not on the Vale Council," Jaune replied. "Replacing him means they'd basically have control over Vale itself."
Pyrrha couldn't help but shiver. "Oum, that is absolutely terrifying."
"Yeah," Jaune agreed quietly, squeezing her hand. "It is."
They walked the rest of the way in silence, the darkness of the night somehow more oppressive, the shadows promising enemies hiding in every alley and on every rooftop. Jaune found himself wishing that he had gotten IR/UV or lowlight vision installed on his ocular implants; he had video recording and telescopic vision because those were the most useful for his assignment.
The shadows of Vale's night were dispelled when they came in sight of Vale International Airport. Unlike the airports on Unity and presumably the rest of the Commonwealth, there were no long runways for the aircraft to gain speed before taking off. One of the advantages of primarily using Gravity Dust for propulsion was that there was no need for a runway for takeoff; vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) craft from the start!
They reminded him of the old history lessons on the first lighter-than-aircraft developed in the…was it the 19th century or the 18th? He did remember that Humanity's dirigibles and zeppelins used hydrogen or helium to fly, but after an incident in which one with hydrogen, the Hiddenberg(?), had crashed and burned, Humanity had sworn off lighter-than-aircraft.
As Gravity Dust didn't combust when mixed with oxygen like hydrogen did, the Remnites had never grown out of watching large ships flying gracefully through the air. They were definitely faster than sea-going vessels, and while it was actually kind of relaxing to watch such huge ships flying through the sky like metal whales, they were certainly slower than the aircraft utilized by Humans. Jaune could attest to that one personally from the trip to and from Haven for their second Vytal Festival.
Bullheads and other airships were faster, but not by much. There wasn't an aircraft on Remnant that could achieve Mach One; they didn't even know that the sound barrier existed.
Like a lot of things on Remnant, if it could evade Grimm, withstand Grimm, or take out a Grimm within line of sight, Remnites had a tendency to think "good enough" and then leave it there. That didn't stop them from continuing to innovate and research new technologies, but it did put a hamper on what they thought was possible or necessary.
Jaune and Pyrrha watched as a large airship, full of passengers and cargo, lifted off from its pad and began to ascend into the sky. The wing-like panels, more for stabilization than actual steering, made corrections as it maneuvered away from VIA. The strobe lights along the airship's sides and belly flashed in sequence, marking the airship's location as it slowly withdrew from the lights of VIA and of Vale.
It had finally disappeared into Remnant's night sky by the time that Jaune and Pyrrha made it to the doors. Despite the activities of one Roman Torchwick and one Adam Taurus, security at the airport and other such places had remained light. Besides a single metal detector and a Huntsman or two that would be on the flight for security, there was nothing else. As the White Fang had yet to hijack a ship and crash it into something, this was unlikely to change, and Jaune hoped that it would stay that way, both for the sake of the Remnites and Faunus, and because it made getting onto a flight so much easier.
Jaune frowned in thought as they were looking at the available flights. Even if VIA's security was lax compared to the Commonwealth's, they could still confiscate his and Pyrrha's weapons without their Huntsmen licenses, and he didn't particularly feel like going anywhere without Crocea Mors or his Suppressor on him. Pyrrha would definitely feel the same way.
"Let's take a seat, Pyrrha," he said to her, nodding to a nearby bench.
"Um, ok?" Pyrrha said, following to the bench and sitting down, putting her backpack by her duffel. "What's wrong, Jaune?"
"It's Azure at the moment," he said to her, unzipping his bag and taking out a couple of spare Scrolls that he had bought. "Azure Sym."
"Ok, Azure." Pyrrha's eyes widened at the sight of the Scrolls. "I thought you said they could listen to us through those?!" she whispered.
"I bought these a couple of weeks ago, modified them to keep from listening in, or from tracking us," Jaune replied, opening one. "I also added this little feature, where I can sync it to the photostatic veils, so…."
He tapped a symbol on the Scroll's face, auto-filling all the information for a new user. When he turned the Scroll to Pyrrha, Azure Sym's Huntsman License was on display. "Instant fake ID. The veils can hold up to three different faces, and switching to another automatically changes the ID on the Scroll."
"Impressive," Pyrrha said, smiling. "I didn't know that you were so good with programming, Ja-sorry! Azure."
"Thank you, Ms-," Jaune began, taking out the other Scroll and syncing it to Pyrrha's veil. "I'm sorry, I don't believe that I caught your name." Rather than auto-loading information to the Scroll, Jaune held it out to Pyrrha, all the fields empty with the exception of the picture, which was set to her veil's current look.
"Oh!" Pyrrha took the Scroll and looked at it for a moment. "My name is…Phoenix. Phoenix Bernice." She typed on the Scroll, filling out its information, before handing it back to him. Phoenix Bernice, a recent graduate of Beacon Academy, looked at him expectantly.
"Happy to make your acquaintance, Phoenix," Jaune said, smiling and shaking her hand. "You can fill out the information for your other faces onboard. Now, let's go and figure out where we want to go, why don't we?"
Pyrrha nodded and they went back to choosing their flight. One of the similarities between the airports of Remnant and those of the Commonwealth was that no matter what time it was, there were always flights coming in and going out. Unlike Unity or the Commonwealth's older colonies, there weren't a lot of choices when it came to destinations.
The three main choices were Vacuo, Mistral, and Atlas, along with a few of their satellite settlements, like Vale's Patch and Mistral's Argus. Each one had pros and cons that the two of them had to consider.
"Atlas or Mantle would be good places," Pyrrha said. "It would be easy to disappear among all those people."
"True-true," Jaune thought to her. "Problems though - most ad-advanced kingdom Remnant, so lot-lots of agents already there - plus surveillance/cameras - always watching - prefer offgrid."
"What-what about Menagerie/Kuo Kuana then?" Pyrrha thought back. "Could catch flight there from Mistral."
Jaune was a bit surprised by Pyrrha opting to communicate telepathically rather than talking. Then again, maybe it showed that she wasn't as put off by his mental abilities as he had feared she would be?
"Good, but-but maybe too offgrid?" he replied. "Also didn't bring anything imitate/mimic Faunus traits - would stick out sore thumbs - trying conserve/save money so avoid chain-flights - good idea though, Pyr 3."
"Oh." Pyrrha sounded downcast, but he could feel her suddenly brighten up. "What about Mistral/Argus?"
"Still too many agents/surveillance," Jaune answered. "Same reason I/we are-aren't disappearing/hiding in Vale." That, and Ozpin would likely start looking for him, and his good-intentioned efforts could lead to the Commonwealth finding them, so hiding in Vale was definitely a no. That left….
"Vacuo," they thought at the same time.
"Very little government infrastructure," Pyrrha thought. "Vacuan Council is very-very hands off."
"Smallest population of kingdoms," Jaune added. "No huge concentration of agents, pl-plus easy hide/spy in wilderness."
"Vacuo it is," they agreed out loud. Jaune bought two tickets for a single-bedroom, one-way trip, and they began making their way to the terminal. Their trip would take them about three weeks to reach Vacuo (again, airship travel was slow). That could stretch to four weeks if the Grimm decided that the airship was worth taking a crack at (or never if they succeeded).
The line to the terminal was a long one, and Jaune found his mind wandering as they inched forward. Was there any way that Shattered Eclipse could follow their trail? He had changed his hoodie when he had first put on his photostatic veils, so it would take a while for them to figure out that the blue-haired kid who had left the CCT restrooms was actually him. There had been no cameras around when he had given Pyrrha her veil, so the connection between her and Phoenix Bernice wasn't known.
Hopefully, there had been no cameras watching when he had landed in Vale with Pyrrha. Of course, Shattered Eclipse knew that there were psychics on Remnant, so maybe they wouldn't immediately match him with Azure Sym.
Now, assuming that they knew about his betrayal and that he was Azure Sym, that meant one of two things: One, very soon, Eclipse agents would try to grab him and Pyrrha. If they could take him alive, he could expect to see the inside of a cell onboard the Remnant Observation Post in a straitjacket (would they bring in a shrink there, or would they ship him back to Unity first?). As for Pyrrha…it was possible for a psychic to alter memories, but it wasn't easy. Commoners preferred simple solutions to problems, and killing Pyrrha by overdosing her with drugs and then leaving her body to be found in some Valean alley, as yet another celebrity trying to find meaning in self-medication, would be pretty damn simple.
If they managed to fight off the hypothetical grab team and get away, they'd either have to hide in Vale (he DID have a safehouse prepared in Vale should they return to the city), grab a train or boat ride out, or try hiking to one of the settlements on the eastern coast of Sanus and get a boat ride there. That last option…did not sound fun. That one hiking excursion with Ren and Nora where they wound up walking in circles for hours thanks to his compass and Pyrrha's Semblance (NOT her fault) had really put him off that activity.
If they tried to grab him during the trip, they'd likely use a cloaked shuttle to board the airship, which would be very easy to do. The good news with an in-flight grab attempt would be that if he and Pyrrha made enough noise, the Huntsman on the airship would join in, and that would very much tip the scales in his and Pyrrha's favor. As he had told Pyrrha, most Eclipse agents wouldn't be equipped to take a Huntsman on one-on-one, not unless they brought along some heavy ordinance.
If they waited until the airship landed in Vacuo, it would be pretty much the same story and outcomes if they tried it before he and Pyrrha boarded, just that any law enforcement response would be minimal compared to Vale.
If things went well, Eclipse wouldn't know that he had betrayed them and fled Vale with Pyrrha until they were long gone, and the trail had gone cold. In Vacuo, it would be hard for them to pick up their trail again, and he and Pyrrha could get a start on dismantling Eclipse operations, do some real damage before the higher-ups realized what was going on. After Vacuo, they could take the fight to the other kingdoms, one by one, until Remnant was free.
Of course, then there would be the inevitable invasion; the Commonwealth didn't take "no" for an answer, and it would be a cold day in a star's core when they held off from invading a pre-FTL society within their borders, especially one that had just thwarted their first attempt at infiltration. That was something he definitely had to think about.
"Jau-er, Azure!"
He jumped at Pyrrha's voice, glancing up to find that a gap had opened up in the line between him and the person ahead of him, who was passing through the metal detector. He quickly stepped forward, wincing at his absentmindedness. During operative training, the biggest mark against him had been whenever he let his mind wander; not being aware of one's surroundings could easily be deadly in this business. Definitely couldn't afford to do that now.
If he were to use his telepathy to listen in on the thoughts of the people behind him and Pyrrha, no doubt he'd be barraged with annoyance, exasperation, and cursing of all kinds. Some of the most swearing-averse people he knew could curse the air blue with their thoughts. Oh, if Yang only knew how dirty-minded Ruby really was under all that cuteness.
At the metal detector, Jaune put his bags and weapons on the conveyor belt before stepping through the portal. A lot of his spy gear was made of plastic or ceramic so as to avoid detection at such checkpoints. It was a good thing that he wasn't a terrorist; otherwise he could wreak a lot of havoc on board an airship.
"Nice gun you got there," the security guard said as Jaune's things emerged from the x-ray machine. "I don't think I've seen that model before."
"It's a prototype I'm working with," Jaune answered. "The barrel extension is a silencer. The idea is that the Grimm don't even know you're there until you've killed half of them."
"Nice," the guard nodded. "I'm going to have to see a license before I let that on the flight though."
The man nodded in approval when he saw Jaune's Huntsman license. "Feel free to take your weapons onboard with you, Mr. Sym," he said. "The more Huntsmen we have, the better."
Jaune thanked the man and gathered up his things, putting his Suppressor in its shoulder holster. The scene repeated itself with Pyrrha as she had her turn with the metal detector. The security guard squinted his eyes at her like he was wondering where he had seen her before, but shrugged his shoulders.
"Have a good trip, Ms. Bernice," he told her as she picked up her bags and weapons.
"I thought for sure that he was going to recognize me or my weapons," Pyrrha muttered to Jaune when she arrived at his side.
"You are famous," Jaune reminded her. "How about you wear the photostatic wig next time we change faces?"
"Next time?" Pyrrha looked at him. "How often do you think we're going to have to do that?"
"As many times as we have to," Jaune replied grimly, shouldering his backpack as he and Pyrrha approached the airship.
The attendant at the entrance to the airship gave them the keys to their cabin along with their boarding passes. Jaune and Pyrrha found their way to their cabin; it was small compared to the one that they had shared with Nora and Ren when they had gone to Haven Academy for their third year. It was just a single bed (no problem for them), a coat closet, a kitchenette, a bathroom, and a holoscreen projector sitting on a dresser.
With the door locked securely behind them, Jaune and Pyrrha made themselves at home, putting their hoodies up in the closet and emptying their bags into the dresser. They changed into their pajamas (a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt in Jaune's case) and settled down on the bed to watch some HV.
After flipping through the available channels, Pyrrha insisted on "Star Hunt", a Remnite HV series about a team of Huntsmen exploring the stars in a flying saucer. It was actually a decent show; the actors were good and the fight choreography was well done, though the effects were cheesy and the aliens were obviously Remnite actors in heavy makeup or masks.
"How much of this is accurate, you know, out there?" Pyrrha asked as the credits rolled.
"Well, I'm no ship technician," Jaune stretched, "but I'm pretty damn sure that we don't use 'Dust electro-plasma turbines' or 'Aura quantum shift crystals' in our ships."
Pyrrha laughed. "What about alien women?" she teased. "Do all they find Human men irresistible?"
"Not Commonwealth men, no," Jaune deadpanned before grinning, "I can say from firsthand experience though, that Remnite women can't keep their hands off us."
A pillow smacked him in the face, leading to a pillow fight and then a tickle fight. Pyrrha's gasps and giggles were interrupted by the HV screen chiming. They looked up to find a message from the captain of the airship playing across the screen along with the recorded message..
"ATTENTION PASSENGERS! PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THE EMBARKATION WILL COMMENCE AT THIS TIME. ALL PASSENGERS, PLEASE PROCEED TO YOUR CABIN. PLEASE KEEP YOUR FOOD AND DRINK ON A STABLE SURFACE. THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING SANUS AIRLINES FOR YOUR CONTINENTAL TRAVELS."
A moment later, they felt the ship shudder beneath them and shift as it began taking off. Jaune and Pyrrha carefully made their way to the window and looked out. The airship slowly but surely rose from its landing pad, leaving Vale behind. The lights of the kingdom began growing smaller and smaller, giving Jaune an idea of what it would look like to leave the galaxy and venture out into dark space. It was both beautiful and chilling at the same time, that cluster of lights surrounded by a void.
By the time that the lights of Vale had coalesced into a single mass in the distance, Jaune and Pyrrha were back on the bed, watching more Star Hunt while Vale's CCT Tower was still in range. After a few hours, Pyrrha's eyes grew heavy, and then her head began bouncing up and down as she fought sleep. It was a fight that she lost.
Jaune turned off the HV and carefully pulled a blanket up and over Pyrrha. Balancing on the balls of his feet, he made his way to the dresser and fished out his little case. Opening it, he took out a number of micro-cameras and motion detectors. As quietly as he could, Jaune began setting up the cameras in the hall around the door to get all angles.
It was tricky doing the same with the window; he almost dropped one of the cameras into the black void of the western sea below them. After slowly shutting the window, he set up motion detectors around it and the door. Anyone opened them, and it would trigger an alert on his Scroll, which would allow him to see who was entering. He could also check the cameras whenever he wanted.
Once he had the cameras and motion detectors set up, and had also scanned the cabin for bugs and found none, Jaune allowed himself to relax. He gently lowered himself onto the bed beside Pyrrha and put his arms around her, spooning her carefully. He breathed out a sigh of relief when she didn't wake up and tapped the light switch with his telekinesis, plunging the room into darkness.
Just as he was finally allowing himself to relax and pass into the realm of Morpheus, a chiming noise sounded in his ears. Jaune started, then cursed under his breath as Pyrrha stirred beside him.
When she didn't wake up, Jaune sat up in bed and brought the call up. Just as he figured, it was from "Handler", and he could guess why he was being called. They had caught on to him, and were now trying to bring him in.
The good news was that HSC implants, "Human Standard Cybernetic", the basic implants that all Commonwealth citizens received when they reached adulthood, didn't have any hardware or software to monitor their movements and record their doings. Such was considered a Human rights violation ever since the 21st century, and whatever its detractors could say about the Commonwealth, it had an excellent Human rights record.
Jaune's disintegration/tracker implant was an exception, of course, something he had agreed to as part of being a Shattered Eclipse agent, to keep from spilling information if he was found out and captured. With that gone, the only way for Shattered Eclipse or the Commonwealth to track him was to trace the signal from his comms, and they could only do that if he actually answered their calls.
Smirking at the call, he declined it and turned back to Pyrrha, settling down beside her. This time, it took a while for his mind to calm down and to let sleep overcome him.
And that's the end of Arc One of Huntsman, Student, Rogue Agent! Next up will be the beginning of Arc Two, the Vacuan arc.
How did I come up with Jaune and Pyrrha's fake identities? For Jaune, I decided that I wanted to make up a name that was the opposite of "Jaune Arc". "Jaune" is French for yellow, and the opposite of yellow is blue, so I decided to go with "Azure", which is Spanish for blue. In mathematics, the opposite of an arc is a line, which is symmetrical. Thus, the opposite of Arc is "Sym".
As for Pyrrha, I wasn't sure what the opposite of red was (now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure it's green), so I decided to come up with a name that was similar to her own. "Pyrrha" comes from Greek, meaning "flame colored" or "color red". "Nikos" also comes from Greek, meaning "victory of the people". "Phoenix" is another Greek word, meaning "dark red" or "crimson". I figure that it's also good as it's the name of the mythical bird, the Phoenix, a symbol of rebirth. "Bernice" is yet another Greek word, meaning "she who brings victory". Phoenix Bernice is therefore Pyrrha Nikos.
Also, here's the "build" that Jaune would have in Cyberpunk 2077:
Frontal Cortex: Heal-on-Kill, Limbic System Enhancement, Visual Cortex Support
Ocular System: Kiroshi Optics Mk.3 (Explosives Analysis, Threat Analysis, Trajectory Analysis)
Circulatory System: Adrenaline Booster, Second Heart, Syn-Lungs
Immune System: Inductor, Cataresist
Nervous System: Manuvering System, Nanorelays
Integumentary System: Fireproof Coating, Grounding Plating, Supra-Dermal Weaving
Operating System: QianT "Warp Dancer" Sandevistan Mk.5 (3 Heat Sinks)
Skeleton: Bionic Lungs, Dense Marrow
Legs: Fortified Ankles
No implants in the arms or hands
Lore implants: Telescopic Vision and Video Recording in Cyberoptics, Lie Detector and Audio Recording in Cyberaudio.
Original Implant: Shield Generator
For those Cyberpunk fans out there, thoughts? Does this sound like a good build for someone looking to imitate a Huntsman's Aura-based abilites?
I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to leave a review. I hope you all have a good day, and happy reading!