Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY
Chapter 17: Preparations and Confusions
The most important duty of a Huntress was to defeat evil and protect the innocent; nothing was to get in the way of that goal. Everything else was to be secondary to that single aim and anything and everything considered unnecessary and superfluous was to be discarded to help achieve that goal. Beacon, being a preeminent Huntsmen Academy, taught that notion to all it's students, drilling into them to always focus on the bigger picture of protecting people.
That school directive didn't pass on to students who were attempting to perform full Huntsmen duties outside of classes, so homework was still passed out with the expectation it would be completed on time.
This all explained why Pyrrha Nikos, who had vowed to aid her friends in tracking down the White Fang in Vale and wanted nothing more then to devout all her time and attention to that goal, was currently in Beacon's library struggling with her math homework.
While Pyrrha understood the merits of a well-rounded education, now more then ever, part of it seemed pointless to the task at hand. How does solving the problems in Sections A and B of Chapter 4 of the textbook help her to defeat a gang of nefarious criminals?
It wasn't an option for her to simply not do it and take the hit to her grades; Not only would it reflect badly on herself, her family, and her team, but it would be suspicious if the always diligent Pyrrha Nikos suddenly grew lax in her schoolwork. Questions from both staff and other students would emerge, which would distract the group away from their 'extracurricular' task.
It had to be math of all things that was assigned this week, as that was the subject she had the most difficulty with. You wouldn't know that from her test scores, which were almost perfect, but that was only because she focused all her mental strength to the task, effectively brute-forcing her way to the correct answer.
It wasn't as if she didn't understand or comprehend mathematics, she knew and memorized all the different types of equations and formulas, but it just didn't fully click for her. It was if the numbers were just lines on the paper that just didn't fit together and no matter how much she followed the teachers and her tutors instructions, it never became easier for her.
Pyrrha had been staring at one particular complex question for several minutes before a soft snapping sound and sudden wet feeling in her right hand let her know she had accidentally snapped her pen. She barely contained a groan of frustration as she quickly cleaned up the mess, removing her ink-stained glove.
She flexed her now bare fingers; she rarely took her gloves off except to change them or bathe, so it was odd and slightly uncomfortable to have them exposed in public despite being alone in this part of the library.
She looked back at the math textbook with a look of anger, blaming it for her current discomfort. She wished she could just throw the whole thing in the trash and more on to more important things.
There were so many more important and fulfilling things she could be doing now like hanging out with Jaune, having dance lessons with Ren, or preparing for her eventual rematch with…
"Hey Pyrrha! Wha'ca up to?"
Speak of the Devil, Pyrrha turned around and saw Nora standing behind her, a stack of books in her arms.
"OH! I'm just…finishing up some homework," she replied, not wanting to reveal the difficulties she was having.
Pyrrha glance at the books in Nora's arms and quirked an eyebrow. There were manuals on city construction guidelines and law books regarding proper sewer, plumbing and electric installation. She had no idea why Nora would have those books and could only guess that Jaune or Ruby had asked her to look something up for their plan.
Nora looked over at the table and saw the open textbooks, along with the sheets of discarded paper.
"You working on the math assignments they handed out this week?"
Pyrrha winced slightly at the observation.
"Yeah…I'm almost done."
That was a lie; she was barely halfway done, and she had been at this for over two hours now. She was really getting tired out it and despite her usual diligence to such matter, she was hoping that Nora could give her an excuse to stop for the day. Spending time with teammate was an important task at Beacon after all.
Maybe they could go get some food? Or maybe head to the gymnasium for some training? Or maybe…
"Oh…this is easy," Nora remarked, leaning forward, and looking closely at the math problems.
It was a good thing Pyrrha didn't have a pen in her hand, as it would have snapped as her fist clenched. She gave Nora a small, very tight smile, her iron-clad hold on her emotions pushed to the limit.
She knew Nora liked to make jokes, but this wasn't funny at all. She had been working her butt off to complete these questions correctly and she wasn't just going to accept someone demeaning her effort, even if it was a dear friend who…
"I mean, the 'official' way of doing them is a pain but I have a shortcut that can make them a breeze," Nora flashed a grin before setting her books on the table before grabbing a chair and sitting down beside Pyrrha.
The champion's anger was replaced with confusion, not sure what her friend was up to. She could only look on with curiosity as Nora pulled out a pen of her own and began writing out the problem on a piece of paper.
"Now, I know the textbooks says to do it that way, but I've found if you do this and then this, it works out much better," Nora explained as her pen flew across the paper, quickly and cleanly laying out the method to this particular equation.
Pyrrha shook her head; it was completely against the steps laid in the textbook and class. Those were the rules, and they were there for a reason; to go counter to that was against everything Pyrrha had been taught and…
She blinked several times as she looked over paper. It…it worked! Not only was the answer correct, but she was able to comprehend the formula easily. The numbers, which had previously been useless lines on paper to her eyes, now fit together perfectly.
It was insane…it was amazing…
"Now for problems like these, you can do this instead," Nora continued, her pen flowing across the paper, her strokes both quick and elegant.
Over the next 20 minutes, Nora laid out her approach to tackling these math problems, effectively completely the homework that would have taken Pyrrha hours to do normally. She talked quickly but she still managed to clearly and effectively teach her teammate her methods, allowing Pyrrha to learn more in this short time then she had over hours and hours of classes and tutors.
"That about wraps it up. Just follow those steps and you should be good. You need help with anything else?" Nora looked over at Pyrrha, a full smile on her face.
That smile faltered as she saw the look of pure wonderment on her friend's face. It took the secret genius a moment to realize actually what she had done, that she had openly revealed her intelligence.
Before she could think of an excuse to wave this whole thing away, Pyrrha reached out and gently cupped her cheek with her uncovered hand.
"Amazing…" she said softly, staring intensely into Nora's eyes. "You're absolutely amazing…"
Nora couldn't say or do anything, stuck dumb the sheer intensity of Pyrrha's gaze. Just like the time after their spar, it was as if Nora was the only thing in Pyrrha's eyes at this moment, as if she were the single most important thing to her. To have someone, anyone, look at her like that made her heart race.
Slowly, Pyrrha start to lean in, her gaze shifting to Nora's lips. Neither truly understood what was going on but they knew that it wasn't bad, that it was something, deep down, that they wanted.
On the other side of the nearby bookshelf, a student accidentally dropped the stack of books they were carrying, and they hit the floor with a loud thud that rang throughout the wing of the library.
That broke the spell, and Nora stood up and stepped away from the table lighting fast.
"I…well…you should be good for the rest of your homework," she stammered out, not sure what to do or say. "I'll…just head back to the dorm. We need to focus on task this weekend, so no time for…distractions. I'll…ummm…see you later!"
With that Nora, dash out of the library, leaving Pyrrha at the table, hand still outstretch. The highly celebrated fighter could only stare at her hand dumbly, turning her palm slowly.
Her hand began to shake uncontrollable, and she had to grasp it with her other, her whole body following suit as her mind fully processed what she had just done.
She had touched another person! With her bare hand! She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, and for a moment she felt like she was going to throw up. Her system was completely overwhelmed by this fact, so small to normal people but massive for her.
She eventually calmed herself down, and gently rested her head on the table, still gripping her uncovered hand. She had just managed to overcome one of the biggest obstacles in her life, all thanks to Nora. She had given Pyrrha strength…strength to overcome her Weakness. There was only one word to describe such a wonderful thing.
"Amazing…" Pyrrha said to herself, "Amazing…"
Nora had dashed through most of the school, only slowing down as she approached the dorms. She had calmed her breathing, but her mind and emotions were still frayed, processing all of what had happened.
She couldn't believe that she could slip up so easily in regard to keeping her intelligence a secret. Pyrrha hadn't been asking for help, but it was clear she was struggling with the homework and Nora just couldn't stop herself from helping. It had been so easy to slip into helping her teammate, showing the various methods she had developed for herself years ago when she secretly began studying advance mathematics and physics.
While before she could easily sit back as others struggled with materials that was laughably easy for her, now she couldn't help but intervene. First it was helping Jaune train, which started as a mean to make up for breaking his arm but now was something she truly looked forward too and found immensely fulfilling. Now there was helping Pyrrha, with all her rationale about keeping her intelligence hidden being tossed aside in the face of her desire to aid her struggling teammate.
The only times before that she could even show off a little was in combat and with making Dust-based explosions, which fit in with the crazy bombardier persona she was going for. It wasn't a complete lie, as she did enjoy acting like that, but it also wasn't the full truth. Nora honestly didn't know who she truly was as a person, how she would really act in a given situation. Being around Jaune, Pyrrha and Team RWBY was proving a wonderful experience, but it was exposing deep issue inside of her.
It was all…so confusing.
Nora finally reach her dorm and let out a deep sigh. It was probably best to just keep moving forward and do her best to ignore all these strange and new feeling. Sweeping it all under the rug and continue being her happy-go-lucky self would be best for everyone. She needed to come up with a good excuse for Pyrrha as to how she was suddenly good at math but if she kept up her scatter-brain routine, then her respectful friend was unlikely to press the issue.
Just keep it all in…that's all she could do. It wasn't the best course of action, but it was the only way she could keep everyone safe from her.
She entered the dorm, intending to take a cold shower to calm down, and saw Jaune coming out of the bathroom. The towel around his shoulders and the water dripping from hair made it clear he had just had a shower of his own, alongside one other big tell.
"Oh, hey Nora," Jaune greeted, using the towel to dry his hair. "I just finished some afternoon exercises. Shower's free if you need it. Afterwards, we can round up the other and go get something to eat; that sound good?"
Jaune looked over at Nora, expecting an enthusiastic agreement to the notion of food, and instead saw that she was staring at him, her face growing red.
It took the blonde leader a long moment to realize that, while he had put his pants on in the bathroom, he had neglected to put on a shirt, leaving him bare-chested in front of his female teammate.
"Sorry! I just…I wasn't thinking," Jaune apologized, quickly wiping the rest of the water from his chest and hurrying to put a shirt on. He had finally noticed the reaction of his teammates to taking of his shirt after training sessions to cool down, belatedly realizing that it could make others uncomfortable for him to suddenly be half-naked.
For Nora, her attempt to calm down after the episode with Pyrrha was ruined, with her heart racing and the heat rising within her at the sight. It was unbelievable that such a simple thing could cause such a strong and sudden reaction for her, but it did, and it left her mind and body reeling.
It was unbelievable that Jaune could have such a strong effect on her with so little effort…and it was a bit wrong. Jaune was so much more then pleasant eye-candy to her, he was a kind, funny and overall amazing guy who was just a joy to be around. Looking at his body like that, even in an accidental situation like this, wasn't right, as it didn't respect all of who he was to her.
That brought a whole new thought to Nora's over-taxed mind and despite everything, she just have to give voice to it.
"Jaune?"
"Yeah?" he said, struggling to pull his shirt over his head.
"What am I to you?"
The question took Jaune by surprise and he quickly pulled his shirt on and turn to look at Nora. Her face was tight, as if a thousand thoughts were racing through her mind at once and he knew this wasn't a simple question.
Nora was applying this question to her relationships with other people. To RWBY, she was the fun, energetic friend who was great to hang around with; to Weiss especially she was a fellow Dust-enthusiast who willingly joined in with her experiments. These were good things, but that was only a part of her, the small part she showed to the world and RWBY didn't really know anything beyond that.
Today, Pyrrha had looked at her as if she were incredible creature, a being that had the answers to all her problems. Not just with her helping with math, there was something deeper there, a yearning that that seemingly perfect girl desperately wanted and felt Nora could fulfill.
Nora wanted to help, to give back to her kind and caring friend but she wasn't sure if she could. She didn't know enough about Pyrrha or what her problems and desires were to help her, a problem of which they were both to blame. She wanted to help, but she couldn't be the panacea to all her issues just like that, not without hurting both of them.
For Ren, she knew exactly what she was to them; a life preserver to keep their head above the water…and a millstone dragging them back down. To care and protect Nora had been the main goal that had pushed Ren to keep moving forward after that horrible night. She gave them the drive to keep fighting, to become a Huntsmen who would never allow such a thing happen again.
But she was also a constant reminder of what Ren had lost and constantly brought them back to that dark time. She was an obstacle in Ren's path to truly moving on and becoming the best possible person they could be.
She couldn't change how things were, no matter how much she loved Ren. And Ren would never leave despite all the pain…no matter how much they hated Nora.
So, what was left? Who was Nora Valkyrie? A genius with monstrous powers that only brought pain and death? A fun friend to hang out with but not get too close? Some amazing find that could solve your personal problems without really thinking it through? A damsel in need of rescuing that served to validate one's questionable life path?
She didn't know…she didn't know…
Jaune stared at Nora for a long moment, considered his words carefully. He didn't know what had happened to bring this on, but it was clear that it was immensely important to Nora. He wanted to say the right thing that would lift her spirits and help her get back to her cheerful self.
It was amazing how much a seemingly small thing from Nora could impact him. When she smiled, his heart lit up with joy, and when she looked said, it torn him apart. He wanted to help, no matter how mediocre he was in comparison to her; her being happy was simply worth it.
Nora was someone who had…complete dominion over his emotions.
Jaune walked up to Nora, gentle smile on his face, and softly cupped her cheek, making her look up in surprise. The blonde knight looked into her eyes and gave his answer, which contained only the absolute truth.
"A Queen."
A long moment passed as Nora stared up at Jaune, processing what he had said. She then jumped forward, wrapping her arms Jaune and crashing her lips roughly against his.
Jaune was surprised by this, and the sudden movement caused him to fall backward, landing on the floor with Nora on top of him. He wasn't mad at all, accepting the kiss and wrapping his arms around her.
They laid on the floor for several moments, embracing one another and this first, sloppy kiss. Nora broke the contact and buried her face into Jaune's shoulder.
"Thank you…thank you…" she said, over and over.
Jaune said nothing, merely holding her close. He still had no idea what was going on, this whole thing being on more mystery to add to the pile regarding Nora Valkyrie but right now, he didn't care. She needed him and he would comfort her for as long as she needed.
He had given Nora an answer to her question, but it didn't do much right then and there to help with her underlying issues. She was still confused and unsure of who she truly was and kissing Jaune only added to the confusion, as their own relationship wasn't set in stone or anything.
But knowing that someone was there, even in a small way, made everything so much better. It was a bit silly to realize this now, as Jaune had been supporting her almost from the start, from forgiving her instantly for breaking his arm at Initiation to keeping her intelligence a secret and opening up in turn.
Her confusions and insecurities weren't gone but for right now, she could just bask in the comfort of another and really believe that everything was going to be all right.
For the person standing outside JNPR's dorm and looking through the partially open door, feeling comfortable and happy were the last thing on their minds. With magenta eyes flashing with anger, they turned and dash away, leaving the two in the dorm none the wiser as to their presence.
Beacon's training rooms were open to all at all hours, through it was very rare that one person would be there alone past midnight. The sound of a training dummy being relentlessly hit about echoed through the large, near-empty room. The lone occupant was in the centre of the room, hitting the dummy over and over; there was no rhythm or form to their strikes, just pure violence.
This wasn't the usual training for Lie Ren, but the swirling emotions within him weren't the usual course for the normally stoic ninja. He felt emotions sure, strong ones in fact, but he was mostly able to keep them contained and not show any outwards signs of being angry.
The battered training dummy, and the many bruises on Ren's hands, attested to this being a very peculiar case. Never had Ren's mind and body been filled with such anger, such rage, that the only recourse to pummel away at something.
"How…how could she?" Ren though as he punched the target over and over again. "How could she betray be like that, after all I've done for her? And with Jaune of all people!"
How could Jaune let this happen? What was he thinking, kissing his partner?
There was the others too, Team RWBY always wanting to hang out, with Weiss especially taking Nora off to one side to discuss things.
Just earlier today, Ren caught Pyrrha walking around campus, a blush on her face, and whispering Nora's name over and over. The look on her face was like back at the spar, one of desire and want.
Where did she get off thinking she could think about Nora like that? Where did any of them get the gall to think they could monopolize Nora's time and attention? That they were worthy of being with his Nora? And Jaune…laying his hands on her…
"Why would Nora…"
Ren shook his head, trying to banish all these negative thoughts and emotions.
"It doesn't matter. If Nora wants to go around…acting like some whore-"
Ren's fist flew out and impacted his own face, almost knocking him to the ground. Even in this state, a strong part of him refused to allow anyone, even himself, to say or think such things about Nora.
He stood up and spat out some blood.
"It doesn't matter…it doesn't matter. Nora can…do whatever she wants…be with who ever she want…"
That was the right thing to do, to let others do as they wish…it was okay…
He looked over at the training dummy, focusing on it's blank face. In his mind, the face was replaced with Nora's…then Jaune and then Pyrrha's, each bring forth it's own set of emotions.
His mother's face appeared, smiling and kind before the stern visage of his father came about.
"Boys are easier to-"
Ren rushed forward, not allowing the memory time to finish the hated line and struck the head with an Aura-infused palm strike, shattering the upper part of the dummy in one blow.
Long moments passed as Ren attempted to control their breathing and emotions, both having gotten out of control again.
It…it did matter. It mattered a lot that Nora was spending time with other, getting closer to other…because…
"I love her," Ren said aloud, surprising himself by being capable of saying those words. Before, they had always been a mental block preventing him from admitting those feelings to himself.
It was cruel, and perhaps fitting, that it was after Nora started to grow closer to someone else that he could finally says those words.
He loved Nora, loved to see her smile, and laugh and wanted nothing more then to protect her. He wanted to be with her forever…even though he was certain she must hate him.
A sudden tight feeling in his chest caught Ren off guard and it took a moment for him to realize what it was.
"I…I can't breathe. I can't breathe, I CAN'T BREATHE!"
Panic filled Ren as his usually strict and even breathing failed completely, leaving him gasping for breath. Quickly, he dash from the training room and into the nearby locker room, stumbling towards the showers.
Once inside the nearest shower, Ren quickly tore off his shirt and everything underneath, took it all off, and finally started to breath properly.
It didn't help much, as Ren quickly bent over and began throwing up.
When there was nothing left, Ren turned the shower on and let it all wash down the drain. After that, they curled up on the floor and the let the water run of them, taking their tears away.
Unfortunately, the pain and regret stayed right where it was.
The weekend had come to Beacon again and Teams RWBY and JNPR were busy getting ready. Most students were planning on trips to the city as well, but none with quite the same goals as this group.
"We all know what we're doing?" Ruby asked, tying her shoes before giving Crescent Rose a final once over.
Both teams were in the RWBY dorm, having discreetly gotten their weapons from their lockers over the course of the day. Having eight students take out their weapons at once, and not immediately head to the training room, would have aroused some suspicion. They went in pairs, talking loudly all the while about training and sparring later in the day.
Jaune and Nora had their armour and equipment on, with dark coats overtop to make them a little less conspicuous out on the streets. Ruby, Yang and Blake were wearing a variation of their usual clothes, dubbed the 'Slayer', 'Hunter", and 'Intruder' by Ruby.
No one in JNPR understood why these outfits had names and the regular ones didn't but they decided not to ask.
Pyrrha had a green sundress one, with a wide-brim, fashionable hat on her head. Ren had black pants and jacket on, while Weiss was in dark blue work overalls. Each had a large duffel bag laying by their feet, containing their regular clothes and weapons.
"Ren, Pyrrha and I will head to the CCT Tower," Weiss answered while tying her hair into a tight bun. "Our resident celebrity will cause a distraction at the front desk, letting me slip into the main server room. From there, I'll hack into the local Schnee Dust Company database and pull what information I can about the recent Dust robberies. Being the largest Dust company in Vale, they've certainly been hit the most, so I can hopefully discover a pattern we can use."
Ruby nodded and turned to Yang.
"I'll take Jaune and Nora to Junior's Club. That guy keeps he's ear to the streets and is one of the best information brokers in the city. He should know something about what's going on with Torchwick and the White Fang. Jaune and Nora will be my backup in case he decides to be difficult."
Given that the last time she met with Junior she had trashed his club and him, odds were good that he would be difficult. A few subtle threats, backed up by a guy in knight armour and a girl wielding a huge hammer, should loosen his tongue.
If not…she had beaten him and his gang before, she could do it again.
Ruby then looked to Blake, who could only give a frustrated look in response.
"I haven't been able to find a way into a meeting with Adam's White Fang. I've gone to the local White Fang office several times this week and I couldn't find a single hint that could lead to a meeting spot or hideout. I even sneaked in last night and checked out all their paperwork and files; it was all above board. Either this group of radicals are more subtle than we thought, or they've grown big enough now that they don't need to leech off the main White Fang anymore for organization or recruitment."
"They have to still be recruiting within the city somewhere," Ren commented.
"Yes, they would mostly be drawing their support from…" Pyrrha trailed off for a moment, grimacing before continuing. "From the disenfranchised segments of the Kingdom's Faunus population."
From the Slums, in other words. While progress had been made since the Faunus Rights Revolution, Faunus still made up a disproportionately high percent of the Kingdom's poor. There were still many barriers to Faunus advancement and even the White Fang had been accused in recent years of being an organization solely for the more well-off Faunus, leaving the poor majority in the dust.
Fertile grounds for violent radicalism.
The members of JNPR all shot Blake a look, the same thought passing through their minds, but respect and courtesy prevented them from saying it.
Blake answered it anyway.
"I can't…I can't just walk into the Slums and just convince people to give up the dirt on the White Fang. I'd be outed as an outsider right away. I don't know enough about how they live to make a connection. I'm just…not part of that community."
Blake couldn't hide her frustration at the whole situation. It wasn't her fault she had lived apart from other Faunus, nor was it her parents for giving her as good a life as possible within the given circumstances. She had it good, but the side-effect was that she was separated from the wider Faunus community, from her 'people'. Being a Faunus was a big part of who she was, but she honestly could forget sometimes she was part-cat.
It wasn't bad at all, as her family was so loving and accepting but she had hoped to use the opportunity as a Huntress to connect with the wider Faunus world, both to help discover her birth family and to understand more about herself.
But there was a hard limit at play here, and Blake couldn't just forge a connection with a group of people solely based on her race in such a short time. She didn't have access to Tukson's contacts, so she didn't have an easy or quick way into the Faunus community.
This whole goal of taking down this group of murderous White Fang was in large part for her sake, but she couldn't help at all right now. Once they had a solid lead, she could track them down or sneak into their hideout but right now she felt completely useless.
"It's okay," Ruby said, reading her sister's mind. "The two of us will head down to the docks and start combing through all the warehouses there. Torchwick and the White Fang had to have been stashing their stolen Dust somewhere, if only briefly. We may be able to find a trace of something that could help track them down."
Blake smiled weakly in response, happy that her sister was giving her some hope but knowing it was a daunting task, as there were hundreds of warehouses in the city.
"It will be something," Yang added, sensing where Blake's thoughts were going. "Every little bit helps, even if it's just confirming where they're not."
Blake's smile grew a little stronger, her sister's words bolstering her spirit, as they so often did.
"Probably be easier if you had more people to help you search," a voice outside the open window behind Ruby said.
"Yeah, it would be," Ruby commented. "Too bad we don't have anyone else can trust to- GAHHHH!"
The red reaper screamed and leapt away from the window as she realized someone was just outside. The whole group jumped to their feet and looked out the window, discovering that the eavesdropper was one Sun Wukong, hanging upside down off a tree branch by his tail.
'Sun! What are you doing?!" Blake cried out, surprised and angry at his sudden appearance.
"Oh, you know…just hanging around," the monkey boy snickered at his own joke.
"Do you make it a habit of climbing trees to peek into girls' bedrooms?" Weiss asked with a scowl.
"I do it all the time," Sun answered casually.
"You WHAT?!" Weiss screamed, rage filling her mind.
"I climb trees all the time," he said, smirking at the fuming White Xiao Long.
Weiss just kept scowling and narrowed her eyes.
"Damn half-naked monkey vagabond."
Sun started swinging back and forth, gathering momentum, and tossed himself through the window and into the dorm room, flipping in mid-air and landing on his feet.
"So, you guys are taking the fight to Torchwick? Count me in!"
"Sorry Sun, we don't want to get our friends involved," Ruby said, before gesturing towards JNPR. "I mean, more then we already have. We're talking a big risk here and we don't want to put others in danger."
"That's dumb. When it comes to dangerous situations, you should invite as many people as possible…that's why I brought Neptune along," Sun gestured to the window.
The surprised members of RWBY stuck their heads out said window and saw Neptune standing on the ledge off to the side.
"Sup," he said, acting cool and nonchalant.
"How did you get up here?" Yang asked, slightly impressed.
"I have my ways," Neptune replied, giving the girls a wink. A breeze blew by, and he quickly pressed closer to the wall.
'Do you think I can come in? We're really high up," Neptune asked, now far less cool and confident.
"Yes…It is very high up," Weiss said, a wicked grin forming on her face before she turned back into the bedroom and began to search for something.
The other Xiao Longs also back away from the window, not one trying to help Neptune.
"Really Sun, I do appreciate the offer, but we got this covered. There's no reason for you to be at risk this time," Blake said, frowning. She was still a bit ashamed of having coerced him into help her before, only for her to rush forward and drag him into danger.
Sun waved off her concern.
"It's fine. Besides, I'm pretty sure I can help you out big time."
"Unless you know how to sneak into a White Fang recruitment meeting or something, I don't see how," Blake said.
"Actually, I can."
Sun got several blank stares in response, prompting him to pull out something from his back pocket. It was two Grimm masks and a piece of paper with writing on it.
"A couple of days ago, I was running away from some cops after stealing their donuts…"
"Do you always just casually break the law?" Pyrrha asked, slightly perplexed.
"And after I gave them the slip," Sun continued, "Some Faunus dude walked up to me and said something like 'You too stand against the corrupt institutions of the humans. Take these and join us at the next meeting brother'. Then he handed me these and took off before I could say anything."
Blake took the note and read it, finding it a series of instructions on where to go to join the 'true' White Fang.
"Seriously?" she asked, not quite believing it.
"Seriously." Sun answered. "Must have been a new recruiter or something. No clue as to why he thought I would be willing to join a criminal organization."
A rough looking Faunus who loves to steal and harass the cops?
"No clue…" the others all said in unison.
Still, it was a stroke of luck that this recruiter didn't recognize Sun's description for the previous fight at the docks. They would never get another chance like this.
It wasn't Blake's call to make, so she looked towards Ruby.
"It's…the best shot you have." The leader of RWBY said after thinking for a moment. "You and Sun can sneak into the meeting and find out what Torchwick and Adam are up to. I'll join with Weiss's group and keep an eye outside the CCT. I can cause a distraction to help you guys get out if you need it."
"Hey, don't forget about Neptune," Sun said, reminding the others that his partner was still outside the window.
Everyone turned to the window, and saw Weiss holding a pole, that she got from somewhere, that she was using to poke at Neptune.
"Ha, that, ummm, a real funny joke, Snow Angel," Neptune said with false cheer, struggling to keep with balance with the pole hitting him.
"Wait till I get to the punchline," Weiss said, a vicious smile on her face as she pulled the pole back, readying a hard push.
"Weiss!" Ruby called out. "Stop trying to kill Sun's teammate. We need him for now."
Besides, a fall from that height would only break a few of his bones: far fewer than he was shaping up to deserve.
Weiss let out an annoyed huffed before retracting the pole and stepping away from the window. Jaune stepped up and stuck his hand out for Neptune, helping him finally get inside.
"Thanks…Jake?"
"It's Jaune."
"Whatever," Neptune brushed Jaune off before proceeding to wink at Nora and Pyrrha, both of whom only gave a blank stare in return.
Ruby was already beginning to regret this, but they need to keep moving forward.
"Okay, so Neptune will go with…"
"He can come with my group," Yang spoke up, stepping towards the blue-haired male.
"Oh," he said, looking Yang up and down. "I don't believe we've been introduced. What do I call you, beautiful?"
"Oh, I have many names," Yang said sweetly, drawing close. "But you can just call me…SIR!"
Yang quickly grabbed Neptune by the crotch and squeezed tight. Sun, Jaune and, after a few moments, Ren all winced at the action. Neptune himself with rigid from both the immediate pain and the fear of future pain.
"I'm going to be keeping an eye on you, so you better be on your best behavior and do whatever I say, got it!" Yang's eyes had turned red and we're glaring at Neptune with murderous intent.
"I…yes…" Neptune squeak out before Yang tightened her grip further. "YES SIR!"
Yang finally let go, her eyes returning to normal, and she gave Neptune, who staggered backwards, a smile.
"Great. I think we'll be able to get along just fine."
Neptune didn't respond, wisely deciding to keep quiet for now.
The other Xiao Longs smiled at their big sister's display. While they didn't trust Neptune, they did trust Yang to keep him in line and on task.
"Okay…if that's all settled, we should get going," Jaune said, getting a nod of agreement from RWBY before turning to his own team.
They nodded as well, before all four suddenly averted their gazes from one another.
RWBY had noticed how strange JNPR had been acting around each other all morning, like how Jaune and Nora would blush at each other, or Pyrrha stare at Nora for long moment before snapping out of it, or how Ren would grimace slightly at his teammates.
Something was going on, but they had to focus on the White Fang for now. Afterwards, they promised themselves they would get to the bottom of this, as JNPR were their dear friends and they want to help them, no matter what the problem was.
"Alright! Let's get going!" Sun pumped his fist in the air before dashing out of the room, eager to get to the excitement. Blake rushed after him to make sure he didn't get into trouble, with the rest of the company filing out before splitting into their respective groups.
Despite the odds against them, they each felt they were doing something big, something important and that, no matter what dangers or personal problems they faced, they would be able to do some real good in the world.
None of them knew that they had just taken the first step on a very long and painful road to decide the future of Remnant.
That's it for this chapter. This was a bit of a mish-mash chapter, as they first JNPR sections were originally separate scenes for future Vignette chapters, but I decided to put them here and connect them. This was supposed to be another Vignette chapter, but I couldn't think of a good story for the last section, so I moved the opening of the next chapter to here. The next chapter is going to be quite long, involving the group's investigations and the battle against the Paladin, so moving the short opening section helps a bit, though the next chapter might still need to be split in two, we'll see. Let me know if it was too jarring of a transition .
This chapter is very JNPR and Nora focused, as I do want to develop their relationships quickly, with things coming to a head very soon. Much of Volume 2 will be JNPR-centric, with things evening out by the end and Volume 3 will be RWBY focused.
Neptune is going to have a bit of a rough road ahead for him, but thing will improve for him late on.
As Blake wasn't part of the White Fang, there was no way she could sneak into the meeting where Torchwick shows off the Paladin. I want this to happen, so here Sun manages to find a way it. It is a bit of a stretch and cop-out but I think it still works out well. This also gives Sun a bigger reason to join the group instead of him just wanting to.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading and please leave a review or PM to let me know what you think.
