Here we go.
Cover Art: Mysterywhiteflame
Chapter 21
"We went on a date!"
"It was not a date, Neon. Stop stirring the pot."
Neon cackled and high-fived Flynt, while Penny tilted her head Jaune's way as if reassessing him. He wasn't sure what she was thinking but he had a feeling it would be bad. Maybe that he was some philanderer leading on multiple women. Penny had no idea she was being teased by Neon. He'd always known Penny was sheltered, but this was ridiculous.
"You should not date multiple women, Jaune."
"I'm not dating anyone. Neon is teasing you. Or me."
"For shame," wept Neon, unconvincingly. "And after you bought me dinner as well."
"Exactly. I bought you dinner, so the least you can do is stop causing trouble." Jaune slumped down cross-legged on the floor. It wasn't that much less comfortable than the beds, and that was saying something. "We completed our mission. We have a mole in the White Fang."
Flynt hummed. "That was easy."
"We don't actually know if it'll be successful yet," cautioned Neon, suddenly back to being serious. "The guy folded like a wet noodle and he might fold just again when he bumps into them. I'd be surprised if he could keep a secret from a potted plant."
"That's for Warden to decide," said Jaune. "And it's not like they'll send us into an ambush on this guy's words. Or at least I hope they won't."
"They won't," said Penny. "The political situation is too tense to risk us being caught fighting the White Fang – even if we were successful. Flynt and I moved the transmitters. Neither warehouse contained the weapon."
Jaune paused. "You went inside…?"
"They were empty," said Flynt. "We didn't take any risks."
Jaune was less than convinced but let the matter go. Penny and Flynt were more than capable – more so than him, in all honesty. He didn't doubt they could escape if they got in trouble, but he was more worried about their team drawing too much attention. Good or bad. It was already a negative that they'd been summoned up to Headmaster Ozpin's office the one time. Thank goodness for Team RWBY. They were the perfect scapegoats for us.
"I do have something to report," said Penny. "Actionable intel."
"Oh?" Jaune was surprised, as were the rest of the team. Penny didn't normally bring much to the table when it came to basic strategy like this. She was much happier following his ideas and being their heavy hitter. "Sure. What do you have?"
"I have been spending more time with my good friend Ruby outside of team obligations and lessons. Ruby has been complaining greatly of late about their detentions, but she has also started complaining about her teammate – Blake Belladonna – saying that she, and I quote, won't stop talking about hunting down the White Fang and stopping them. End quote. I believe Blake Belladonna is conducting her own investigation into them on the side."
Huh. That was good to know. Was it a good thing? Bad? Ozpin might be a little suspicious if their team got "dragged into conflict with the White Fang" a second time, especially by the same team. Once was an accident; twice was a pattern. On the other hand, they could be an excellent smokescreen for anything Team JCKP did.
"Do we try and use this?" asked Jaune. His team looked unsure. "Thoughts? I'm thinking we can't exactly ally with them because Ozpin will be suspicious, and this is an Atlas affair. That said, if they find out useful information that we can get a leak on then that's free results."
"Unless they go in and provoke the White Fang," said Neon. "They attacked the terrorists at the docks. Think of that for a second. The terrorists came to steal dust, and that Blake girl went in and started a fight that could have sent the entire district up in flames. I don't think you can rely on her to be subtle about this. Or even measured in her response."
It was a fair point. Atlas wanted the weapon reclaimed without causing a fight, whereas Team RWBY had turned the docks into a warzone. It had been with his, Penny, and Ciel's help, true, but they'd started the fight. It would have been much safer to let the White Fang take the dust and then trail them back to their base to bust them away from more explosive substances.
"Their goals are different to ours," said Flynt. "We want to quietly disarm the White Fang without causing a scene. They want to beat them into submission and drag them out in chains. Our objectives clash. I don't think we can work together."
"Hmm. Penny?"
"I do not believe Ruby and her team want to go after the White Fang. It is mostly Blake. I cannot speak to her motives but Ruby tells me it is very personal. I… do not think she will be of sound mind if she sees a chance to combat them."
Jaune sighed. "Great. You think she'll go of the deep end and start a fight?"
"I believe her teammates would try and stop her."
"And if she got away from them and ran in?"
"Team RWBY would rush to support her and begin the fight."
Yikes. Well, he couldn't fault them not wanting to leave a person behind since their team wouldn't do that either, but as great a motive that was, it could become a weakness if one or more of your teammates was seeking out danger. If this were Flynt, Neon, or Penny, then he'd sit them down with the rest of the team and stage an intervention. Hell, given that Blake had run off once already, he was surprised Team RWBY hadn't done just that. Or maybe they had and she'd just refused to be helped. Some people were like that.
"We'll try and avoid Team RWBY for now then," said Jaune. Penny's face dropped. "Professionally, I mean! You're more than fine to be best friends with Ruby."
"Ah!" Penny's face lit up. "Good. But you are wrong. You are my best friend. Ruby is fifth."
He saw Neon and Flynt counting fingers, pointing to themselves, and then nodding as if satisfied with her declaration. Jaune rolled his eyes. "That means a lot to me but you shouldn't number your friends by importance. What I meant was that we'll just choose not to get involved with them and the White Fang."
"If we can help it," said Flynt. "They might start something we can't ignore. Like the docks."
"All the more reason to put a stop to that before it can happen," said Neon. "Penny should encourage her friend to step in and put a stop to this Blake girl's nonsense. Wanting to stop the White Fang is a cause I can get behind, but you don't stop a multinational terrorist group by charging in and punching a couple of grunts on the ground. You do what we're doing. You find their players, infiltrate, turn them to our side, then destabilise them from the inside. You target the leadership and bring it down."
"You can't fault their spirit, though," said Flynt.
"Spirit isn't going to find this weapon of ours. Spirit is going to push the White Fang into a corner."
/-/
They received no orders on the Sunday as Warden wanted to give their new mole time to settle in and decide what he was doing with his life. Warden had told them that the immediate days after making contact were the most dangerous, and that their team wouldn't be sent out on any Intel Perry might give because there was too much risk of it being a trap.
"If your mole contacts you within one or two days with a meeting then it's almost always a sign they've slipped the net and gone back to their masters," Warden had told them. "Nine times out of ten it's them trying to lure you into a trap to prove their loyalty to their masters. If it takes them several days to respond then that means they've been agonising over your offer in silence – and that's a good sign. We need him to worry and panic, and to realise his best way out is by serving our interests."
It probably didn't hurt that spending the day in Beacon would alleviate any concerns Ozpin might be watching them as well. There hadn't been any sign of that, but it was best to be safe either way. The week went by in mostly peaceful fashion, with classes attended and more reasons to despair at Professor Port's boring lessons.
At least combat class was interesting.
If painful.
"Mr Arc's aura has entered the red. The winner is Pyrrha Nikos."
Jaune groaned into the mat and pushed himself up onto his knees. He'd joked once before, in Atlas, about how ridiculous it would be if a first year who fought in tournaments actually went and won the Vytal Festival. He stuck to that even now. If Pyrrha Nikos won then it made a mockery of the whole concept of the academies, because it would be proof that four years of education did not equate to more than a couple of years as an athlete.
The worst part was that he now wasn't so sure if that wasn't true. The fight… well, it hadn't been much of a fight. He was weaker than his teammates but he was fairly sure she'd have beaten any of them in a one on one.
"Miss Nikos, you are exceptional as always," said the teacher, "but you must seek to end the fight as soon as you can. This is not entertainment. You should not waste time making fights exciting as you may have been made to before."
What? She'd gone easy on him as well? Ugh…
"As for you, Mr Arc. A solid defence does not make up for a lacking offence. You cannot win a battle if you never throw an attack."
He couldn't win by going on the offence against a superior enemy either. If he'd let up his defence then he would have lost sooner. In truth, he wasn't sure being pitted against a vastly superior foe like this had taught him anything at all. It was a pointless exercise.
"Thank you, Miss Goodwitch."
Jaune stood, bowed briefly to his opponent, and then stepped off the arena. There were a few cheers from the Valean students, who were somehow taking this as a sign their school was better than Atlas despite the fact that Pyrrha Nikos' skills had come before either. Flynt patted his back as he returned, and Neon moved over to let him have the seat she'd been saving.
"See why I told you she's ridiculous?" said Flynt.
"I do. She's ridiculous. I don't even understand why she's in Beacon if she's this good. Or at least they should push her up a few years. They did the same for Ruby so it's not like it'd be a new thing." It was probably that Beacon wanted to make the most of her, or maybe Vale wanted to show off for four years. "Ugh. We'll have to come up with some team strategies for if we end up against her because I doubt anyone in our year has a chance in the one vs one."
"He seems to think he has a chance."
A guy with silver hair had been called up onto the stage, and had made the rather odd request to face Pyrrha Nikos. Jaune found himself frowning as he heard it. Arrogance might be a reason, but it could have also been cynical opportunism since Pyrrha might have felt a little winded after her last fight. No one was going to be impressed if he managed to beat her just because she was fatigued, however. The way he kept smirking made it even stranger.
"Cocky guy," whispered Neon.
"I don't like him," said Jaune. "Something's up."
"Jealousy? Or professional concern?" Neon made it sound like a joke but he knew she was asking with the latter part whether he thought this was related to the White Fang. Jaune shook his head in the negative.
"I just think it's a little strange for him to ask to fight someone who has just fought – and to look so smug doing it. What's his angle? Does he think he can beat her because she's tired? Does he think that'll count for anything?"
"He is from Haven," said Penny. "I've seen him in uniform before."
"Anger from Mistral about her studying in Vale, then?"
"Does he look angry at her?" said Flynt. "He doesn't to me."
The fight between Mercury Black and Pyrrha Nikos began explosively – with Pyrrha charging forward, apparently eager to show Miss Goodwitch she could end a match quickly when she wanted to. Her opponent was fast, probably a bit faster and stronger than Jaune was in all honesty, but he wasn't fast enough to do much more than hold her off for a few minutes. He got a few good kicks and punches in that Pyrrha dodged with ease, then backed away with a widening smirk on his face. His hand rose.
"I forfeit."
The audience didn't like it but the teacher had little choice but to accept the decision. As they both left the stage, Jaune found himself looking to his teammates, eyebrows raised. Flynt was the first to cave, scoffing. "Yeah, that was bullshit in a can if I ever saw it. Who goes up there, asks to fight someone in particular, then gives up before their aura even hits yellow?"
"He might have had a trick in mind that failed but he should have at least tried until red," agreed Penny. "This was rude and unusual."
"And he looked pleased with himself after," said Neon. "Like he got everything he wanted – which obviously wasn't victory. Makes you wonder what he was really after, doesn't it?"
It did. "Do we look into it?"
"I think we have other things to focus on," replied Neon. "The Invincible Girl can take care of herself. Besides, it's probably some small-pp move. Or he just wants to say he fought the celebrity. There are a lot of weird people out there."
Jaune didn't think any of them were convinced of that, but Neon had a point. Whatever weird motive the guy had for wanting to test out Pyrrha Nikos – even if it was just to scope her style for the tournament – it was no business of theirs. They had the White Fang to contend with.
/-/
Perry made contact with them late on Thursday. It was Neon who took the call, though Warden were keyed in to listen to it. She pulled ugly faces as she calmly and kindly told Perry it would all be okay, and that he was doing the right thing. To them, she stuck her tongue out and made a motion with her free hand like she was lynching herself.
"You've done well, Perry. Don't worry, we'll keep our end of the bargain. Hm? No. No. You won't be in any danger. I'll let you know if we need you to attend it but don't worry – as long as you're helping us, we'll look after you. You're doing the right thing, Perry. I know you're scared but you're protecting a lot of innocent people."
The call wrapped up and Neon ended it, then threw her head back and groaned loudly.
"Fuck my liiife! Ugh! I hate that!"
"His name is like mine," said Penny. "It feels weird to hear you praising him like a child and mishear his name as mine."
"He's nothing like you, babe," said Neon. "You're an awesome huntress-in-training with the best hair colour known to man." They exchange quick slaps of their palms, Penny grinning. "And he's a loser who turned to a group of bullies when shit got tough."
"Girl power aside," joked Flynt, "He sounds terrified. That's good, right? He'd be a lot calmer if he had a plan to trap us."
"We will be going over voice analysis in our own time," said Warden, speaking over the speaker setting on Neon's scroll. "Personal experience says you're right but we have experts who can give us a better picture, and we can always check this rally location ahead of time. You won't be sent in unless we're certain it's safe."
Jaune nodded, then realised Warden couldn't see that and spoke up. "What will be the plan if we are going in? I assume we're not there to close the rally down."
"You're right on that. Your job will be to watch and learn what you can. A rally requires the organisers to get the White Fang pumped up, which means they'll need to divulge some of their plans. It won't be all of them, but they'll have to give a basic overview or no one will be interested in joining. We might be able to discern from those details as to what they want the weapon for, and then how and where we will locate it."
"Do you want us to set up videos, then? Or be there in person?"
"Both. You will be attending the location ahead of time to plant recording equipment – and you will be stationing a small but safe distance away to monitor that equipment and relay the details to us. That is, of course, assuming we decide to go ahead with this at all. You should await your marching orders. You will have them tomorrow. Warden out."
The four of them exchanged looks as the call ended. There was a little excitement in each of them; it felt like they were getting closer – measurably closer – and they hadn't really been taxed in any way. The doubt that had existed in them all in Atlas, which had them asking: "Can we really do this?" It was fading. They could do this. They were doing this.
Maybe we really do have what it takes to become Specialists…
"Get a good night's sleep," ordered Jaune. "We're going to be out late tomorrow."
/-/
Their marching orders came in the form of a text at noon on Friday. It read: "Your reservation has been accepted this evening – W." Jaune couldn't decide if it was subtle or not, but he supposed no one would think too much of it if they saw his scroll. The downside of getting orders early meant agonising through the rest of lessons. The day went by slowly. Jaune was fidgeting by the last class, and it was a miracle he didn't get in trouble.
"Jaune." Ciel caught him before he could slip out. "Do you have plans tonight?"
"I do, I'm afraid. Our team is going out together on a team-bonding sort of event." He shrugged. "Neon and Flynt's idea. I think it's just an excuse for them to ply us with alcohol and make fun of us, but we still all agreed to go with it. Why?"
"Oh. No reason. I just wanted a chance to escape my team and I'd heard good reviews about a new movie."
A movie? All of Neon's teasing about dates came back to his mind and he had to wonder. Wondering was all he could do, however. Ciel was as cool as a cucumber and didn't blush or stammer or make doe eyes like his sisters had told him girls might if they were asking him out. The problem was that he didn't think Ciel would do any of that even if she was, so it wasn't like he was any closer to an answer.
"I'm sorry I can't tonight but I might be free tomorrow after lunch." After what he was sure would be a long sleep in. "We could hit up Vale for some food and then visit the cinema together. If you're free, that is."
"I'd like that." Ciel's smile returned. "Tomorrow, then? Give me a call when you're free."
She turned and walked away, though not without a wave over her shoulder. Jaune waved back, watching her go, and wondering if he should be getting his hopes up or not. Ciel was definitely more than a little pretty. He'd be lying if he said otherwise.
"What's up?" asked Flynt. "Trouble?"
"Not really. I might have a date tomorrow. Maybe."
"What does maybe mean?"
"It means I'm not sure if it's a romantic date or just friends."
"Ah." Flynt rubbed his nose. "One of those things. Yeah, I've been on a few of those. Accidentally put one girl who liked me in a friendzone and asked out another that only saw me as a friend. Life would be a lot easier if we all just agreed on some sort of code. You know, like wear red if you're interested or something."
"Can you not tell Neon or Penny?"
"We're brothers in arms. My lips are sealed."
Jaune bumped his fist against Flynt's. Penny and Neon were waiting for them at the Bullheads in casual wear – the kind of clothes they'd be wearing on a night out. Less common, for them at least, were the handbags at their sides. No one in Vale would think it odd to see a pair of girls with heavy handbags, but they sure would wonder at all the odd equipment inside if they could see them. Jaune had a laptop case himself, while Flynt's instrument case had been repurposed for surveillance equipment.
They weren't the only ones in the area. It was Friday afternoon, classes were off, and a whole lot of teams were making their ways into Vale to party. Jaune even caught sight of Yang and a guy with blue hair – maybe someone she was going out on a date with. Penny caught him looking, and thankfully didn't take it the wrong way.
"I spoke with Ruby to ask her plans for the weekend," she whispered into his ear. "Ruby claimed they would be doing normal girl things in Vale."
Something about that tickled him the wrong way. "Normal girl things…?"
"Those are the words she used! It's to help calm Blake down apparently; I've heard she's been spending more and more time in the library researching a certain illegal group, so Ruby thought it would be best to help Blake get over it."
"Then why is her sister going out with some guy?"
"Oh, Ruby said Yang would be going to a nightclub she knows before she meets with them to continue the night."
That was weird. If they were wanting to distract Blake then he'd have thought they'd take her to the club as well, but maybe that wasn't fair since Ruby was fifteen. He supposed it didn't matter. The important thing was that Penny had confirmed that Team RWBY would be busy elsewhere in the city, and wouldn't be getting in their way or causing problems with the White Fang.
He'd personally thought the White Fang doing a rally on a Friday night was a little dumb. It was one of the busiest nights of the week, and everyone would be out and about. He'd come to accept that they probably didn't have much of a choice in the matter. A lot of the locals they were looking to recruit would have jobs, personal lives, and commitments at other times. Only a few members, leadership for the most part, would be full-time White Fang members trained and capable of acting at any time of the day. The rest were normal people like Perry.
The rally is at nine. It's five now. We have four hours to get to the warehouse and set up surveillance. Less time realistically because the White Fang will show up early to prepare the place. We'll need to be quick.
The moment they landed down in Vale, they were off. Warden had given them the location based on Perry's intel – a warehouse in the north-west of the city. Not abandoned, but currently unused. Officially, anyway. It had been rented out by someone who might have been a patsy or a false identity, or even just a low-ranking member of the White Fang. The team back home would be in charge of looking over that; their job was just to get in and get the surveillance up.
"We'll need to be careful," said Jaune. "The White Fang will want to show up early and set the place up. There might even be some there now. Neon, I want you to go in first and tell us if it's clear, then Flynt and I will follow. Penny, you're in charge of keeping an eye out for them."
"Aye."
"Yep."
"Got it."
They made the area in decent time and hung around outside while Penny used her Semblance to try and figure out if there were any electronics inside. There were, but the main part was to look for active scrolls that might indicate people. When she called the all-clear, Neon snuck in. There were a tense few minutes of the three of them hanging around outside, before the text came from Neon with another "all clear". Penny walked away and acted like she was texting someone on her scroll while he and Flynt slid inside. The place wasn't as well-guarded as it probably would be later, but they didn't have the time to mess around.
"Make sure the cameras are hidden!" shouted Neon. "Faunus eyes will pick up the glint of a lens if it's pointed right at them. Try and aim them a little higher."
It didn't take as long as he feared it would. The cameras were designed to be set up, turned on, and then forgotten. They didn't have blinking lights or make sounds to give them away, either, and they didn't need many in place. All they really needed was a camera to watch the rally and record the audio. They set up four to be safe. Neon checked them over after from a faunus' point of view and made a few quick adjustments to his and Flynt's to better hide them.
"Roman Torchwick has just arrived and is talking to some of his people outside," warned Penny. "He hasn't shown any sign of coming in just yet, but he likely will soon. He seems to be agitated. Do you need me to run interference?"
"No," said Jaune. "We'll be good." He knew Flynt and Neon had heard. "It's time for us to leave."
The three of them managed to find a back exit and slip out long before Torchwick wrenched open the metal grated doorways. A huge lorry pulled up toward it backwards, lights blinking, and wheels crunching on the concrete under the extreme weight of its cargo.
Team JCKP re-united and slipped away, over to another building they'd been assured would be empty for the night, where they could set up computers, tune in to the cameras, and act as Warden's eyes and ears on the ground.
Team RWBY doing "girl things" in Vale. Totally not suspicious.
Penny: "Ruby assured me she would definitely NOT be going after the White Fang with Blake. I see no reason to not believe her."
Next Chapter: 4th March
Like my work? Please consider supporting me, even if it's only a little a month or even for a whole year, so I can keep writing so many stories as often as I do. Even a little means a lot and helps me dedicate more time and resources to my work.
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur
