Busy day today. Need to visit hospital – but it'll hopefully not be for anything too bad. Just a lot of waiting, since our government doesn't think medical staff deserve actual pay, so they're striking. Never mind the government increasing their own wages again, though.


Cover Art: Mystery White Flame

Chapter 39


Jaune charged into the gunfire with his arms held up over his face. Dust rounds pinged off his aura and sparked up and down, but it didn't stop him closing in on the two Knight-Unit automatons. The humanoid machines, exactly six feet tall each, slowly spread apart from one another, reacting completely unlike an actual human by not showing any real concern or fear.

He hit the first and pushed the barrel of its weapon down, then hooked his other hand behind its neck and pulled. The robot bent forward, trying to adjust for its balance, but it was slow and unsteady. These things weren't nearly as advanced as Penny was, and there was always a delay to their reactions. A small one, not enough to make them worthless against Grimm, but a noticeable one once you were in close with them.

The second it started leaning forward, Jaune reversed his grip and yanked it the other way, kicking its legs out from under it and throwing it onto its back. More rounds smashed into his back as the second opened fire from only a few feet away. Teeth gritted, Jaune brought his boot down on the downed robot's face, using his aura to make sure his foot had all the rigidity of a block of metal. The robot's skull caved in, and it fizzled out, going limp.

Showing no regard for its ally or any fear of the same happening to it, the other finished unloading its weapon and then stepped in to try and bash him with the butt of it. The motion was jerky and uneven – the step the robot took was mechanical and telegraphed, as was the swing, but the force at which it brought the weapon down was much greater than any normal human could withstand. Jaune skipped back, dodging it by an inch, and then drew and thrust Crocea Mors through its chest. Wiring sparked, but the Knight-Unit didn't stop and tried to bring its weapon back up, only for Jaune to wrench the blade out and decapitate it.

That put it down for good, and he made a note not to bother with the chest next time. These things weren't human, and what was a fatal blow on one wasn't going to translate here. Kneeling, he picked up one of the two weapons, but when he looked for the trigger, he realised there wasn't one. It had no discernible firing mechanism.

Safety measures. Jaune snarled and threw it down, stood and began his run for the CCT again. They must have designed the guns to be keyed to each robot, and then to have some kind of internal trigger in the robot itself. It was a clever way of making sure an enemy couldn't use the guns against them, but not exactly helpful in the immediate situation.

Mechanical treads and the thud of large feet smashing down into grass sounded off to his left, in the path of the CCT, and Jaune ducked behind one of Beacon's many pillars, pressing his back flat against it. The mass-produced Paladin-offshoot came thumping around the corner of the building, its sensors whining as red light traced around the left and right of the very pillar he was behind. Jaune held his breath as it scanned the area.

It didn't know he was there, and the scanning was to create a mental map of its surroundings, he told himself. It was like eyesight. The thing was just seeing its new area and plotting a route. Sure enough, it didn't open fire on the perfectly mundane piece of architecture. It scanned past it, released a chirping, beeping noise that probably meant "no enemies detected", and then thudded along, its heavy footsteps making the ground shake as it went.

I hope the people in Beacon have the sense not to show themselves. Atlas was going to catch flak for this, he could tell, but they really didn't need their own machines harming people. Why are they down here anyway? They're supposed to be up on the flagships safe and sound. Winter would have told us if General Ironwood moved them here.

Jaune slipped out once the larger machine was gone and crept the rest of the way to the CCT. The two were laid out still on the ground. He held no hope but knelt anyway, touching fingers to their necks. Nothing. It didn't take him long to see the cause, either. There were bullet holes hidden in the spots between their armour plates, and a whole lot of dents on said armour as well. They really hadn't stood a chance when faced with 4,000 rpm from one of the prototype's minigun armaments. It was more surprising their bodies were in single pieces.

He took off one of the helmets, doing his best not to notice the face and lose his stomach. He put it on, touched the comms button on the side and spoke. "Cadet Jaune Arc speaking. Can anyone hear me? I repeat, can anyone here me? Emergency situation at Beacon!"

"Bzzzzt-cskkkk-tssss—"

Static. Silence would have suggested the comms were down, but static felt strange. It was like something had been overlayed over the comms, which spoke of sabotage. Not that it was much of a surprise at this point. Their machines weren't going on a killing spree because of a stupid error or a programming bug. This was the White Fang making their move.

Tossing the helmet away, he picked up one of their guns - those, at least, were usable by him – and crept into the CCT Tower's ground floor. The lights were on, and the place looked pristine. Most of Beacon's students were on Amity, so the rampaging robots hadn't seen any reason to come in and make a mess. With the comms down, however, and those patched directly to the CCT, he suspected he wasn't alone. Jaune brought the automatic rifle up and stepped slowly into the corridor, turning and aiming the barrel around corners.

Slowly, steadily, he made his way to the elevator, and then beyond it, using his foot to tease the doorway to the staircase open. Stepping into it reminded him of initiation, of entering a seemingly abandoned building in search of a computer and having to ascend the staircase knowing there was a sniper up above. He'd had to rely on Penny back then, but he was better now. More experienced. Actually worth the trust she put in him, or so he was determined to prove.

One floor, two floors, three floors – and then the fourth. Jaune stepped out onto the final floor and toward the double doors. If someone wanted to ambush him, the best time would have been while he was on the staircase, but that didn't make him put his weapon down. He edged into the room, scanned it from left to right, and approached the main terminal. The screen flickered with a chess piece emblazoned in the centre, and that didn't look like it belonged.

Giving the main floor another check, and finding it clean, he flicked the weapon's safety on and placed it on the counter, within arm's reach, and took out his scroll. It slotted into the terminal well enough and booted up. The chess piece remained on screen, but, between flickers, he could see the normal desktop behind it, and had to use those brief moments to activate the CCT's call-boosting service, and then to navigate through his scroll to find a contact.

It connected.

"This is Winter Schnee. I trust there is a reason for this call, cadet?"

"Beacon is under attack! Requesting immediate support!"

"Cadet? Cadet Arc. Are you there?"

"I'm here! Beacon is-"

"Cadet Arc, if you are there, then I cannot hear you. Please speak."

Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it. Jaune pushed a button instead, hoping it might make a beeping sound on her end, but Winter kept expressing her lack of understanding. After a few seconds, he ended the call himself.

And called again.

"Cadet Arc. This is Winter Schnee. Can you hear me?"

"I hear you, ma'am. Can you hear me?"

"Cadet Arc?"

Nothing.

Communications were jammed leaving Beacon, then. And if she called him then it would probably fail as well. There was only one way he could think to suggest to her something was wrong, and that was to hang up and call her again.

"Jaune Arc. This is-"

He hung up.

And called.

"Cadet-"

Hung up.

And called.

"-is wrong?"

He hung up.

Jaune repeated the method another ten times – enough that nobody could possibly think it an accident. Then, he stopped. Winter was probably trying to reach him now, to put a stop to this, but she wouldn't be able to. His scroll didn't ring. She'd wonder why that was, with any luck, and try to reach someone else in Beacon. Penny, or maybe the soldiers who were meant to be stationed here.

And once she realised she couldn't reach anyone, she'd know something was wrong.

This is the best I can do. Winter will figure it out. Jaune reached for his scroll, only to catch a flash of something reflected on the screen in front of him. Something pink and white. His body lurched to the right even as his attacker stabbed through where he'd been, piercing a sword through the screen and causing cracks to spiderweb out. The slim sword was dragged along and free in one motion, slashing for him even as shards of the screen were launched his way.

Jaune snatched the gun off the side only for Neo to slam a white boot into it, knocking it out his hands and over several computers. Completing the spin, she lunged in and slashed for his throat, forcing him to dodge and then, smartly, carrying on through to place herself in between him and the gun. Jaune clicked his tongue and drew Crocea Mors.

Ironically, he was less confident with his family sword than he was a gun. Atlas did offer training for both, and he'd done his best with them, but a sword took finesse and training, and he hadn't been there long enough to be at anything beyond a high amateur level. A gun, on the other hand, was essentially point and shoot. At least when you were this close to your enemy.

His best bet would be to make his way back to his weapon, but instead of charging her and getting his ass kicked, he decided to back up, drawing Neo away from the downed weapon entirely, and make it easier to work his way to it later.

"You're the one who was with Roman, right? Neo. And you tried to kill me at the club." Talking in battle was, as Winter put it, a terrible idea, but his opponent was dripping with anger. Her lips were peeled back and her eyes bloodshot. His very existence was pushing her buttons, and, so, he pushed a few more. "I assume this is your idea of revenge for his death. But, to be fair, I didn't kill him. He killed himself when he signed up with the White Fang – or maybe it was their incompetence that did him in." Jaune tensed his muscles. "Or maybe his own…"

Sparks flew as her sword grated against his own, the tip spearing past narrowly over his right ear. Damn, but she was fast. He'd nearly not reacted in time. Neo followed up by slamming her knee into his gut, then kicked off and around to slash from the left. He went to parry, but she feinted and brought her sword back in for a stab aimed at his stomach, which he could only deflect by striking it with his hand. It still scored a line in his aura, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

His own swing for her head was contemptuously ducked under, and she sliced once at his knees before stabbing up for his throat, which he managed to escape by stepping back. He shifted his knee to the side as well, blocking a vindictive boot that would have otherwise gone right up between his legs. Aura would have protected him there, but the pain would still have been enough to leave him stunned. By the time he got his sword back in front of him, Neo had danced back and attacked again, forcing him into a frantic backpedal that didn't look like it would end anytime soon.

She's better than me, thought Jaune, fighting for space. I can't beat her in a one-on-one. Not a chance.

Getting to his gun wouldn't help much either. Jaune parried as best he could, giving more ground until his back touched the large glass windows, and he was suddenly out of anywhere to go. Neo smiled ferally and boxed him in, keeping him in place with nowhere to run.

Nowhere except backwards. Jaune slammed the pommel of Crocea Mors back into the glass, causing it to fracture. Cracks spread out slowly at first, and then much faster when he leaned his whole weight against it. Neo hissed and lunged in, but it was too late. The window gave way, spilling Jaune out into daylight and the open air. He fell back, shards of glass all around him, looking up as the girl placed a foot on the edge and made ready to leap after him.

He hadn't expected her to sit in there anyway at this point. Neo wanted him dead.

Leaning back, Jaune was able to slowly flip backwards and get his feed under him, and his aura as well, causing the landing to not break his neck. Glass crunched underfoot as he landed on it, but he flung himself back seconds before Neo touched down, far more gracefully, and sprinted after him. That wasn't going to prove a simple matter, though. Red light washed over them both, and the noise of spooling weaponry hinted at why.

The prototype stomped forward, having locked and tracked two "Grimm" with its hacked sensors.

There was a common misconception among the average person that guns were no good against huntsmen. It was built upon the fact that most huntsmen used melee primarily, rather than guns, and that aura was a protective shield. In the heads of the average civilian, that meant guns were no good, and scenes of huntsmen running into hails of bullets only reinforced it.

That was not the case.

The reason huntsmen had melee weapons, even if they were mecha-shift, was that most Grimm didn't care about bullets due to having no survival instinct and a lot of redundancies in their bodies. Also, there were a lot of smaller Grimm you didn't want to waste dust ammo on. Being skilled at melee was, therefore, the best option, and closing in on a shooter while you used your aura to tank hits was, again, the best choice.

But that did not mean guns were useless. Quite the opposite. The average dust round fired at high velocity hit harder than a knife wielded by a human, and with more pressure too, taking off just as much – if not more – aura. That was the nature of aura, really. It was a shield that was drained by every attack it protected its user from. Enough hits, and your aura would go down. Tha was just how it worked.

A minigun had an rpm of 4000-6000. That translated to 66 – 100 rounds per second. Each round was higher calibre than a handgun and packed with dust in hollow points to make it even worse. Neo might have been a skilled and deadly opponent, but when receiving 100 bullets in a second, Jaune expected she would last 1-2 seconds before being turned into a fine red mist.

And she knew it.

Snarling, the tiny girl vaulted away and dashed right, behind a tree, while Jaune scrambled left. The mech had two arms, and gladly opened fire on both of them, turning Neo's tree to sawdust and forcing her on, while Jaune's rock was whittled away, and he was made to run the other way.

In opposite directions.

That ought to keep her off my back, he thought, looking back. The mech had decided to follow him, either because it lost track of Neo or its programming thought he was the greater threat. He wasn't sure why. Size, maybe. Either way, it abandoned her and stomped in pursuit. Well, I can outrun this, but I couldn't outrun her. It's still a net positive.

Jaune sprinted around the side of the building and toward the main entrance, keeping his eyes out for Penny the whole time. She was nowhere to be seen, but he didn't believe for a second that she might be dead. It was more likely she'd dealt with her opponents and headed into Beacon. The smaller Knight-Units could follow them inside, but the larger mechs couldn't. They were stalking the outside attacking anything that moved.

A loud cracking sound behind him told him the one chasing him was taking a shortcut right through the wall. That was all the cue he needed to get his ass moving toward the front entrance, hitting it with his shoulder and running inside – right into the barrel of a minigun.

Held by a person.

"Friendly! Friendly!"

"I can see that," said Coco, bringing her weapon down. "Kinda obvious when you're flesh and blood instead of shiny chrome. The hell is happening? Aren't these your machines?"

"There's a rogue signal that's hacked them. We don't know how. Signal is blocked, but I got to the CCT and sent a distress call out to Amity." At least he sure hoped Winter took that as one. Coco nodded, smiling in relief.

"Good on you. I wasn't fancying fighting my way out there on my own."

"The person who did this was there," he said, panting. "Pink hair, short, uses a sword, dressed primarily in white."

"The girl who tried to assassinate a student?" Coco looked him over. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"Yes – and she's back to finish the job. Only escaped thanks to one of those mechs." Jaune sheathed his sword and limped away from the door. His side was aching from a stitch, but at least he wasn't wounded. "We might want to move a little. It can't fit in, but it might decide to pour gunfire in here anyway. What's the situation here? How bad is it?"

"Rough," said Coco, following him. "My team are busy gathering the wounded and trying to get them to the medical bay. Your friend came in a moment ago – said she's your squad medic. I sent her up." Penny was inside? Good. "I've been holding the entrance. I can deal with the people-sized ones just fine, but my ammunition won't last forever."

"I'd say it'd be fine for us to raid Beacon's stock. Where do they keep it?"

"There's a storage room by the combat area," she said, "and I'd have already done that if I had anyone to spare. Do we know why the White Fang want to hack your robots here but nowhere else? The televisions are working, and the tournament is carrying on like nothing is wrong. This is just us."

"Have any White Fang tried to get in?"

"Not that I've seen. To be honest, I haven't seen anyone taking advantage of this." Coco looked back to the door, then Jaune, and shrugged. "But who else can it be, right?"

"Yeah. It must be them. Just chaos, maybe. Maybe that's all this is. Cause a load of property damage and call it a win." He wasn't so sure, after what Winter had said, and Neo's presence here. "But I'd rather not take any risks. I think splitting up is a bad idea, too. There's at least one girl here who's more than capable of killing us if we're alone."

Coco shot him a quick smile. "You're welcome to stick by me, firstie. I'll look after you."

He wasn't sure she could beat Neo either, but he was grateful for the offer of assistance even if she wasn't taking the criminal as seriously as she ought to. The best thing they could do for now was hold out for reinforcements, and hope Winter passed on his message. He was sure she would. She'd told him to guard Beacon and contact her if anything suspicious happened, and repeated calls with no voice couldn't look normal to her.

One butt-dial was fine, two was impractical, but he'd started and ended a good ten calls consecutively.

Bullets tore through the large doors of Beacon without warning, shredding them down. Coco cursed and yanked him aside, but he was already moving. The two of them hurried into a side corridor as one of the huge mechs crouched down and…

"What's it doing?" hissed Coco. "It'll never fit!"

It was trying, though. The mech had laid itself on its front, its large head and chassis pushed against the doorway, and it was kicking with its legs to try and propel itself inside. It was like Beacon was a woman trying to give birth, and the baby was stuck. Luckily, Beacon wasn't alive, because when surrounding wall began to crack, there was no blood and screaming. Just the bipedal thing tumbling inside with a good section of wall, and then fumbling around trying to get on its feet.

The thing could get back up, but it obviously wasn't very good at it. As Jaune and Coco watched, another stomped in through the hole the first had made. And, behind that, came a person. A woman. Black hair, a black mask over her eyes, and a catsuit of all things.

It was the woman from the warehouse fight.

"Why aren't they attacking her?" whispered Coco.

"I think we've found one of the people behind this," he replied, equally quiet. "Stay still. We're screwed if we challenge her here." He knew she was a huntress, a proper one, but Coco did not. But thankfully, Coco didn't want to tangle with both mechs either.

The woman walked in and ignored the robots, moving instead to the main elevator that led to the headmaster's tower. She pushed the button, waited for it to come down and open, and then stepped inside. The door closed soon after.

Did she want something from Ozpin's office…?

"Do we go after her?" asked Coco.

"No." He wanted to, obviously, but they were two people with no real experience working together. And she might be stronger than them both. His orders were to watch, anyway. Watch, raise the alarm, and stay out of trouble. "I think we should focus on protecting people rather than whatever she wants in the headmaster's office."

"Yeah. Good shout." Coco quietly stepped back. "Come on. I'll take you to medical. Maybe we can find a way to patch a call out from there."


Next Chapter: 22nd July

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