Author's Note: Mild time skip in this chapter, meant to push us closer and closer to Beacon. WE'RE ON OUR WAY THERE BOYS AND GIRLS!

Yes the title is a transposition (Transposition: The act or process of transposing or interchanging. Your vocab word of the day folks!) of the phrase, ``dog days of summer".

Also holy shit it's been a while, sorry but I started a new semester of online college and that took up a lot of my time along with my job.

Sins of the Forefathers

Act the First: A Beacon of Hope

Chapter Thirteen: Cat Days of Summer

Neo leaned back, dodging Melanie's kicks by a hair's breadth. Miltia circled around to attack Neo's back, only for Neo to lean further and touch the floor, springing from the backbend and kicking out, forcing Miltia to block. Neo launched herself from the floor and placed her feet on Miltia's forearms, before leaping forward, holding her parasol horizontally, and tackling Melanie to the ground, knocking her out as her head hit the floor. She sprung forward off of her and returned to her feet in time to block a jab from Miltia. She gave ground as Miltia charged, swinging her claws wildly in patterns and feints meant to expose weaknesses in Neo's guard.

Neo, however, was unconcerned, weaving in and out of her range and avoiding every strike.

Finally bored, she ducked under a swing, hooked her parasol around Miltia's lead leg, and pulled her off balance before raising her leg high and stomping on her head, knocking her out as well.

Satisfied with the end of her spar, she stepped off the training mat and to the side, where Junior was begrudgingly handing Roman some Lien.

"Your girls did pretty good, Junior," Roman said.

"Fuck off, Roman. I should have figured it was a bad bet when you were the one talking me into it..."

"Ah, well, it isn't my fault you decided to go for it. All things considered, your girls did pretty well - not as well as Jaune would have, but good nonetheless."

Junior glared at Roman. "I told you not to bring that brat up."

Roman scoffed. "Whatever, you're still mad about what happened? He buys a lot from you, get over it!"

"He humiliated me! Tortured me!"

"You've done no less to countless others, Junior. I told you before, you've been getting soft… getting complacent. Your power hasn't been contested since you took over from your old man, so you've never faced a real threat before. But the reality of being in our line of work is that no matter how far we're willing to go, no matter what lines we're willing to cross - there's always someone out there willing to go further, so you can never drop your guard." Roman pointed his cigar at Junior. "You dropped your guard. Just be glad Jaune's with us now, and your organization has value as a place of business."

"Or what? Jaune would run me out of town?"

"Ha! Run you out of town, you think Jaune's been trained to think like an amateur? No, if you had tried to enact your little vendetta against Jaune I guarantee you and your gang would be worth less than dirt in a matter of months, maybe a few weeks if Jaune got a few lucky breaks."

Junior glanced at Roman before sipping his whiskey. "You sure you're not overestimating the brat?"

"No." Roman puffed his cigar once more, blowing a smoke ring into the air before standing up. "Well Junior, it's been fun, but Neo and I will be heading home - and you should look after your own girls."

Junior scoffed. "Yeah yeah, get out of my club."

Roman tipped his hat and stepped away, but took a moment to pause. "Hei?"

Junior glanced back at him. "Yeah?"

"Take my word for it. The kid is someone you want on your side when the chips are down."

Junior took a moment before nodding. "I'll take that into consideration."

Roman and Neo left the club without another word.

…

As Roman and Neo walked down the dark, empty streets of Vale, shielded from prying eyes by Neo's Semblance, Roman and Neo rehashed an argument they'd been having for the past couple of weeks.

I'm telling you, betraying Jaune is the wrong choice! Neo signed.

"Neo, I told you we're done talking about this."

No! Look, The Omen might kill us, but she has rules! She doesn't kill kids! She just- takes them into her little cult or tribe or whatever. But Jack- you've told me all the stories about him, about how he wiped out an entire branch of the Schnee family, infants included! Turning on him, on his kid, is the worst way to go about protecting everyone back home!

Roman shook his head. "Jack kills kids, sure, but he won't wipe out a whole Orphanage. He won't go that far unless it's for a job or something personal."

And you don't think that betraying Jaune's trust and telling Cinder everything you know about him won't count as something personal?
"Not as long as Jaune lives," Roman stressed. "And especially not as long as Jaune or his father don't figure out that I told Cinder, which he shouldn't as long as no one tells him about it." Roman glanced down at her. "Have you told Jaune anything?"

Neo shook her head.

"Then there's nothing to worry about. He'll help us kill Amber, I'll forge some transcripts for him to go to Beacon, and then we'll be done with this whole mess… assuming Cinder doesn't do something stupid like try to force Jaune to spy on Beacon for us while he's in there, or use his new cat friend as leverage for something."

Neo scoffed silently. That's a fool's bet.

Roman sighed. "Well, we'll just have to keep an eye on things."

Steel clashed against steel in the darkness. Blake parried a strike, then used her Semblance to dodge away into the shadows, avoiding retaliation. Her target didn't follow up, choosing to return to the same guard stance he'd kept up throughout the entire match.

She stayed light on her feet, maneuvering around him in the dark of the room, positioning herself in his blind spot. When she saw his guard shift, she leaped and struck at him, only to once more be blocked as one of his twin blades came up in his defense. She flipped over him and decided to use one of her more unorthodox tricks, attaching Gambol Shroud to the ribbon around her arm and throwing it, hooking it around her foot to come at the man from an off angle.

That, too, was deflected, yet another failure in a long line of Blake's attempts to hit the man.

How is Jaune's defense this good? We're fighting in the dark because he wanted to train with a handicap to match my wounds, but he still sees me coming every time! Does he have some sort of precognitive Semblance that lets him know when I'm going to attack? Or is it that I can't move fast enough to hit him with my wounds? No, that can't be it - I can feel that I'm attacking at my usual speed, at least for a spar.

Having had enough, Blake sheathed Gambol Shroud and walked up to Jaune, her hands raised to signal an end to the training. Perhaps wisely, Jaune didn't drop his guard until Blake had gotten right in front of him and verbally announced her intent.

"So?" He asked. "How've you healed this past week?"

"Back to normal. At least for a spar."

"That's not good enough, Blake. You need to be ready for an actual battle… I'm pushing back the deadline with Cinder, but we don't have much time left for you to get better."

"I know. But it's hard to tell, especially when you block everything I do… Am I that slow to you?"

Jaune inhaled, and Blake could tell he was debating something internally. Finally, he explained, "I unlocked my Semblance recently. I'm still working out the kinks."

"What does it do?"

He glanced at her. "It lets me see you coming."

"You still don't trust me?"

"You'll forgive me for having reservations about trusting a terrorist- excuse me, former terrorist," he added at Blaked indignant scowl.

"And I doubt you trust me completely, especially with what I've told you about myself."

"Maybe it's stupid of me, but I do trust you. You said it yourself… you could have killed me or sold me out at any point, especially that first night you found me. Instead, you've let me in on your plans, and you're helping me achieve my goals - admittedly because they're the same as yours, but that's besides the point."

Jaune scoffed as they left the warehouse they'd been practicing in. "You're right, it is stupid of you. Especially considering what you just left… If you can't conceive of any way I could possibly betray you after helping you get back on your feet, then you lack imagination."

"Jaune… Is that the sort of thing you're used to worrying about?"

Jaune was silent as they got in a car - he'd bought it from Junior, bypassing any licensing issues. It was a completely normal black sedan, from an Atlesian company that specialized in mass producing cars - in other words, they were cheap and easy to get, the sort of thing lots of people bought - making it perfectly nondescript, in Jaune's eyes.

They placed their weapons in the backseat. As Jaune had said, "The trunk makes them inaccessible, but keeping them in view makes us suspicious. Besides, I have another gun in the glove compartment."

As Jaune got in the driver's seat - Blake hadn't learned to drive, what with her prior mode of transportation mostly consisting of night marches or stowing away on mass transportation - he sighed and said, "Yes, Blake, I am used to worrying about every little thing."

"Why?"

"It's how I was trained… How did Adam train you to lead, to manage your interactions with individuals and groups of people?"

"Leadership lessons from Adam were focused more on leading people in battle. Topics like morale or team dynamics were things I had to pick up on the go."

"Hm. That's a bad way to run things… How would you guys have gone on if Adam kicked the bucket?"

"Adam did have a plan for that, actually - we would have retreated to Mistral and sought reinforcements from Menagerie. What about you, Jaune? How were you trained?"

Jaune sighed and started the car, staying silent as they left the industrial district. As they pulled onto the expressway that led back to the residential district, Jaune began to speak again, having apparently decided just how much of his past he was willing to reveal to Blake.

Goddess, and I thought Adam was dicey about his past… Figuring out what happened to Jaune is like trying to put together a puzzle while blindfolded.

"To start with, I guess it's worth noting that everyone I've trained under has had a 'sink or swim' mentality. With that in mind, my first teacher put me in charge of a group of kids and told me, 'make money.' When I asked h- them, how to do that, they just said 'figure it out.'"

"How'd you manage it?"

Jaune sighed. "Before he dropped me off with my first 'teacher', my father told me that the most important skill I could master was Observation. With that thought, I spent a week watching how my teacher ran things, as well as how their lieutenants managed their own groups. With those lessons in mind, the first thing I did was establish my dominance over the other kids."

"Authority through strength and fear?"

"Youth gangs aren't exactly known for their strategy or skill. Once I had their tenuous loyalty, I organized some basic cons. One kid begs while another grabs a wallet, one kid throws a tantrum while the others take stuff from a store - that sort of thing."

"Your constant distrust was a result of your experience as a leader?"

"Yes. Running with that gang taught me that you can't trust people. Everyone is hiding secrets, everyone is keeping a trump card in reserve... If only I hadn't let my attention slip in this regard, I probably wouldn't be in this situation with Cinder. You never know what people are hiding."

"You mean like how you're hiding your real weapon and fighting style from me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"The sword, the one in your room?"

Jaune glanced over at Blake, and she had the slightest suspicion that Jaune was considering attacking her.

He turned back to the road. "You went through my stuff. When you woke up that morning."

"Yes. That sword… It's something special. I've never seen steel like that before."

"You're not wrong."

"So what is it?"

"Not your business. You know what is your business?"

Blake's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Keeping the fucking apartment clean since you're in hiding and don't work, but why is it that the dishes are never done and your laundry is all over the floor?"

Blake sputtered and blushed. "I- I've been doing research - on my Scroll, not your computer, calm down. Looking into White Fang activity, trying to see if they've adjusted their plans based on me leaving. If they're even still in the area. Admittedly, I tend to get… focused when I'm doing research."

"Yeah, no, that's not an excuse to not do your part in the apartment," Jaune sighed. "What have you found?"
"As far as I can guess from reports and sightings, they're still in Forever Fall, though they've probably moved the camp to another location. Where exactly is hard to tell - I was involved in picking the camp spot as well as determining effective alternatives, but since I'm the one that left, there's no way to tell where they'd go if Adam moved the camp somewhere completely different."

"True enough. Still, you understand the White Fang's methodology, which would give Amber something to work with in narrowing down the location."

"...I hadn't considered that."

"You hadn't?"

She blushed. "I mean, of course I planned on telling her about the other locations I knew about, I just didn't consider talking about the - I guess, mindset of the White Fang."

"...are you sure Adam was training you properly? Team psychology, strategic methodology, and interpersonal manipulation are important concepts for someone who's being groomed into leadership to know."

"Adam isn't exactly the best at those sorts of things. His authority comes more from his success in battle than his charisma."

"Authority through strength and fear, huh."

"...yeah."

But I was what they were afraid of, not Adam…

Jaune turned on the radio and they spent the rest of the drive in silence.

I stepped into the room with as much confidence as I could muster. Cinder and Roman were inside, sitting in office chairs.
Say what you might about gangs and criminals, but when you get down to it, the easiest way to organize things is usually the best - which is why, despite being in the back of The Just Right, our meeting place resembled some sort of office boardroom, albeit smaller. An oval table stood in the center with a number of chairs situated around it. Naturally, Cinder sat at the head of the table, though I noted that Roman was sitting at Cinder's left hand.

A sign of trust, or an invitation to trust her? Either way, it won't work on me.

Nonetheless, I did as expected and sat to Cinder's right.

Roman took a drag from his cigar and breathed out, up towards the vents in the ceiling. "So Jaune," he started, "what's the game plan? How are we taking out a Rank 3?"

I shook my head. "I only have a cursory understanding of Amber. Fighting style, personal history, mission statistics… You've given me useful stuff Roman, but I'm going to have to do some more hands-on research in order to get the full story on her."

"That is unacceptable, Jaune." Cinder narrowed her single visible eye into a glare at me. "You have done impressive work with less than this… what makes Roman's information inadequate?"

"I was only able to take you down, Cinder, because you were both holding back and underestimating my abilities. Let's not pretend that I would have survived our fight if you'd been serious."

"Even still, what more could you possibly need?"

"I need the things that won't be in a basic profile."

"What I've gotten for you is hardly basic, kid."

I nodded to Roman. "You're right, but this only scratches the surface. You've got her style, but not the details - Amber's trained in the Stalwart Earth, but what's her favorite technique? Does she favor the grappling and takedowns of the style or the striking techniques? She has a staff with-" I glanced at the document a quick moment before continuing, "-wind and fire Dust Crystals embedded in it, but how good of a Dust Channeler is she? What Artes does she most often use, in what situations, in what combinations with her hand-to-hand? What's the best place to attack her - in her home, or on the road somewhere? What's the land like around-"

"Enough, Jaune." Cinder cut me off. "You've made your point, you like to be prepared. But is it truly necessary for someone of Amber's caliber?"

"Always assume people are stronger than you think they are. That way, when they pull out some bullshit you've never seen before, you at least have the mental preparedness to not panic. Besides, you might be confident facing her in an open conflict, but remember - Amber's a Rank 3. Mercury's fast, but not that fast - and Emerald's Semblance won't be much help if she can't keep track of her target. With just you, me, Emerald and Mercury against her, an attack without meticulous planning would just end up as you going against her solo, with Mercury, Emerald and I running interference whenever we spot an opening… and if you go down, then the rest of us go down. I shouldn't have to tell you why that's a bad plan."

"A fair point. Very well, I will give you extra time to perform your own research. Do you require any assistance?"

"No, it's best if I do this myself. Having to go over the way I do things will just take up more time."

"Well, take the time you need, but be aware that you are on a deadline, Jaune. The White Fang will not wait forever, and in your case, the deadline for late admissions to Beacon is coming up. I suggest you move with purpose."

"Of course. Then, if I may take my leave?"

"You may."

I got up to leave and was at the door when Cinder called out to me.

"Oh Jaune, one more thing… A question, if you mind?"

I didn't turn around. "Yes?"

"Will your feline friend be helping you with this?"

A flash of panic shot through me, but I did my best to not react. In any case, I'd suspected that she knew about Blake - the real question was whether she would tell Adam about her whereabouts.

I sighed. "I figured you had people watching me."

"Technically," Roman said, ignoring Cinder's glare, "Junior has people watching you. They just tell us what they see."

"Junior's still mad?"

"Yep."

"Right… To answer your question, no. She'd just get in the way, the same as your apprentices."

"I see," Cinder said. "Will you be incorporating her into our plan of attack?"

"I would rather not, as it would add another layer of complexity to the operation. Spontaneous teamwork isn't as effective as most people assume it to be, especially in a fight. More often than not-"

"It results in both parties tripping over each other, yes, I understand basic combat theory. Regardless, I do hope your new pet won't interfere with your duties."

"No worries there. I'll do my job. Anything else?"

"That will be all. Leave us."

I nodded and left. I started to think about my next move - Cinder had been surprisingly open about her knowing about Blake, but maybe she decided it wasn't worth keeping quiet about if I already suspected her of knowing. To an extent, I appreciated that - the intrigue shit always annoyed me, no matter how necessary it could be.

I started as Roman appeared beside me, pulling another cigar from out of his coat.

"What? Did Cinder send you to walk me out or something?"

"Nah, just need to talk to Junior about hiring his boys."

"Anything I should know about?"

Roman glanced over at me. "Jaune. Come on. Don't insult me."

"Worth a shot."

"Sure… I don't know how you convinced Cinder to be so free with information before you joined us."

"What, when we went out for dinner? I think she was just curious, personally. She wanted to know as much as she could about me - and in her desire to know, dropped her guard."

"Hm. She's never dropped her guard with me."

"Well that's because she knows you - or at least, your reputation. She knows that if she gives you an inch you'll be able to run ten miles with it- so she's guarded herself. But I was an unknown factor, something new - and I think she latched onto that during our dinner together."

"So, you'd say her biggest weakness is an attraction to 'new things'?"

"No, I think that's just a phenomenon of her basic desire - a lust for power."

Roman nodded. "Good to see you remember what I taught you. Life one-oh-one - figure out what people want most, because from there, everything else is cake."

"If it's so easy, oh master thief, then what have you gotten from her?"

"Well, she's The Omen's apprentice, but if you knew about The Omen then you could have figured that. She's not the only one, though. She's made some offhand comments about someone she's competing with. I don't know more than that, however."

"Nothing usable, then? I know Cinder has her guard up, but is she really that hard for you to read?"

"She's got her little femme fatale character thing going on, and she's stuck to it for as long as we've been working together… though I do know one thing."

"What's that?"

Roman glanced at me. "What's your offer?"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, don't tell me. I don't have anything else on her."

"Anything about her stooges?"

"Emerald and Mercury? Nothing you couldn't figure out."

Roman sighed. "Well kid, that's business for you. C'mon, I'll buy you a drink."

"I'm underage."

"So make it a virgin. Or a soda, whatever. We haven't had much chance to chat with all the bullshit going on - I'd like to think things between us aren't so strained that I can't have a regular talk with a former apprentice of mine."
We walked over to the end of the bar, avoiding the crowd. Junior left the center of the bar to serve us - something he'd been doing more often in my recent visits to The Just Right. Which raised the question-

"Did you talk to Junior or something? He used to avoid me like a disease, but now he's walked all the way back to being practically accommodating. Even gave me a discount on that car..."

"I just told him you make a better ally than enemy."

I waited until Junior served us - I ended up getting a virgin Strawberry Sunrise - and walked away before continuing. "True enough…" I downed my glass. "Do you think the Branwen plan is viable?"

"Hmph. Destabilize Vale with precision terrorism and Grimm incursions, let Vale's Guardian forces be worn down, and then collapse the defenses entirely before swooping in to eliminate Ozpin and seize control… As far as ideas go, it's more or less sound. Thing is, pulling it off is gonna take a lot of set up-"

"-which means a lot of things can go wrong."

Roman sighed and downed his cup, before motioning for one of the bartenders to refill it. "Yep."

I glanced at him. "So why are you sticking with this? I know you like to gamble, but the odds and stakes aren't exactly worth it. What did Cinder promise you?"

Roman stared at his drink. "She-"

"AH!"

A yell and a crash brought our attention to the stage, where Junior had just been punted through.

Roman and I turned our heads over to the dance floor, where a blonde girl was slowly surrounded by Junior's men as the civilian crowd rushed out of the club.

Roman whistled. "Well, this ought to be interesting. And I thought tonight would just be business!"

The woman leaped, and I took a moment to activate my Semblance, enhancing my vision processing and analyzing her.

Gauntlet-guns. Probably a Guardian, or at least one in training, given her apparent age. Fighting style revolves around punches, but don't discount kicking ability.

She landed and punched the ground, causing a shockwave that knocked over many of Junior's men.

The force of the blasts is notable, probably on par with Melodic Cudgel in its basic firing mode.

The woman leaped and kicked one of Junior's men, before rushing into melee with others, using her gauntlets to shoot out ranged shots as well as propel her into her opponents.

As I figured, she's well rounded as a martial artist, but specializes in boxing. Also, gauntlets can fire at range and have enough force to launch her. Not an ideal amount of information, but I can work with it.

I downed the rest of my glass and stood up.
"What, you're leaving already? The show just started."

"Nah, gonna make Junior owe me a favor… her weaponry isn't exactly designed to minimize collateral damage."

Roman chuckled and reached over the bar, grabbing a random bottle. "I figure you're gonna try to talk to her, but do try to make it interesting, hm?"

I rolled my eyes as I stepped towards Junior, who was slowly getting up.

"Junior."

He shook his head and looked up at me. "Jaune? Distract that girl while I go get my bat, and I'll give you free drinks for life."

"Better idea, Junior - I deal with her entirely, with minimum collateral damage, and you give me a ten percent discount on your stock for life."

Junior looked at his club, then at me. "Tell you what - if you can do this without making the mess worse, I'll give you fifteen."

"Stick with ten, just have your boys stop following me around. It's irritating."

"Deal."

We shook on it, and just in time, too - the woman had just knocked out the DJ, and Melanie and Miltia were approaching her.

As the girl reloaded, I ran forward, pulled my pistol out with my left hand - I kept a small holster in the small of my back, hidden under the hoodie I usually wore - and shot at her, keeping her pinned by the DJ table.

As I approached Melanie and Miltia, I spoke up in answer to their questioning gazes. "Sorry ladies, but Junior wants me dealing with this one."

They raised an eyebrow to each other before grinning, each placing one of their hands on my shoulder as they replied. "Okay handsome," Melanie said, "show us what you can do."

"And try not to disappoint," Miltia continued. "Do well, and we might even give you a reward of our own."

They sauntered away - and I definitely didn't take an extra second to watch their retreating rears - before I turned back to the woman, who had leaped down from the DJ table, and was approaching me, her guard up.

I waved a hand in greeting. "Hello miss, I'm terribly sorry to bother you but I'm afraid that the proprietor would like it if you could exit the premises, please."

She smugly grinned in response. "Oh yeah? And what're you gonna do if I don't leave? Shoot me with your gun?"

I gave an equally smug smile right back. "Oh no, if you refuse to leave I'll simply call the police and they'll arrest you."

At the back of the bar, my enhanced senses picked up Roman's chuckle. "Ah, not quite as amusing entertainment as I'd hoped for, but this'll serve. Guardians all think they can throw their weight around without consequence…"

She blinked and her mouth gaped, almost stumbling back in her shock. "Arrest- what? You're the one working for a criminal!"

I gasped, placing my right hand over my mouth in exaggerated surprise. "Wow, that's quite the accusation there. Although, I doubt the court of law will side with you - after all, the police and the council would never condone a criminal running free of the law, let alone own a business and property! And in any case, if anyone is a criminal here, it's you, miss."

"How am I a criminal?"

"Shall I list off your offenses? Very well." I began counting on my fingers. "You assaulted a club owner, who was very lucky to have their Aura awakened else he might have died crashing through that decorative glass pillar. You then activated Guardian-grade weaponry and proceeded to further assault the club's employees, several of whom were not as lucky as the boss and did not have Aura."

Her eyes widened. "They didn't-" and her gaze flickered over to some of the goons.

Indeed, just because Junior had lost some of his men to my actions, that didn't mean he was going to suddenly empower dozens of men. That would create a power imbalance amongst the denizens of the underworld. Sure, having Aura didn't suddenly make you as strong as a Guardian, but in Assassin terms, it put you at Rank A10 since it meant that you were technically superhuman. And a sudden influx of superhuman criminals would also put Junior in the Council's spotlights as something to put down very quickly.

Needless to say, Junior - like most criminal bosses - was very selective with who was allowed to have Aura in their groups. Only high ranking members or bodyguards would have it.

The average grunt - most of what the young woman had fought - did not.

She dropped her arms in horrified shock as she looked out over Junior's men, beaten, wounded, and, in at least one case I could see, possibly crippled permanently. A few had visible burns as a side effect of her gauntlet's fiery blasts.

"I- I thought-"

"Regardless of what you thought," I interrupted, bringing her attention back to me, "you are a criminal. Using Guardian-grade weaponry on Auraless civilians is a felony, miss. However, the proprietor is willing to let bygones be bygones… if you leave now, and never return. Do we have an accord?"

She shuddered and stumbled, overcome by the reality of her actions. Eventually, something within her snapped, and she ran out, towards the exit, tears streaming down her face.

I sighed as Junior walked up behind me.

"Nice work, kid. But why'd you give her an out? She's a criminal in the eyes of the law, like you said - we could have pushed her into owing us."
I shook my head. "We don't know who she is. Without information, pushing her into a real confrontation would be a big risk. Even if we could beat her - and we probably could, with you, Roman, Melanie, Militia, and myself here - there's no telling whether that would just grab the attention of even more powerful Guardians, or even the Council itself. And honestly, I was lucky that she was so carefree with her weapon use - if she hadn't been so shocked by the impact of what she'd done, she might have called my bluff."

Junior nodded. "Good call. Even if she technically threw the first punch, the last thing I want is police or Guardians investigating my club. Well, you did your job, so a deal's a deal- ten percent off my stock for life, and my boys will stop bothering you. But don't expect me to give you any more deals, alright? Cash and favors only from here on out."

"I hear you." I shook his hand and turned to leave, only to be stopped by the Malachite twins.

"Hold on there, handsome," Miltia began.

"We're not done with you yet," Melanie continued.

They walked up and wrapped themselves around my arms, pulling me towards the back of the club. "That wasn't quite the show we expected," they said in unison, "but it was pretty satisfying to see that bitch run out crying. Consider us interested, Jaune Arc."

I glanced over to Roman and Junior, only to see Junior sigh, shrug, and wave me off. Apparently, now that the girls had a hold of me, I wouldn't be getting out.

Oh well, I suppose there are worse ways to spend my night… Blake will be happy to have the apartment to herself, if nothing else.

Blake kept the hood of her cloak up as she walked down the dirt road. She would have preferred a regular hoodie, or her usual bow, but Jaune had told her that traveler's cloaks were a traditional fashion piece for travelling Valeans, something that remained from the early days of the Valean Huntsmen corps, before they fully standardized and founded the IGO. According to him, plenty of modern Valeans still wore cloaks, though primarily those who lived outside the capital city. Nonetheless, he argued that she would be less noticeable with the cloak than in any other outfit, and she had little reason to disagree.

So it was that she approached the home of Amber Corona. She kept the black cloak drawn around her clothes to hide her battle outfit, lest some White Fang scout spot her, unlikely as it was, and it also served to hide Gambol Shroud at her back, though she'd had to reposition it to prevent the handle sticking out.

Amber's estate was large, though not as large as some of the farms in the area. Where the average Valean farm sat on anywhere from one to two-hundred acres (according to Jaune, who was apparently a wellspring of random facts about Vale), Amber's seemed to fit a meager ten to twenty acres at first glance - though since she was a Huntress, rather than farmer, perhaps that was plenty.

More than enough room to train privately, without disturbing others, even if she had a powerful ranged weapon. Which she doesn't, but Jaune's told me enough times that it's always best to confirm things with my own eyes… you never know what intelligence gets wrong.

She strolled up the main path and kept her eyes peeled, noting the buildings on the estate.

A barn? A stable? Maybe she's not a full farmer, but I guess it would make sense to keep livestock if you lived out here by yourself. Probably has a sizable garden as well. I think Adam mentioned that she raised horses too, probably helps her get around the area since she oversees it.

Eventually, she reached the front door.

Well, time to find out if she's even here.

She knocked on the door and waited for several minutes before knocking again. This time, someone responded.

"Who is it?"

"I'm looking for Amber Corona."

"That's not what I asked."

"..."

"If you're looking for trouble, you'd best move on."

"No wait, I…" Blake paused, then slowly lowered the hood. "My name is Blake Belladonna. I'm a defector from the White Fang, seeking asylum."

The door creaked open slowly, and Blake saw Amber for the first time. She looked just like the picture in the file Jaune had, down to the outfit. Amber stared Blake down, then held her hand out.

"Weapon."

Wordlessly, Blake nodded and handed over Gambol Shroud. At this point, attempting to fight would be suicide - as a Rank 3 Guardian, Amber was on par with Adam, so even escape would be impossible at this close range.

Amber nodded and opened the door wider. "Get in."

Blake stepped inside, and Amber closed the door behind her.