Thanks for the feedback everyone. Love that you liked how I'm trying to introduce Silent Knight and Lancaster in my story. Have fun reading the next chapters. It's a bit of downtime, reactions, actions ,and setup for the next conflict.

General James Ironwood of Atlas was pissed.

When they saw the Atlesian Paladin wreaking havoc in the news, he knew they weren't going to make it in time to help. He still had to contact the few men he had spread around the city and gather enough of them to strike out in force.

He knew he should have just stationed the army here like originally planned.. Alas, what's done is done. He just has to call Winter after this and have the army move here as a security force.

"Sir! We are approaching the site of the battle! We have a group gathered near what seems to be parts of the Paladin!" The pilot calls out from the cockpit and James' eyebrows rise in surprise.

The Paladin is in pieces? Did Glynda's students destroy it? But from what they saw on the news before on their way here, there were only two of them being chased. He doubts two students could have achieved such a feat which means…..

"My students?" Glynda pipes up worriedly from behind him as she leans nearer to the cockpit.

Any other time, James would have been electrified being this close with Glynda but with the seriousness of the situation, he winces at the grave the possibilities.

"Unknown, Ma'am! But the group seems to be encircling two people with one of them being supported by the other." The pilot reports and James is thankful for the information update. At least there's for Glynda's students yet.

"James…" Glynda says quietly and looks at him with a plea in her eyes to which he could only sigh out.

Letting his Semblance, Mettle, strengthen his resolve and focus, he gives out orders to push them into action.

"Take us closer and have the other bullheads secure the perimeter." He orders the pilot as he takes stock of his forces available to him.

Currently there are six other soldiers here other than the pilot in this bullhead together with him and Glynda. The other bullheads hold a similar number of forces each with each soldier being highly trained, disciplined, and ready to take on any mission assigned by Atlas.

Still, better safe than sorry. He presses the communication bead in his ear to contact who he needs to. Two taps for Team Two and he is already speaking.

"Penny, take Ciel and the team with you then land on the opposite side of the group we are going to land at. Surround them and let none escape. Non Lethal force only."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Penny answers immediately and enthusiastically but James is worried.

Barring her actions at the docks, this is the first time Penny would be deployed in an active scene visible to everyone.

Eventually, in no time at all actually, they manage to get close enough and James pulls the door open before the bullhead could even land.

"PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" He calls out as he suddenly jumps out of the bullhead, with his gun, Due Process, out.

He pauses instantly then immediately lowers his gun when he sees who he was just pointing his gun at. Pale skin, white hair, and cold, blue eyes greet him.

Glynda's gasp behind him confirms his own conclusions. Zeroing in at the most familiar figure for him, he calls out to them. She might not be Winter, but she is undoubtedly her sister.

"Ms. Schnee. Would you mind telling us what you and your friends are doing?" James asks as he takes in the group of young people in front of him.

His military mind already takes note of the presence of all the members of Team RWBY, half of Team JNPR, and four unfamiliar people with them.

There's a moment when all of them freeze and look at each other to figure out what is going on but it only lasts for a moment considering he has already called out one of their group. James waits as Weiss Schnee steps forward to address him.

"I-" She starts, only to be interrupted by a sudden sound.

THUD!

"Freeze! Nobody move!" Penny shouts out as she crashes into the ground from the still landing bullhead.

""PENNY!"" Multiple voices call out enthusiastically even as Penny deploys her swords around her.

"Friend Ruby! Friend Nora! Please do not resist. You are under arrest."

""WHAT?!""

"Stand down, Penny. We are not arresting th-."

"Speak for yourself. Ms. Polendina, detain them please."

James instinctively steps away and he gulps as he sees Glynda's stony expression.

"With pleasure, Ma'am!" Penny calls out happily as she herds the students together.

"I'm…going to leave you to it." He pipes out, avoiding the pleading stares the students suddenly aimed at him.

He would have liked to know more about the situation and identify the unfamiliar faces but it's not something he can't do later. Besides, he had a job to do.

Leaving the students to their fate, James takes in the pile of scraps that remains of the Paladin. It's impressive that the students managed to destroy the Paladin but he frowns at the sight. Not because they technically destroyed Atlas property, but because there was no sign of the pilot.

James knew that while final designs had the Atlesian Paladin being drones or AI-controlled, the first ones they've actually managed to produce needed pilots in them. The fact that the pilot was nowhere to be seen meant that they'd just let someone who knows how to pilot an Atlesian Paladin escape.

If that pilot manages to teach others while getting possession of more Paladins then who knows what trouble they could cause.

With that said, they now need to be stricter with their equipment and shipments. Just goes to show that he should call the army here now, regardless of what Ozpin thinks.

It's a shame really, part of the reason why he went to Vale early was to have some sort of semi-vacation while giving Winter the experience to lead. Now that he has to call them however, James finds himself mourning the lost free time he has managed to get for himself.

Welp, there goes his plan to spend some time with Glynda. Regardless, duty first before pleasure.

He was just about to return to Glynda and her students when the comm-bead by his ear suddenly buzzed out.

"Sir! The media is here. They're asking about the two people being chased by the Paladin. Please advise." One of the teams he has assigned to secure the perimeter communicates to him.

Shit. They need to nip this in the bud now before someone drags their names through the mud.

"Let them know we've handled it but allow local police access to the scene." He calls back even as a frown finds its way on his face.

"Copy that Sir. Please be advised that there's also a civilian bullhead circling the area."

James looks up at that and there's no doubt about it. That's a Vale News Network bullhead flying above them past the elevated highways.

He knew how bad this could look like. An Atlesian Paladin covered in White Fang logos rampages in the middle of Vale while chasing two Beacon students? At the very least, someone will label them as incompetent for losing something as important as that.

No doubt the vultures of the media would pounce on this opportunity to write a sensational story. That story however will come at the cost of dealing damage to his reputation as well as others.

James Ironwood was self-aware enough to know that he was a soldier through and through. Put him in front of a mic and he's liable to either frighten or anger the civilians.

Still, he didn't become a general by running away from things like this.

Sure, he was at a disadvantage when it comes to handling media but that's what reinforcements were for. In Atlas, he had Winter to take that role but here? He knows just the right woman for the job.

Glynda Goodwitch. The woman who is currently disciplining her students behind him. He has no doubt that she would be better suited than him to face the media and come out with nary a scratch to her reputation or credibility.

As he walks back towards the main group to fetch Glynda however, he can't help but feel like they're forgetting something important.

"Why is it that when something happens it is always you people involved?" Glynda sighs out as she looks at the group in front of her.

"Hold up. What do you mean you people?"

Her resulting glare at the offending student was enough to quell that line of questioning.

"Right, shutting up now." Yang Xiao Long finishes, miming a zipper closing over her mouth.

Glynda could actually feel a vein pop on her head from the irritation at such a casual demeanor to this incident.

"Do you think this is a joke, Ms. Xiao Long?" She replies cooly, conveying her displeasure at the situation.

A frightened shake of the head answers her question but Glynda isn't done just yet. They need to know how serious what just happened compared to the commotion at the docks last time.

"Good, because you should know what you just did was serious."

The group's collective shudder of fear was almost enough to cool her head down, but no, she has to drive this point.

"How many innocent people do you think were hurt in this incident? What would you have done if somebody died because of your actions?"

The grave and horrified looks aimed back at her tells her that her students finally know the gravity of their situation. It pains her heart that she needs to drive this lesson so soon but with the way things tend to go with both Teams JNPR and RWBY, she has to discipline just so they know the consequences of their actions.

"I'll tell you that no matter what the number is, even one is already one too many. So I would really like one of you to explain to me how this all started." She finishes, her voice taking a sharp edge at the end.

The group freezes at first but Glynda was quick enough to notice Weiss Schnee's glance towards her teammate. She's sure she didn't mean it but Glynda was used to ferreting something like this out from overactive teenagers. Add to that that this involves the White Fang and she already saw her on the news, there's only one suspect in her mind.

"Ms. Belladonna, is there something you want to say?"

"I-I'm so-"

"It's not her fault!"

Everyone looks at the unfamiliar figure and Glynda's glare sharpens towards him at the thought of this man dragging her students into something dangerous.

"Oh? Is there something you want to say young man? I don't believe I have your name."

"I-It's me, Professor Goodwitch. Jaune Arc."

Glynda's mind pauses a bit at that. She eventually takes in Jaune's look and pinches the bridge of her nose. Students in disguise, how great. Looking at the rest of his team present, Glynda could only come up with one more conclusion.

"...I suppose your partner is also here?" She asks but she doesn't really need to.

"Here, Ma'am." A black-haired female with what must obviously be fake cat ears raises her hand nervously.

"So both Teams RWBY and JNPR are here. While that doesn't answer what you were doing here, I believe it is better for all of us to know one another. Now how about you two?" She inquires, looking at the two unfamiliar faces attached to her group of students.

"Us? We just tagged along with those two." The gray-haired male answers casually with a smug smile, pointing a thumb at both Weiss and Ruby who were showing him looks of betrayal for metaphorically throwing them under the bus..

"And you are?" Glynda narrows her eyes at them, irked at the almost smug tone the male is taking with her. Causing the green-haired girl beside the male to elbow her companion in the gut because of her displeasure.

"Forgive him, Ma'am. He was dropped as a baby so manners didn't really stick with him. I'm Emerald and this is Mercury. We just got here from Haven." The girl adds and answers for both of them as something suddenly snaps back into Glynda's mind.

"Haven? Were you looking for your schoolmates Mr. Wukong and Mr. Vasilias?" Glynda asks insistently, ignoring the offended look Mercury was giving to Emerald.

That's right. She can't believe she actually forgot about the two students who were missing. They even called a faculty meeting earlier just to look for them. Before the two can answer however, a gasp cuts through their conversation.

"Neptune?! Did something happen with Neptune, Professor?!" Weiss Schnee asks pleadingly with worried eyes aimed at her.

"They've….been missing for almost 24 hours now. No one has seen them in Beacon since yesterday." Glynda admits resignedly.

Seeing that the group was already involved in something troublesome, it wouldn't matter if Glynda tells them this. In fact, she was hoping that they might have at least actually stumbled on a clue while looking for trouble.

Her hope is repaid when this time, Yang Xiao Long contributes something relevant to the conversation.

"Sun and Neptune? We found them in a bar!"

Glynda pauses for a moment, processing that new piece of information and trying to relate that to what is happening here now.

"A bar? And they are connected to this event, how?" She asks finally, not seeing any connections in her mind.

"Uhm….yeah, we found them there when we went to get in-oof!" Yang answers but is interrupted by Jaune elbowing his friend and laughing nervously.

"What she's saying is she found them there when they went to have fun!"

Glynda's eyes narrow at the interaction and she hones in to what Ms. Xiao Long was just about to say. In? Inside? Information? Too many possibilities and too many questions for Glynda's taste.

"And what, pray tell, is the name of this bar and how does it relate to you being here?" She questions with a frown on her face.

"Uhm…That's…It's… Ju-" Jaune begins to stutter an answer, only to be interrupted by someone walking behind her.

"Glynda. We have a situation."

Any other time and it wouldn't have mattered but this day has already been too stressful in her opinion for someone to interrupt just as she was finally starting to get some answers.

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to at least calm herself before turning around to look General James Ironwood squarely in the eyes.

"James…I am in the middle of finding out where our two missing students are located."

"Ah…right. I knew I was forgetting something but this is important."

"It better be." She growls as she tightens her hands in frustration.

"It's the media."

And just like that her frustration blows away and gives way to….confusion.

"And you are telling me this, why?" She asks slowly with a tilt of her head, because surely James should be able to handle them.

"Because they are asking about your students."

"My students? Why wou-" She starts only for James to point a finger upward.

Her eyes automatically follow and sure enough, there looks to be a bullhead circling them.

"Vale News Network."

"How? How did we miss them?" She asks in concern.

"We were probably too busy hurrying to the scene and flying low and we missed the bullhead flying high enough to cover everything."

She knew what that meant. If they did have something like that, they can spin the narrative to something as sensational as they like. They had to have an input right now to stop the story from getting out of control.

"Damn." The curse flows from her mouth before she could stop it and she turns with a stern look back towards her students.

It is to her shame that it is only now that she is taking in that Lie Ren was injured. At first, she thought he was just being clingy with his partner in this stressful time but it seems to be more than that.

"This is not over but for now, continue straight back to Beacon and contact Mr. Wukong and Mr. Vasilias to return as well. Mr. Ren, visit the infirmary once you arrive. I will speak with you and Ms. Belladonna about your chase across a highway at another time. Any questions?"

A series of negative answers bombards her and she nods sharply as a sign of their dismissal. With 10 additional students to ferry, it took three of the original four they took with them to carry them back to Beacon.

After watching them get in the bullheads, Glynda finally turns back to James and they both nod as one.

While her students fought a giant killer robot, their teachers will now have to fight the media. It was definitely going to be a long night.

Their journey back to Beacon was somber. The silence was broken only when Nora hissed at Ciel who wanted to carry Ren from the other side to get them inside the bullheads faster.

With so many of them together with their escorts, soldiers from Atlas apparently, they had to split up into multiple bullheads.

Team JNPR had one for themselves as well as Team RWBY. The last two, those familiar to Jaune but he didn't know their names, also had a bullhead for them together with Penny and Ciel.

It was the perfect time for Jaune to heal Ren's injury in privacy, out of prying eyes from those he didn't know. The way they were seated, it was him and Pyrrha facing both Ren and Nora opposite them, making it convenient for him to reach out to his brother from another mother..

"Ren, I'm going to use my Semblance on you like I did with Blake before. Is that okay with you?" He asks as he holds one of Ren's hands while Nora holds the other.

"As long as you don't make me kiss you like she did then we are good." Ren hisses back with a pained but obvious smile, causing Nora to chuckle wetly at him.

"No promises." Jaune gives them a small smile, happy to jump in on the joke and that whatever drama his friends were going through earlier today they at least have moved past it for now.

"I think Jaune's already had too many kisses from others today." Pyrrha fires back, looking at him with a straight face.

Ah, right. It looks like he's the one who is gonna have some drama now. Damn you, Neo.

Glancing at his girlfriend worriedly beside him, he gives her the best apologetic smile he can. Pyrrha, for her part, rolls her eyes exasperatedly before lightly flicking his forehead with a rueful smile.

Jaune flinches at that but is suddenly surprised when Pyrrha leans towards him to give him a peck on the cheek.

"Not from me though, there's no such thing as too many kisses with me." She adds with a small blushing smile on her face even as she suddenly puts her hands on his thigh firmly.

He couldn't stop his body's reaction to that even if he wanted to, luckily for him however, someone was there to stop him from pitching a tent then and there.

"Ahem. Can you flirt without holding my Renny's hand?" Nora pipes up shyly as she blushes either from their flirting or calling Ren hers, regardless, it gets Jaune to let go of Ren's hand.

""Sorry!"" Jaune and Pyrrha squeak out just as he begins to feel dizzy when the bullhead finally starts flying towards Beacon.

"J-just heal me before I die." Ren interrupts with a pained chuckle even as the blush on his cheeks from Nora holding his hand and calling him hers reduces the gravity of his words.

"R-right. Let's start. I'm doing it now." Jaune starts sheepishly, starting to activate his Semblance and he rushes to let it flow to Ren immediately before he is too dizzy to do this.

He stops, however, when Ren suddenly screams in pain and every single one of them flinches.

"Stop! You're hurting him!" Nora shouts with teary eyes even as Jaune has already let go of Ren's hand with a horrified look on his face.

And just like that, any Semblance of levity inside the bullhead disappears.

"W-what happened?" He asks, the shock so obvious in his tone that Nora couldn't even stay angry at him.

"I-I don't know. It felt like my chest was going to burst." Ren answers with a pale and sweaty face.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Jaune…It's okay. You didn't know. It just surprised me, that's all." Ren says slowly, looking at him with understanding eyes.

He looks away apologetically, guilt eating away inside him together with anger for hurting his friend. Fuck. He thought he could have finally contributed something tonight by healing Ren but even that fails.

"I believe letting the infirmary check on Ren would be the best course of action now." Pyrrha says comfortingly, holding his hand and looking at their teammates apologetically.

After that, no one had the energy to talk. Even Jaune doesn't notice his own motion sickness as they travel to Beacon in silence.

It is only when they finally land that the silence is broken. As they open the door, they are greeted by the other teams exiting their own bullheads on Beacon's landing area. Team JNPR, however, walks past Ruby and her teammates while carefully carrying Ren.

Jaune sees Blake try to get his attention but right now, he has to worry about his injured teammate. He's lucky that Pyrrha decided to stay behind to at least talk to their friends because Jaune can't see himself being good conversation right now.

His mood worsens even more after he and Nora finally manage to bring Ren inside the infirmary.

"Alright, I'll say it straight. You have fractured ribs that's pushing up against your lungs, internal bleeding in the upper abdominal area, and a lot of bruises especially on your right side." Professor Peach, Beacon's in-house medic and Plant Science teacher says seriously while looking at her charts before looking up at Ren again. "Just what did you do to get this hurt?"

Jaune's eyes widen at the list of injuries Ren has suffered. Hearing it laid out like that made it sound like Ren was going to die. It just made his friend a badass in his eyes that he could stare at the Professor without flinching and answer her question.

"Fought a giant robot." Ren answers in reply in a straight tone.

"Hmmm, that would do it. Did you at least win?"

"Yup. Renny was so brave." Nora replies immediately, looking at Ren worriedly.

"Well, regardless, I'm going to need you to stay here for at least a day. We'll get your Aura up and have you healed up in no time with some boosters."

That is when Jaune finally pipes up.

"Uhm, excuse me. But can't my Semblance heal him?"

Professor Peach only looks at him curiously at that, lifting an eyebrow as she takes him in.

"And what is your Semblance young man? Is it healing?"

"Uhm no, it's Aura Amplification. Shouldn't it help with healing him?" He answers nervously.

"That explains some things. What percent do you think his Aura is at now?" Professor Peach points out, waving a hand to one of the monitors showing Ren's condition.

"Ten, he's at ten percent. That's good, isn't it? His Aura is going up." He says slowly, confused at what Professor Peach was getting at.

"You would think that, wouldn't you? And normally I would agree. But having 10% Aura less than an hour after it just broke is too high even if we pumped him with Aura boosters."

"Again, shouldn't that be healing him?"

"It is, but if what I'm thinking is true then you healed him too fast."

Jaune, Nora, and Ren tilt their heads in confusion at that to Professor Peach's exasperation, prompting her to continue with a sigh.

"Think of it this way, you broke your arm so you are in pain, right?"

"Right."

"Now imagine someone just...CRACK!... carelessly puts your arm back together in an instant, you think you wouldn't feel pain when someone carelessly moves it even if it is to put it back together?" Professor Peach finishes with a raised eyebrow.

Jaune only winces at that. Just imagining him having his arm broken already feels like it hurt, then having someone just snap it back in an instant made even his bones ache.

"So that's why it hurt earlier." Ren answers.

"What hurt?" The professor asks concernedly with a pinch of her brows.

"Jaune-Jaune tried to use his Semblance on Renny earlier." Nora answers, unable to look at Jaune and that….that hurt him.

"Ahhh, I see. Considering your injuries, it must have felt like your ribs were knitting itself back." Professor Peach nods back in realization and Jaune's eyes begin to widen.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Ren!" He apologizes loudly, bowing and causing everyone to flinch at his own self-realization.

Stupid. That was so stupid of him! Professor Goodwitch already told him before to practice his Semblance before using it on others! Look at him now, hurting his friend even more instead of helping him. He was already so useless that he wasn't ev-

He doesn't get far into his thoughts however when Professor Peach smacks him on the head with her charts.

"Relax. You didn't kill him. Sure it hurt but this just teaches you to use your Semblance gently when trying to heal people. I'm sure Mr. Ren here could have taken it but sometimes its easier to just let it heal naturally when not in a hurry."

"...Right, I'm sorry. I'll be leaving him in your care." He rubs the back of his head ashamedly, looking away from any of them and walking out of the room.

"Jau-"

Embroiled in his own thoughts, he doesn't hear the next words Ren tried to say. No matter what Professor Peach said, he still hurt Ren and it was all because of his impatience.

Damnit, he really wasn't anything helpful today. He wasn't even in the fight to contribute anything. Worse than that, for all his training to become a better fighter he still got himself choked out by Neo while he was using his Semblance. If he was just a better fighter, he never would have been held hostage and Roman would be behind bars now.

Regardless, it's clear now what he has to do. He has to t-.

He doesn't get to finish his thought because someone suddenly crashes onto him from behind.

"It wasn't your fault!" Nora calls out to him, hugging him from behind tightly with her eyes closed.

"Nora, I-"

"No! I won't let you go until you believe it!"

"I-"

"And I'm sorry for blaming you even for a second!"

"..."

"You didn't know so it wasn't your fault! Do you hear me?! It wasn't your fault!"

"..."

"..Jaune? Can you hear me?"

"...ca…n't…breathe." He finally lets out the words he so wanted to say, causing Nora to suddenly let go of him.

"I'm sorry!" She squeaks out, covering her mouth in embarrassment and shame as she watches him stumble even lower than he already was.

"I-It's okay…You didn't know. It wasn't your fault." He gasps out, unable to stop himself from throwing her own words as he finally starts to breathe again and stand up.

They stare at each other for a moment before finally laughing at the same time. Tears prick their eyes as they stare at each other in laughter.

"I'm sorry." Jaune starts, wiping the happy tears away.

"I-it's okay. I'm sorry too." Nora replies back, copying him.

"Thanks Nora…Thanks for talking to me."

"It's no biggie. It's what Ren also wanted to say to you. You weren't at fault, Jaune. You didn't know. Now that you know though, we're sure you're going to be better with using your Semblance." She answers casually, her words taking a bit of a serious tone before smiling at him again as she finishes.

"You really believe that?" He asks with a smile only to receive a big slap on his shoulder for his question.

"Of course, silly! You're our fearless leader, after all! Now come on, I need to get some clothes from our room. I'll be staying with Renny tonight so you and Pyrrha can have the room together." She says with a smile, wagging her eyebrows at the end to Jaune's embarrassment.

Jaune only laughs at her but leads the way back to their dorm room. As they enter however, they notice Pyrrha already there sitting on top of her bed. Before he could greet her however, she says words that freezes him on his track, causing Nora to bump his back.

"Jaune, we need to talk."

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pa tr eon.c o m (slash) MrLightbringer0