Author's Notes: So I've rewritten all of Tock's dialogue and thoughts to more closely resemble a real Scottish Accent. So if you have the time let me know what you think of the change and how I can improve the Fic.

Qrow loved to travel, it was a major reason why he quit his nice well paying job over at Signal Academy and went right back into fieldwork however, he also hated walking and hated it with a passion, climbing up then down treacherous mountains before hiking through dense possibly Grimm or Bandit-filled forests was a miserable experience for the man even before factoring in his Semblance. Frankly, on any other day he would have just turned into a crow, Ha Ha Very funny Oz and I thought Yang had a bad sense of humor, and skipped the whole ordeal but that option was currently out of the question thanks to the existence of a companion by the name of Maria Calavera whose presence was making him realize just how long it's been since he had last traveled with anyone else. Granted it was due mostly to his own preference and partly because of his aforementioned Semblance which was Bad Luck and as if that wasn't already awful enough, it just happened to be fully automatic and indiscriminate which made solo travel a necessity. It was at times lonely life but he was doing what he loved and making the world a better place in the process so it really wasn't all that bad, though sometimes he'd find himself wishing for a traveling buddy, preferably one that could keep up with him, cared about people, wanted to do what was right and didn't have a stick in their ass, unlike that Winter chick, I swear there will be a reckoning if I ever find out who started that awful rumor about the two of us being secret lovers. Seriously, she's way too young for me and don't even get me started on her personality. Now Maria on the other hand was a completely different story and at first glance, she could have very well been considered his soulmate, she was smart and had the wit to back it up, could easily keep up with him, had a Semblance that protected her from his, cared deeply about helping people, could drink him under the table and the fact that she was also an absolute beauty was just an extra bonus on top of an already powerful argument. That being said, romance was off the table because even a drunkard like him understood that it was a horrible idea to try and start something with someone currently working through trauma and few things are as traumatic as getting your eyes cut out and being left for dead for the sake of war that you didn't even know was being waged. She was a strong woman but the fire and fury that she showed back in the village was slowly burning out with every step every mile closer to Vale and most importantly closer to the halls of Beacon. She's starting to doubt herself… no that's not exactly true, Qrow corrected himself being careful not to give anything away as the pair continued their journey, The doubt was there long before I showed up it was just hidden underneath all that anger.

He wanted to help her just like how in the past he helped his best friend Taiyang by being just as rightfully angry as he was when Raven abandoned everything the two had built together and when Summer died he helped the poor guy again by first mourning alongside him and later on by reminding him that his daughters needed a father and that he still had a brother who wasn't going anywhere. But in both of those situations, he was able to help because he had also been hurt by the actions of his bitch of a sister and by the loss of the greatest woman they had ever known, he understood the pain Taiyang was going through because he was going through the exact same pain at the same time and that was exactly the problem with Maria's case. He never experienced anything close to what she had, leaving him with no frame of reference for what she was feeling right now, though perhaps that isn't as important as I think it is... he took a moment to look over his shoulder and saw Maria waking just behind him using her Semblance to know exactly where he and everything around them was, Spatial Awareness is a hell of a superpower, maybe if Summer had it she'd… at that moment Qrow felt like the biggest fucking idiot in the whole goddamned world of Remnant, She'd want you to focus on saving her daughters instead of thinking of pointless What If's and she'd want you to at least try and help Maria. But first, he would have to break the ice, "Hey, since we're traveling together do you mind answering a couple of questions? Even if you don't want to I'll still do my best to answer your questions!"

"How much longer till we reach Beacon?" She asked.

"Well I'd reckon that we should get there by around…," he quickly ran some mental calculations keeping in mind that his companion was still blind despite her Semblance, "We could get there in around five to seven days assuming nothing comes up that might delay us and trust me, something will happen." A Bullhead is coming to pick us up so we should get there in around half that time but leaving that out might get her to open up to me.

"Well, that's just fanfuckingtastic… fine what do you want to know?" she answered.

"Those people back in that mountain village seemed to like you, in fact, they were ready to fight me to protect you."

Maria quickly whispered something under her breath that Qrow could only barely make out, "Those idiots…"

Pretending like he heard nothing the Huntsman continued, "Now I've seen appreciation before it usually but it's usually the offer of a place to stay for the night, a meal and occasionally a one night stand but that village… they love you, they legitimately love you and frankly I'm a little jealous, so what's the story?"

She was silent for a bit which didn't worry the dusty old crow at all since he hadn't lie about how long it would take them to reach Beacon and was more than happy to wait for her to open up however he didn't have to wait long, "That village doesn't appear on any map so the only way for most people to find it is to stumble upon by accident as I did or already know where it is. They are on their own and if a horde of Grimm were to descend upon them and wipe out the settlement, absolutely no one would know."

"So you were protecting them?"

"I saved them... from a rouge Huntsman."

He instantly understood the cruel irony of the situation but wisely chose not to comment on it, Getting mistaken for the very asshole you just sent packing? Damn and I thought I had bad luck, "It must've taken a long time to earn their trust afterward, so why did you stick around instead of moving onto the next big gig?" Qrow asked as he thought back to his sister for just a moment.

"That village was a wellspring of negativity, if I moved on then Grimm would move in and I think we've both seen how that ends. Honestly, when that scaly bitch showed up with her crew and called me the rogue Huntsman, I laughed at them and at how absurd the whole situation was. After everything I had done for that settlement she felt like a bad joke or some kind of bullshit plot contrivance penned by a third rate hack of a wannabe author for the sake of drama, I was going to kick her ass and go back to the village where I'd tell them the funny story of the losers I'd just met… then I lost and she was one laughing," Maria stopped walking and just stood there trying her best to rein in her emotions but she kept thinking back to the moment when the blade touched her eyes and everything went dark with the last thing she ever saw being that damned smile on her attacker's face… followed by vicious laughter and fearful helplessness.

She sensed Qrow stepping close to her and instinctually took one step back, stopping when he didn't pursue her. Instead he respected her wishes by standing at a respectable distance before he began softly talking, "When I was a student in Beacon I was a part of a team called STRQ, Summer Rose was the leader and easily the kindest most sincere person I ever had the pleasure of knowing... she had Silver Eyes," this instantly caught Maria's attention as he continued to speak, "Summer is dead now, killed on the orders of the very same person that wanted you gone."

"Salem," Maria spoke that name with such venom as she tired to imagine what kind of foul circumstances led to the creation of such an evil being.

"And now they are in Vale looking for Summer's daughter and my niece Ruby. I know that we are asking a lot from you but please, help me keep her safe."

The Atlesian Knight-130 was a mass-produced combat droid that had managed to retain a considerable bit of popularity even after being replaced by its frankly superior successor, the Atlesian Knight-200. The secret behind the 130's ability to remain profitable was a combination of several key factors including affordability, easy maintenance, repair, and how simple it was to modify their behavior protocols which allowed users to create all types of combat scenarios for solo and/or team practice. An example of this would be the droid that was now facing off against Ruby Rose in one of Beacon's many training arenas as her friend Penny watched from the sidelines using a computer console to make adjustments to the droid and the field itself. For this Session the 130 had been given one command and all of its performance parameters had been optimized to achieve the singular goal of Dodging. The mechanical knight kept its eyes on the hooded girl and the odd weapon in her hands while searching through its limited database for the specs of that particular instrument of death to better determine how to best achieve its designated goal but, it failed to find anything. Then the girl moved her hands and pointed the device away from the machine which caused the droid's built-in processor to go into overdrive to try and predict what was going to happen next, then something shot out of the weapon, and the 130's retinal scanners caught sight of an unidentified flying object moving rapidly towards it from an odd angle. The droid's internal computer didn't even try to calculate all the possible trajectories before it began moving in the opposite direction in a bid to complete its objective of avoidance only for its audio sensors to pick up the sound of the object gaining speed and moving closer and closer. Understanding that it was about to fail, the droid attempted to juke the object at the last moment but the sound of metal tearing into metal filled the room as contact was made and the droid's right arm fell off.

"I still can't land a good hit with this thing," Ruby lamented as she prepared Jaune's new weapon to fire again.

"It is a rather difficult weapon to use but there are plenty of historical examples of weapons that work using the same principles with five such weapons being right here in Beacon with one of them being used by a professor." Penny helpfully stated.

"Really? Which professor is it? I could use some advice right now," asked Ruby as she fired the weapon again this time cutting off a portion of the Droid's head and shutting it down. Penny then pressed a few buttons and another model of the 130s came out to replace its failed brethren.

"The Professor's name is Ann Greene, she teaches Stealth and Security and in a stroke of fortune, is also the Huntress overseeing Team JNPR mission! I shall try calling Jaune to advise him to ask her for lessons," Penny went silent as she used her internal scroll to call the Pirate; a few seconds later she began speaking again, "He didn't answer so I left him a message. Would you like to try disabling multiple droids?"

"Penny! I'm still trying to hit one moving target!"

The door to the room suddenly opened up and Weiss Schnee quickly walked in and gave a surprised look when she saw the pair, "Oh Ruby and even Penny! I didn't expect to see either of you here, how are you feeling? Is there anything wrong?"

"I'm in optimal shape, friend Weiss!" Penny happily exclaimed.

Ruby on the other hand pouted and with an exasperated tone answered, "I'm okay Weiss, I feel fine."

Penny was caught off guard by Ruby's attitude but even stranger was how Weiss seemed completely unbothered by it, Correction: Friend Weiss shows no sign of surprise rather her readings suggest that she was expecting such an answer. Further observation is recommended to understand.

Weiss began walking towards the back of the room, "Don't mind me, I'm just looking for a shard of Dust that I lost here and look!" She walked over to a workbench and reached into a toolbox, "Found it! I must have accidentally dropped it in there while I was tuning Myrtenaster earlier," she held up a piece of Ice Dust for Ruby to see before walking back towards the door, "Well, Ruby if there is anything you need help with-"

Ruby cut her off, "I'll be sure to call you or Yang or Blake."

Normally Weiss would have been rightfully upset by her leader's rude behavior but for whatever reason, she seemed completely unbothered by it, even stranger was the smile on her face that suggested that she was pleased by the answer, "Well, take care!" She then opened the door, gave a little wave, and walked out into the hallway leaving the pair alone.

"That was... odd," said Penny in the understatement of the century.

"It's not just her! Blake and especially Yang have been constantly checking up on me trying to make sure that I'm safe and the worst part is that no one will tell me what's wrong! I have asked them so many times already and they all keep denying that anything is going on while treating me like a kid in the process!" She took a moment to calm herself down, "Penny I'm sorry for-"

"You have nothing to apologize for Friend Ruby, I'm happy that you felt comfortable enough around me to vent your frustrations to me." As soon as the words left her mouth Ruby used her Semblance to close the distance between the two of them and pull Penny into a hug that the was happily returned, I probably should not mention that my scanners detected the "Missing," Dust Shard in Weiss' sleeves before she "Found," it in the toolbox.

However while they were embracing, the door opened up one more time and Mercury Black walked in pausing when he was what was going on, "Um, am I interrupting anything here or would the two of you like to be alone?" he politely asked not wanting to be a bother.

Ruby in turn kindly used her semblance to quickly move to the other side of the room while nicely screaming, "Where did you come from!?"

"Mercury came in shortly after Weiss left, you simply didn't notice him since you were busy embracing me, which is an activity that I would very much like to get back to," Penny shot him a look as she said that last part.

In turn, he scratched his head and began an apology, "I'm sorry it's just that I've been having trouble with my weapon," He pulled up one of his pant's legs revealing the metal prosthetics underneath which quickly captured the young Weapon Smith's attention, "And I've heard that the two of you are the best around. So how about you help me and in return, I'll listen to you vent," he watched the two think it over before deciding to sweeting the deal, "I'll also help get the others off of your back so you two can have a little privacy."

"Deal!"

In Beacon, there were very few places that could be called truly private and this applied to even the Emerald Forest next door that had entire sections under the constant and paranoid surveillance of a rightfully cautious old man. Thanks to ever-improving technology and years of personal experience, most of these hidden cameras and microphones have and probably will remain secret for years, or at least that had been what he had hoped would happen. All it took was a backdoor program created by a brilliant man with a grudge to shatter that hope when Cinder managed to use the CCT to spread a certain virus throughout the entire network. All at once, the old man's eyes and ears were now in the service of the very ones he feared and thanks to a bit of basic deduction, Cinder had been able to find a few of the only locations in the Academy that were truly private and she planned make full use of them. It was in one such room where she was making herself comfortable on a chair, that she brought in, as Mercury gave his report, "Either Ruby's entire team has suddenly taken an unhealthy interest in her wellbeing or they think something is up."

She frowned for a second, "Tell me then, do you think they know about the Silver Eyes?"

He didn't answer right away, instead, he pretended to be deep in thought in order to give weight to his words. It was a habit he picked up from his father and perhaps the only good thing he ever learned from that thankfully dead piece of filth, "Jaune and Ruby are best friends but even if they weren't their two teams are close to each other and on top of that he is stupidly heroic," Which is weird considering the missing the arm but maybe he gets off on danger and that would explain his marriage to a bounty hunter, "and for reasons that I don't think anyone will ever understand that wannabe pirate and that cosplaying crocodile do seem to care about each other." How did they even meet?! "So if we assume that Tock told him about her job then it isn't a question of whether he'd tell RWBY and given how oddly protective Yang, Weiss and Blake are being of their little leader then there is no doubt. They know and they expect something is going to happen and that it will happen soon."

To his surprise, Cinder smiled, "Perfect! I do believe it's time for step two." She picked up a scroll and activated the voice changer and was about to dial a number when she noticed the confused and unsatisfied look on Mercury's face, Emerald feels the same as him but she's been trying to hide it, I better fill them in when she gets back, with that in mind, she dialed a number on the scroll and after a couple of seconds someone answered.

"Hello again my dear employer, how are you this most excellent of days?" the slimy voice of Peter spoke through the microphone, his tone carrying with it the stench of unearned confidence.

"You told me that you found and delivered the message to Tock, you even promised me that she would soon contact me, and yet here I am calling you instead!"

"What do mean she hasn't?! L-look here, it not my fault that the animal was too stupid to make a call! It's not my fault I was just following your instructions!" The façade was falling apart revealing his true nature much to her pleasure.

"My instructions were to find her and re-establish contact, you half-assed your job then patted yourself on the back and before you bring it up I already know about your juvenile attempts to try and trick her into thinking you have a hostage but guess what! She already knows it's fake!"

"H-how can you possibly know that?"

"My Mistress Salem paid good money for your services, it is only natural that we would keep a close eye on you." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Mercury had a look of complete shock on his face as he tried to understand why she would give away the name of their boss to a total nobody, Patience and you'll see why, "But Salem is nothing if not merciful so you will do well to listen."

In the kingdom of Vale in the district of Bloomsbury there is a street simply named the 14th that had a rather gloomy reputation that kept most people away. Though the street did not deserve to be treated this way it was sadly unavoidable thanks to its proximity to the true culprit, an abandoned train station that had been built to shuttle people to the now empty and perpetually haunted settlement turned graveyard on Mount Glenn. However not all was dreary on that lonesome stretch of road for there existed a pleasant home where there lived a lovely family named the Darlings who brought joy to everyone around them... then the Breach happened and what positivity remained on 14th street ran away to escape the Grimm and hasn't bothered to return. What the Darlings did not know and would thankfully never learn was that their home, which miraculously had been spared from the destruction, now served as a base of operations to a very unruly group of ruffians.

"That Bitch!," screamed Peter as he threw a bottle of cheap wine at a wall which sent a pair of twins known only as the Twins ducking to avoid the shards of glass flying through the living room as a result of their leader's outburst. The pair ran out of the room as he picked up another bottle and threw that one as well while he continued to throw a fit, "I should have never let Belle talk me into accepting this fucking job!" His hand reached out to grab another bottle but found that there were none left in reach so he scanned the room looking for something else to throw and spotted a couple of champagne glasses that the Twins had been using to drink cheap beer and decided to throw that. It would piss them both off but he wanted to vent and neither were around to object, however, he would not be able to grab the expensive crystal unless he wanted to get up from his seat and walk across the living room in order to reach them. But that was just too much effort for him so instead, he flared his Aura bringing his shadow to life and stretched itself towards the fragile containers and when it reached one it began pushing it towards Peter until close enough for him to grab and after taking ahold of it he shouted, "Everyone get down here!" within moments all the members of the Lost Boys had gathered in front of their leader who was still sitting on the couch agitated, holding the glass in his hand and absentmindedly looking for a good target as he ignored the glare the Twins were giving him.

"What's the problem?" Peter's petite second in command Belle spoke, her presence doing very little to help calm the nervous atmosphere in the room as her insectile wings, which marked her as a Faunus, were bristling with an agitation that made everyone afraid that an argument would break out between the two.

"Tock hasn't made any attempt to contact our employer even though she and her crew were searching for that bitch," Peter answered, finally deciding to crush the glass in his hand using Aura to prevent himself from getting any cuts.

Slightly spoke up, "Then just send her the arm and threaten to hurt him if she doesn't cooperate, after all, that is why you had me and Curly steal it."

Peter gave an exasperated sigh, "They somehow already know that we don't have a hostage," he said as his shadow moved across the room and started pushing the second glass towards himself.

"And that is our problem because? We've completed our job, let's just cut our losses and get out of this damn kingdom and crash in Vacuo for a bit or we can run some errands for Lil' Miss Malachite if we want some more extra cash," Belle shot back.

Peter didn't say anything as the still half-filled glass cup finished its journey across the room and into his hands, for a brief second he considered throwing it at his lieutenant but shuddered at the thought as he was well aware of just how scary that tiny blond wannbe fairy was capable of being, so he threw it at Slightly instead before explaining his reasoning.

"What the fu-!" responded Slightly as he dodge out of the way.

"She is going to report our crimes and location to the cops who I honestly don't care about and if that was it, we wouldn't be having this conversation. But she has also threatened to tell the Academy which I very much care about and if we try to run or nothing changes by the end of tomorrow we are effectively screwed, so this is what we are going to do. Slightly you and Curly are going back to that settlement and grabbing that bastard, I don't care how you do it but take the Twins with you in case there is a fight. Everyone else is staying with me to confront that Scaly Whore."

"I thought you said that we'd be reported if we left Vale," Curly pointed out.

"Just do what I fucking tell you and leave it to me to clear it with that bitch," Peter shot back, We should have bailed on this job the moment that bastard Hazel told us we'd be taking orders from someone else… Who is this Salem and why does she need one guy to hire us and someone else to give us instructions? "Anyone else want to bother me with stupid questions?"

"And if Tock doesn't play along?" the tall pale and grinning figure of Nibs asked as he fingered the grip of his favorite knife.

"That's what Jaune is for, now get what you need and get ready, you should be able to grab the boy tonight so that tomorrow we can confront Tock. Tootles, I want you to find a place where we won't be disturbed but more importantly, make sure that there is a way out just in case we need it." Peter then got up from his seat, "Let me make something crystal clear, you idiots better not fuck this up because this is our last chance."

"How are we going to do this?" Cecco asked his captain as she brandished her blades and slowly paced around the sparing room of the Pit while staring him down.

"Well, ah wis thinking that we could go a' proper lik' 'n' dae this one at a time simple winner versus winner, foremaist ye 'n' me then Turley against Mason 'n' finally th' winner o' that versus me."

"Oh damn! Are you just gonna let her talk to you like that?" Mason shouted from the sidelines as Turely largely ignored the trash talk to focus on sharpening his machetes while secretly humming the theme song of a cartoon he had binged watched the nite before.

Cecco didn't say anything, he learned the hard way a long time ago not to fall for cheap taunts and instead hefted his hammer onto his shoulder before walking up to her as she took up a fencer's stance ready to lunge at a moment's notice. In a real fight, she would use her Semblance to make herself invincible which was something few people were prepared to handle making the move a favorite trick of her's that was responsible for many a swift victory. But he wasn't ignorant like most others, this was a move that he was familiar with and most importantly its range was a known factor that he could take advantage of, it wasn't going to be easy but it was possible to pull a win despite the odds. He ended his approach just on the edge of the safe zone, a little closer and he'd get a second belly button, Here is the tricky part if she thinks something up then she'll close the gap and I'll get poked with a sword. But maybe… He took the hammer into both hands and looked at his captain who stared back at him confused as to what was taking so long for the fight to start. This can work, then with a smile, he chucked the hammer right at her face. For one fraction of a second her body and mind froze up out of shock but in the very next fraction her lifetime of training kicked in and her body began to move not away from the hammer but towards and under it, in one fluid motion she kicked off of the ground rocketing towards her crewmate in an attempt to skewer him, only to find that he was just out of reach. Cecco, on the other hand, was ready for her and already moving towards her blind spot with a combat knife in hand.

Both Mason and Turley dropped everything that they were doing and began rising to their feet as Cecco raised the blade into the air, taking a sweet second to just drink in the look of disbelief on Tock's face. This proved to be a mistake.

At that moment she processed the situation and made a decision that normally would have been a monumentally stupid idea and perhaps it still was but, it was the only one she could come up with at the time. Abandoning any chance of a proper landing she instead began rotating her body allowing her to swing her cutlass upwards at Cecco who had foolishly given her the time needed to do so. He saw the sword coming towards him and instinctually moved the knife to block the blade but the force of the blow forced him backward as Tock fell prone onto the floor. The writing was on the wall as he knew that she'd easily overpower him once she got up so in one last act of desperation he threw his knife at the captain who was barely able to raise her rapier to block the projectile which struck with enough force to knock the sword out of her hand. It was a small victory which he relished, however, this left him with no weapon while Tock was now back on her feet with a vicious hacker at the ready, he could make a break for the hammer that was still on the floor but everyone in the room knew that he'd never make it in time.

"Looks like you got me, Captain," he spoke, feeling rather satisfied despite how things turned out, Talking hammers with that Nora gal has really upped my game but it feels like I'm still missing something.

"Goddamn Cecco! Ah dinnae care if ye dinnae lik' thaim guns yer getting one! Ye hear a'm buying ye a gun 'n' yer gonnae learn tae use it 'n' love it!" she declared with a laugh, "Ah mean throwing th' hammer ah git bit th' claymore tae? c'moan!"

"But I nearly got you!"

"'N' if ye hud a gun ye would've won!"

"Touche," he admitted while the two of them picked up their respective weapons as the next two took to the ring.

"So tell me, old friend," Mason spoke while aiming his rifle at his dual-wielding frenemy "Did you get any faster since our last fight or will this be a repeat performance?"

"Last time I tripped and you fucking know it!" Turley shot back.

"You fool, you have no idea that your 'accidental' trip was just another part of my plan."

"God, you read too many comic books," Turley gave one of his machetes a playful twirl before suddenly dashing to the side as his sparring partner raised his rifle and opened fire.

At that moment Tock's scroll began to ring though she could barely hear it over the sound of gunfire and even then she tried to ignore it at first but a thought kept remerging, Whit if it's important? Under most circumstances that was a ridiculous argument with more holes than a rotting ferry however, there was nothing about her situation that could ever be considered normal, Dammit! Forcefully tearing her eyes away from the fight she found her scroll and discovered that an unknown number had sent her a photograph. That it? damn, a'm losing mah jobby fur nothing, well might as well see whit ah git, "Whit th' bugger is this!?"

It was an image of Jaune's stolen prosthetic arm now torn to pieces with the plastic melted down as though someone had taken the arm and tried to cook it in an oven. Included with the image was a message, "You think you're such a clever bitch? Well, guess what? I know that you know and now I've sent a few of my boys to let your boytoy know what I think about that." Soon another text was sent, this time it was to an address that she did not recognize along with a second message, "Don't even think about warning him! If we think anything is up for even a second then we'll do everything in our power to drag you down with us!"

"Shit!" She smashed her fist into the floor cracking the reinforced concrete before turning to her crew only to find that they had ended the fight and were already packing their things to go.

"Captain, what are your orders?

She thought it over for a bitter second, "We're gonnae trust Jaune tae handle himself, we're gonnae ca' his friends ower at Beacon 'n' let 'em know 'n' then we're gonnae murdurr Peter 'n' ilka lest one o' his mangy punkass crew."

"Aye Aye Captain!"

Ren was barely able to raise Storm Flower in time to divert the sharpened metal point of Jaune's Rapier away from his face and in the process unconsciously took a step back to try and get away from the perceived danger but by doing so he opened himself up to another attempted stab. Fighting against his instincts he deflected the next blow and moved forward and closer to the Pirate, he was rewarded for his bravery with an opportunity to counterattack which he did by lashing out with the bladed pistol however he struck nothing but the air as his foe backpedaled to maintain a distance between themselves and began rapidly thrusting, trying to find a gap in his defense. Sparks flew with every exchange as the deadly edges made contact with each other, to the untrained eye it looked as though the combatants were even but Ren knew better. He needed to break free or it was only a matter of time before Jaune would strike either too quickly to intercept or too fiercely to be parried and the result would spell disaster for himself. He needed to bait in his foe so he began to cautiously give away ground taking one calculated step after another, To think that just a second ago I was trying to get closer. The ninja took one more step back and pretended to lose his footing for just one second, a false moment of weakness that Jaune immediately tried to take advantage of with a fierce stab meant to break through any defense but it hit nothing but empty space as Ren went low and attacked his captain's leg with a mighty sweep knocking the pirate to the ground. Pushing his advantage he closed the distance intending to end the fight only for Jaune to lift his sword and point it right at Ren who nearly ran right into it and was driven back leaving him helpless to watch as Jaune picked himself off of the ground never moving the tip of his blade away from Ren who was smiling, He took advantage of his weapon's superior reach and used it as a barrier which I nearly ran into... he has improved. The two circled each other for a bit before charging and filling the sky with the song of steel on steel.

The people of the settlement were awestruck by the shine of the evening sun reflecting off of the weapons and the speed by which the Huntsmen moved, to them it looked like some sort of complex dance whose steps were impossible to learn. They weren't too far off, as while the two were sparring with each other they weren't competing rather they were putting on a show for the people. A performance to reward the workers after a hard day of labor while they waited for dinner to be served while also entertaining the children and it was working. Being able to see two defenders of the settlement in action without the risk of attack was doing wonders for the morale of the citizens, just the presence of the Huntsmen alone was bringing peace of mind to the brave men and women whose actions were helping humanity and Faunus kind expand beyond the walls of the Kingdoms.

Eventually, the dinner bell rang and the fight died down as everyone turned their attention to satisfying their stomachs, while the rest of Jaune's team ran up to the two men accompanied by the Professor who had been watching with approval, "You guys were great! Especially you captain! No offense Ren you were fantastic as always and hot! God, you're so hot!" Nora apologetically spoke to her boyfriend while constantly expressing how intensely she had been checking him out.

"None taken," Ren replied while calmly stretching to show off a little for his girlfriend.

Turning back to her captain Nora began speaking so quickly that it was hard to believe that she had spent most of the day lifting logs to help rebuild the settlement, "Honestly Jaune when you started spending time with Tock I would have never thought you had been training not that I doubted you or anything but come on you married a Huntress and this was your honeymoon! You're supposed to be spending as much time as possible banging your bride though given who she is maybe she was banging you, is that something you're into? I mean you really can't tell who's a top or bottom unless you sleep with them or they tell you and even then they may not know themselves which is why it's important to experiment or at least that's what I've heard. So maybe you're into it and just didn't know it until she- Oooh! That's a good idea! How about it Ren? Are you down for some role-reversal?"

"Only after we've done some proper research into it," he responded.

"Thanks, Renny-Poo! You're the best!" She didn't waste any time tackling-hugging her boyfriend who in turn immediately returned the embrace as some of the settlers watched approvingly as the pair walked towards the dinner tables holding hands.

Jaune turned away from the couple and looked to his partner with a confused look on his face, "Was it really such a big deal?"

"How can you even say something like that is beyond me kid," Professor Ann spoke up, "You've helped save their homes from a Grimm attack and been spending as much time as possible trying to help rebuild, trust me when I say you are all getting high marks on this assignment."

"She's right, you've got to stop being so hard on yourself," Pyrrha glanced briefly at the stump of her friend's arm and for a brief moment thought back to his early days at the academy and how much he had to struggle just to make others take him seriously, "You're a fine leader and no one can honestly say anything differently."

"Are you sure about that miss?" a stranger suddenly spoke.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" The Professor angrily turned to face the speaker coming face to face with a man of average height with dusty blond hair and wearing a grey suit, altogether the man had the look of a civilian but not one who was local but apart from his somewhat tired but still admittedly handsome appearance, he was unremarkable, that is if he didn't look like an older version of Jaune.

"Dad!? What are you saying?" A confused and shocked Jaune asked, eliciting surprise from his professor and partner.

"I could ask you the same thing young man, what are you doing continuing this charade of yours? Seriously if you had any sense of responsibility you would leave this career to your more able-bodied colleagues and come home already, you're only slowing them down," the man crudely stated, earning a vindictive glare from Pyrrha who tried to say something but was cut off by Ann.

"Well as a Professor in Beacon and the Professional Huntress in charge of this mission," she spoke while letting her dislike for this man seep into every syllable, "I must disagree with you. Your son has continuously demonstrated considerable skill in his fights and has shown great aptitude for leadership so I am happy to say I have no idea what you are talking about."

Jaune's father chuckled, "Well then let me spell it out for you, a cripple has no right to play hero especially when there are lives at stake, as a professional and professor you of all people should know that. But given the Breach, I'd suppose it fair to say that I'm expecting too much of Beacon."

He crossed a line and Pyrrha could no longer stand it, "How dare you! You weren't there at the mouth of the Breach! You didn't fight the Grimm through the streets and alleyways saving as many people as you could but, Jaune did! He fought the Grimm and won, he searched the city for survivors and saved them! He isn't playing hero, he is one and you are-!"

Jaune grabbed Pyrrha, pulled her aside, and turned to his father, "Could you give us a minute dad?"

"Sure," he answered dismissively.

"Pyrrha why don't you get the others and head back to our room?"

"Jaune what's going on with you!? Why are you just letting him walk over you like that?" She demanded to know as the professor watched the pair with concern while his father seemed to be glaring at them both.

"Please just trust me on this one, I know what I'm doing," he assured her.

"Fine, but you better not even think about handling this on your own, you've grown so much, don't throw it all away because of this... man. Please promise me that you'll let us help you."

"Thank you Pyrrha, I won't let you down not this time or ever again." he watched for a bit as she left before turning back to his father, "Can we talk? Somewhere elsewhere we won't be interrupted?"

His father looked surprised for a second before giving a smile that could only be called sleazy, "Sure that would be great, perfect even." He then pushed past the upset professor and joined his son walking deeper into the settlement as the sun began to slowly set.

"So tell me, dad, how did you even get here?"

"I hitched a ride with some gentlemen who were passing by."

"Really? They were just passing by an area that has recently suffered a Grimm attack? It will be dark soon, where were they planning on staying?" Jaune stopped and gave his father a hard look, "How did you even find me?"

The man tensed up for a second and his eyes briefly darted about taking in his surroundings focusing particularly on the buildings as though he was looking for something and only relaxing when he didn't find it, "I thought we were going to discuss your shameful lack of self-awareness and yet all you seem to want to do is talk about other people."

Ignoring his father's comments Jaune continued to walk "Alright then if you want to talk about me let's talk, why didn't you approach me after the Breach? I'd understand if you weren't in Vale at the time-"

"Then why are you asking me such a pointless question especially when you already know the answer to it? I didn't talk to you in Vale because I wasn't in Vale at the time so I couldn't possibly try and talk some sense into you then," the pair walked the rest of the way in complete silence.

Eventually Jaune led his father to a building located on the outskirts of the town and the edge of the forest but instead of heading inside, he walked around until he was behind the building which prevented anyone from seeing either of the two men however, he did not turn around to face his dad. For whatever reason he chose to stare at the backside of the building leaving himself completely open to his confused father who did not say anything as the sun finally dipped below the horizon and night overtook the sky leaving the two alone. After awhile his father reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe filled with an unknown fluid and quietly walked over to his son before clasping one hand over the boy's mouth as he stabbed the needle into the pirate's neck only for the thin metal to bounce harmlessly off of Jaune's Aura as the Huntsman reached into his coat, pulled out the pistol Tock gave him and pointed it at his attacker's leg.

*BANG*

With a cry of pain, the man fell backward, his own Aura barely stopping the bullet which left a mark on his leg as the buccaneer turned around and pointed the smoking gun at him, "First off, lose the disguise then put your hands where I can see them and drop to the ground."

Just like that his father was gone, replaced by a stout young Faunus with brown feathers in his hair and arms, dressed in street clothes and glaring daggers at him while gripping his bruised leg with one hand and clenching the broken syringe in the other, "I don't know how the fuck you figured me out but it doesn't matter, I wasn't the only one to come and we brought with us a guy who can attract Grimm so you better play nice or-!"

*BANG*

He was cut off by a bullet impacting his chest as Jaune looked at him with scorn, "After you bastards attacked this village the first time we worked together with the settlers to come up with a disaster plan so right now most of them are heading inside their homes. Furthermore, my team and I switched rooms after you broke in and this building is where we are staying at and it also where I asked them to wait for me, and finally my father supported my dreams so don't you dare prance around with his face and talk that kind of shit to me!"

Slightly picked himself up and pulled out a long knife and a hatchet, "This could have been easy but now I'm going to make you into a quadruple amputee-!"

*BANG*

Slightly's Aura absorbed yet another hit as Jaune put the pistol away before drawing out his sword, and pointing it right at the would-be-kidnapper who was rubbing their sore chest, "You messed with a Pirate and now you're walking the plank."

Author's Notes: So I'm going to start the Rewrite a little early but only focusing on fixing the spelling, grammar, and consistency so I can better focus on the most important things. Once it starts properly I'll upload a placeholder that will tell you about what has changed and will be removed once I am done!

Also, I will never apologize for ending the chapter on a one-liner.