Chapter 3 – Human Shield

It's time for Jaune Arc to pull his weight.

This fucking human…

Every time he so much as breathed, Blake felt a chill run down her neck, as though his harmless antics were going to be the end of her carefully crafted plans. He asked about licenses and then brought it up again, he grilled her about the Grimm for some reason, digging into where she was from…and then, the worst one of the bunch, asking about how they would split up the work.

I was just gonna kill more Grimm and then argue that I deserve more lien.

Assuming that he really was checked out when Ozpin had revealed Blake's felonious past, he didn't yet know that she was ex-Fang. As long as it remained that way, Blake wasn't in any danger from the police.

If Arc starts becoming more trouble than he's worth to keep around as a human-human interface, I can just grab his check and flip. Handling a primary school dropout or whatever he really is is fine, but I really don't want the police hounding me over what Adam and I did on that train.

Lemuria Settlement was coming into view from their slightly rickety bullhead (it still passed all of the inspections or it wouldn't be flying, but she had a feeling that it was the kind of airship taxi agency that the high quality pros didn't use). The town was probably only a few dozen kilometers away from Vale, and the fact that they could regularly get shipments of materials showed. The streets of Lemuria were paved with asphalt, not the more common alternatives like cobblestone or just even dirt. Their town walls and gate were more focused on being aesthetically pleasing than they were on functioning, and Blake had to wonder how a ritzy place like this even survived.

I sure hope it's not by splurging on cream-on-the-crop hunters, because the only thing Jaune and I can offer is being cheap. My big plan was to offer them a discount if things go dicey at any point…

All in all, it felt more like a neighborhood that belonged within the city than a settlement on the frontier. Blake imagined that some rich fucks probably wanted more space than the government was willing to offer them within Vale itself and decided to just make it for themselves.

"We're here," the pilot declared, setting down just outside the village walls. He did some sort of arm gesture to the lone watchman of the gate, which was responded to with a different one. Blake was familiar with Atlesian and Menagerian gestures, call signs, lingo, and even leetspeak, but Vale was entirely new to her.

The pilot cleared his throat. "Listen here, kids. I ain't paid to wonder why two teens are comin' out here and doin' mishin's, so I won't even ask. Ya contract is 36 hours, so I'll be back here in a smooth 36. If you ain't in this very same fucken' spot, youse can find ya own way home. Capiche?"

Blake nodded succinctly.

"We're reading you loud and clear, Mr. Pilot, sir," said Arc. "You can count on us to be here. This very spot!"

Please let him not be like this for three full days.

In spite of the odd looks he was giving them, the pilot stayed true to his promise to not give a fuck why two obviously unlicensed children were taking on pro-hunter missions and popped out an old, outdated model of a scroll as they disembarked. Two minutes later, Blake and Jaune were watching him fly away as they approached the settlement.

"I'll let you do the talking," Jaune said with a smile.

Blake shook her head. "Sadly, that isn't how it works. Not with these." She wiggled her ears to prove a point.

"Couldn't you put back on the scarf?"

"Scarf –?"

Blake nearly stopped dead in her tracks. She'd entirely forgotten that she could just…just…

Except Beacon saw right through it. I tried to put a bow on my ears, but any time they twitched, it would be visible. And I really can't imagine doing missions fighting Grimm and not losing whatever baseball cap I used to substitute for it.

Blake explained the points to Jaune, watching as he made little noises of agreement every now and again like 'yuh-huh' and 'gotcha.'

There was also some element of personal pride to this. Blake didn't want to cover up if she didn't have to; the problem was that she seriously believed she had to.

I'd rather eat than live proudly. But maybe I can do both, she pondered as she looked at Jaune. If he does his job, and he does it well, and he doesn't fuck it up, maybe it'll be worth it to keep him on as a distraction against prejudices. I can always go back to the bow, but burning bridges with my meal ticket of a man isn't something I get to take back.

The man at the wall retreated into the village when he saw them coming, leaving Blake and Jaune to stare at the gates as they waited for him to return.

"Is it normally this long?" Jaune asked after about a minute.

Blake nodded, having no idea at all. "Perfectly normal. We'll be fine, Jaune. Just…I'm sure a gentleman like you can be charming, right? If they start staring above my forehead for too long, charm 'em, right?"

"Charm 'em. Got it, ma'am." He gave her a little mock salute.

Eventually, the large twin doors, both embossed with metal flora patterns, opened up to let the juvenile hunters in. Blake and Jaune were greeted by the sight of the watchman standing behind a well-dressed man she assumed was the mayor and a woman that his arm was wrapped around (all humans, naturally). It could have been his wife, or it could have been his secretary for all she knew. Maybe even both.

"Gree…uh." His smile almost immediately faded. "I…are you…aren't you both a little young?"

"Common misconception, sir," Blake bullshitted. "Most huntsmen and huntresses graduate from a four year academy, but there are accelerated tracks that enable those who need to start supporting their families early to complete their classes earlier. These are merely less common but perfectly standard, I assure you. My partner and I are both nineteen."

"Uh, yeah." Jaune nodded. "As my associate described, we are members of these specialized classes. All above board."

How utterly charming. Blake knew she couldn't openly roll her eyes at Jaune's utter dunderheadedness, so she vowed to just subtract his blundering speech from his paycheck when the time came.

"I'm afraid I've never heard of…ah, but it's been such a long time since I've been to the kingdoms, and I can't even recall my last visit to Beacon. Was it the prior Vytal Festival?"

"Three festivals ago, dear," said the woman hanging from his side.

Dear, so that means wife, then. Or mistress.

"Just to be sure, would you both mind showing us your licenses?" said the watchman. "Just to be sure…I'm sure you understand."

Blake didn't really know if it was because she was a Faunus or if it was because their story smelled like bullshit from a mile away, but Jaune evidently took the request as a byproduct of racism and stepped in to earn his keep.

Approaching the mayor and not the watchman for some reason, he placed one arm on the man's shoulder and started walking forward with no clear direction, compelling the man to step in tune with him. "We gladly would, sir, but I'm afraid we're currently waiting for provisional licenses to be mailed to us. You see, the guy in the Beacon Office of the Registrar, he was supposed to send them to us at the end of the last scholastic year, but then there was a screw-up where they double-printed another teams and just sent those to us. And you know what happens when the documentation gets mixed up." Jaune affected an overdramatic roll of his eyes. "It got to the point where we had to submit a 77-T form just to get approved to complete missions, and those take forever, but Blake and me, I mean, the whole reason we did this was to get out into the field and start doing missions as soon as possible."

They were about fifteen feet away from where they started now, and Jaune abrupted turned around to face the people he and the mayor had left behind.

"Blake, you've got the 77-T's, right?"

Blake wasn't really sure what the fuck he meant, but the only thing she had on her was the manila envelope with her own forged application form within, so she nodded. She hadn't wanted to leave the checks back at the airship rental place, so she'd stuffed all of the papers (her own and Jaune's 'borrowed' ones) into her pocket.

"Here, let's show the good…governor? Mayor? Mayor, is it? Blake, why don't you take out the form just so the mayor and our employers can see it."

He'd gone too far. The form was clearly an application and not whatever made up 'T-seventy' forms he was going on about, and it would show. Still, Blake knew that backing out now would only be even more suspicious, so she stepped forward a few paces to catch up and handed Jaune the manila envelope and desperately prayed that he had a plan beyond just showing it to the mayor.

Jaune plucked his own application out of the folder and handed it to the mayor. "As you can see, all of the paperwork is in order for a Young Minds and Hearts Program exemption to begin hunting before the second quarter provisional period wears off. You can check Line 21 on the second page – it's all in order."

"Hmmm, now let me see…Line 21. Can the applicant provide three recommendations…hmm." The mayor looked up from the paper at Jaune.

"The envelope has the official seal of Beacon Academy," Jaune added, unfolding the slightly crumpled white envelope in which the check came.

He'd gone way too far, and he was flubbing it all up. The 77-whatever form hadn't even come in the white envelope; Jaune had visibly taken it out of the much larger manila envelope in front of the mayor. In order words, he'd screwed them over in his panic.

So much for our first mission.

"Well, it all looks in order, young man." The mayor patted Jaune on the shoulder. "Congratulations on your graduation, then."

"Thank you, sir. This is my teammate and my fourth mission, and we're very eager to help out."

How…How did he…HOW?

With the many years of White Fang infiltration and subterfuge behind her, Blake was too well trained to let the astonishment she was feeling register on her face, but that didn't change the fact that she utterly bewildered.

He just waved a paper in front of the man and…is this what it's like to be a human? I was practically spat on when I tried to find a job in Vale.

"Let me show you both to your accommodations first," said the mayor. "Red, would you please be so kind as to escort our huntsmen friends to the hotel? Ms. Sanford should have a room set up for them."

The man nodded his head. "Of course, sir."

"And please provide them with the more detailed briefing of their assignment."

"Of course, sir."

The mayor and his wife departed at that point, apparently only having wished to meet and greet their hired hunters and not actually have to deal with them. That job was left to the watchman who'd seen them coming.

It wasn't the most beautiful hotel Blake had ever seen (that honor went to an Atlesian resort she'd helped the White Fang destroy two years ago), but it was most certainly the fanciest hotel Blake had ever been in without having had to force entry. Real carpeting on the floor, a modest chandelier in the lobby, fresh coats of paint over every visible spot of wood – this was the real deal. Most places outside the walls of the kingdoms didn't tend to have such luxurious accommodations. Most places outside the kingdoms struggled to have running water.

They were led by Red the watchman to the front desk, where a portly lady seemed to recognize who they all were. The two townspeople exchanged a greeting, and the woman typed a code into a vault behind the desk. After pressing a fingerprint to the vault, it opened up, revealing a grid of cubby-like slots where individual keys were placed.

The code was 4-4-1-1-6, but I've no way to replicate the fingerprint without the woman herself. If I really needed to, I guess I could knock her unconscious and drag her –

NO! No, what am I thinking? I left the White Fang because I wanted to avoid getting up to that kind of crap. And it's not like I'm even going to need access to any rooms in this hotel or something. Damn, I guess old habits really do die hard.

The key exchanged hands between the woman and the watchman, and then once again between the watchman and Blake's new partner. Arc was handed a scroll as well.

"Your room is on the first floor in Corridor A. You'll find all of the information you need on there, sir and madame. Thank you for your service."

With that, he left.

The woman remained behind her desk, so Blake followed the signs towards Corridor A as quickly as possible to avoid her human gaze. It wasn't like she was going to see through their fabricated identities by just looking at them or something, but the less time they spent in the public eye, the better.

As soon as the door was locked, Blake turned on Jaune.

"How did you do that?" Blake hissed, taking care to not raise her voice too loud. It would be paranoid to assume the room was bugged when this was just a common hunting assignment, but the eavesdropping owner was only a room away.

"With the mayor guy?" Jaune rubbed the back of his neck in that same unconfident way. "Heh, it wasn't really all that much…"

"Was it because you're a human?" she asked, momentarily losing herself in her curiosity and stepping into his personal space to get a closer look at him. "Is it that easy for you people?"

"You people? Isn't that – y-yeah. But no, it's not…I mean, that might be a part of it, but it's really just people skills, basic logic, and a bit of experience behind my belt."

"Tell me how!" Blake insisted. If she could learn this skill, then there would be no more need to lug the buffoon around with her, which would mean a substantial pay raise for herself when she no longer needed to split the rewards.

"Okay, okay!" In spite of his words making it sound like he should be aggravated by her forceful approach, the boy actually had a slightly flustered smile on his face – he was clearly tickled pink at being the talented one at something. "A lot of it was just me improv-ing, but people want to believe you. That mayor guy and his girlfriend, they don't want us to be…to be…they want us to be a real pair of hunters. It's easier for them, so they'll be more inclined to believe an excuse."

"But you handed him an application to Beacon! It's labeled on the first page."

Jaune nodded. "Which I why I immediately directed him to some random schtick on the second page. And the important part about that wasn't what I actually handed him. It was that it looked official enough that he would trust it at first glance. If it had been a newspaper, he would've seen through it, but it was a legit Beacon form, so I could count on it to look legit.

"The fact that I just handed it to him made it all the more trustworthy too. If you flash a paper in front of someone and tell them to believe you, no one will buy it for a hot minute, but if you give them the paper, that buys a lot of trust. It's not like he wanted to read the full document or something; he just wanted something to prove to him that he didn't need to worry about this. I gave it to him, and he accepted."

It was that easy? No way…Blake had been in the White Fang for years, and she'd competently lied about herself plenty of times, but she'd never just been trusted with a little confidence and a flashy smile. It had to be human-human trust bias.

"You talked about provisional periods," she said, eyeing Jaune cautiously. "What was all that?"

"I just threw out some real-sounding words and hoped he'd buy it. What's the alternative? He either memorizes and privately checks every single little thing, or he humiliates himself in front of his girl and his employee by asking what it means. It's just…easier for him to believe it."

It may have been easier for the mayor to believe it, but it certainly wasn't for Blake. There was no way this guy was such a convincing liar. This was a species thing, no doubt about it.

"You would've made a good conman," Blake said nonetheless, for credit was due to the boy for playing his role perfectly. He'd gotten them out of a tight spot, and recognition for his efforts cost her nothing of value.

He shrugged and stretched his arms above his head. "I've spent four years getting into and out of the usual types of trouble you find in high school, so I've had plenty of time to hone the craft of BS-ing."

Blake's attention immediately jumped to the part of the sentence that didn't fit. "High school…? Don't you mean –"

"N-No!" Arc almost instantaneously shouted, probably loud enough for the hotel clerk to hear them. His voice dropped down when next he spoke. "No, yeah, I mean, I…I…I said the types of trouble you'd find in high school, but just the types of trouble. I didn't go to high school; I went to primary combat school. Signal, specifically."

It might have just been an odd turn of phrase, but the reactionary way he responded, coupled with the fact that he seemed to recognize what his mistake had been before she'd fully called him out on it, painted a slightly different picture. Beacon had kicked this young man out of their school for a forged transcript, and he was implying he'd gone to high school instead of primary combat school.

"Hey, Jaune."

Jaune gulped audibly, a feat Blake hadn't even known was possible before he did it in front of her. "Yes, Blake?"

"How much combat experience do you have beneath your belt, exactly? In terms of years?"

"Um…less than average, let's say."

It was tempting to grin like the smug animal from which her trait was based, but Blake knew better than to let her opponent know when they were at a disadvantage during negotiations.

"Oh, Jaune…that won't be good when we come face to face with the Grimm. I mean, going into battle with hordes of monsters with only partial training? Swarms of Alpha Beowolves, Ursai Major, whatever other sorts of monsters might be out there that we don't even know about yet, all face to face with a young huntsman who's only just begun his journey…that sounds like a recipe for disaster."

Jaune bit his lip in fear as the bleak picture was painted. It felt wrong to torment this boy so (who she knew didn't respond well to stress) in order to secure a favorable deal, but if he agreed to it, it was technically fair, and that was enough to assuage Blake's conscience. It wasn't like she was actually throwing him to the Grimm – just suggesting it.

"Well, I just so happen to be…above average, let's say, when it comes to combat experience." Blake knew she had him when she saw his reaction to that, so she brought it home. "Maybe, when the fighting starts, I should handle more of it. Just to make sure that you're safe. You understand, right?"

Jaune nodded vigorously. "Y-Yeah ."

"I mean, we might want to adjust our paychecks when the mission ends to fit – only because I'll need to reimburse myself for the Dust I use. That sounds fair to you, right? Me doing more of the work and getting a bit more of the pay? Maybe…eighty-five, fifteen?"

There was no resistance. Jaune agreed to Blake's bargain almost instantly.

This time, she really had to turn away from him, because there was no way she could restrain her cattish smile.

Coming Soon: Should I Stay or Should I Go

Into the woods they go, unaware that it's the crucible by which their sturdy team will be wrought.