Krasnaya

by FLASHFAN123

After dealing with Project Guardsman, Svetlana Crimsonoff has rebuilt her home. Now, she must defend it against those who wish to see it destroyed again. Sequel to RWBY & Project Guardsman. Co-written by Mr. Astounding.

27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27: JNPR Justice!

Rose-Schnee Beach House, Patch.

Ruby had finally healed from the injuries she'd sustained from her last fight with Master Mold, and the hooded huntress was determined to get back into the field. And not only Master Mold; after the events with Poison Apple and Craftswoman, Ruby was convinced that Team RWBY's days as huntresses were far from over. As such, she got the idea that becoming a vigilante team working with law enforcement would keep them in shape and financially stable. Thankfully, her team agreed and met up at the beach house to practice.

Of course, Yang took any excuse to see her baby niece. "Ooooooh. You look just like your mommy!" She cooed, hugging the infant. "Blake, I want another one!"

"Okay, okay, Yang. Let's focus shall we?" Ruby remarked as she stepped out of the beach house. Yang simply nodded before placing her niece in her stroller, with Baby Penny clapping as she watched her family from where she was sitting. "Okay, Weiss and Blake can practice Checkmate while Yang and I practice Enabler. Then, we'll-"

"W-wait, what?" Yang blinked in shock. "Ruby, what're we practicing?"

"Huh? Oh, Enabler." Ruby smiled. "Yeah, it's a new technique I came up with while I was on bedrest. See, the way it works is-"

"O-okay, hold on." Yang held up her hands. "Why do you call it Enabler?"

"... what's wrong with calling it Enabler?" Ruby shrugged.

"I… okay, what do you think an enabler is?"

Ruby rubbed her chin. "Well, if I had to assume, I'd say it's someone who enables someone else to do something. Which is what I need you to do for me when we're in a fight."

"Okay, Ruby, y'see… I mean, there's…" Yang broke out into a cold sweat from the embarrassment. "Okay, so on the internet-"

"Yang, if you don't think you can handle it, we can practice something else." Ruby shrugged.

"I-I'm not saying I can't do it! It's just-"

"Look, Yang, it's been a long time since we've worked together as a team." Ruby explained with a soft smile. "And I know I can count on all of you to have my back if we ever run into Master Mold again, but I'd sleep easier knowing that we can still seamlessly work together."

Yang sighed and hugged her little sister. "Well, when you put it that way, I guess it doesn't matter what it's called. So, what other moves you got for me and you?"

Ruby's smile widened. "Well, there's Reach-around."

"EXCUSE ME?!" Yang's face turned bright red and she jumped back in shock.

"Reach-around." Ruby nodded. "Now, get your gauntlets loaded and-"

"No fucking way!" Yang snapped, still blushing. "That's not what we're fucking calling it!"

"Yang!" Ruby scolded as Weiss cupped her hands over Penny's ears. "Watch the language! Your baby niece is right there!"

"Ruby, I-! You-! That-!" Yang took a deep breath to calm down. "Okay, look; me and Blake have a special attack called 'Bumbleby.' Because we're black and yellow. Like a bumblebee."

Ruby arched an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"And your combo with Blake is called 'Ladybug.'" Yang went on. "Because ladybugs are black and red."

"Uh-huh?"

"And then there's 'Ice Flower,' because Weiss uses ice dust and your last name is Rose; self-explanatory."

"Yes?"

"So why in the name of the gods is an attack between you and me called 'reach-around?!'"

"... because we're going to reach around our cover." Ruby explained with a shrug as if it were obvious. "If we're under heavy fire, we'll take cover and reach around it with our weapons to fire back at our enemy… 'Reach-around."

"That is such a stretch…" Yang mumbled in exasperation. "Okay, any other combos you've come up with?"

"Well, I was saving this for last, but I guess we could practice our finishing move; Happy Ending-"

"Oh, come oooooooooon!" Yang moaned. "You can't be this naive!"

"Oh, what now?!" Ruby griped, crossing her arms.

"You seriously don't know what that is?!" Yang shouted. "You and Weiss have been married for two years now, and you don't know what that is?!"

"Okay, y'know what?! Why don't you tell me what that is?!" Ruby scoffed.

"You… you want me to explain… what a Happy Ending is?"

"Yes! Please, tell me what a Happy Ending is!"

"Ruby, I-I really don't-"

"Yang, as your team leader I order you to tell me what you think a Happy Ending is!" Ruby demanded, impatiently.

While Weiss and Blake snickered to each other, Yang was beyond mortified at this point. Nevertheless, she decided it would be better if her sister heard this from her rather than picking it up on the streets. "I-it's a thing when… Four Maidens, I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you… it's when… when you're getting a massage… and then the person goes-"

Suddenly the group heard an alarm going off in the distance, followed by a fire truck's siren. Yang smiled. "Oh, would you look at that! It's huntress time! We should really go help with that, Rubes, and continue this conversation never!"

Before Ruby could protest, Yang fired a round of fire dust from her gauntlets to launch off into the air.

"Do you think JNPR has to deal with this sort of thing?" Ruby sighed.

Argus.

"For the last time, we're not calling it 'Flour Power.'" Ren sighed.

"Do you have a better idea for an attack name?" Jaune felt the need to ask.

"Ooh, ooh: could we call it 'Boop'?" Nora called out. "That is what I call the ship name for me and Ren in my head, after all."

"...why 'Boop'?" Pyrrha felt the need to ask.

"Because aside from 'Renora' - which honestly feels a bit awkward to me personally for some odd reason - our names don't really mix the way that 'Arkos' does," Nora said with a shrug, drawing a brief blush from Jaune and Pyrrha at the reminder of their combo attack and/or ship name. "Plus I do it all the time."

Ren merely smirked as Nora "booped" him on the nose as if to prove a point. "I mean, she's not wrong."

"...I'll take it into consideration." Jaune said with a tired sigh. "Y'know, what, I'm too tired for this anyway. Let's get some rest and try again in the morning."

"Works for me!" Ren immediately ran back into the house and bolted upstairs into bed.

Jaune and Pyrrha glanced at Nora with one eyebrow arched each. But the hammer wielder just shrugged. "The heart wants what the heart wants."

After saving Remnant from Whitley Schnee and his army of copycats, Team JNPR had been given a renewed desire for adventure and unanimously agreed to come out of retirement and become official huntsmen and huntresses. Unfortunately for them, after the death of Salem, Grimm attacks were much less frequent. Which was good for the greater public, but bad for the hunting community. There were even reports of some huntsmen turning to a life of crime in order to make end's meet.

At the time, JNPR were lucky enough to be offered room and board from Jaune's older sister and her family, much to his annoyance. But until they could find some form of employment,he couldn't complain too much. The next morning, the team woke up early to exercise, review their finances, and/or complete the list of chores Saphron had left for them.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm watering your plants, Saphron." Jaune muttered into his scroll as he finished up said task. "Thanks again for letting my team stay here. I promise we'll be out of here before you guys get back from vacation… that's not for your sake, it's for mine. Yeah, I love you, too. Okay, say 'hi' to Terra and Adrian for me. Alright, bye."

Once he finished watering the plants, he returned to the kitchen to find Pyrrha at the table with a calculator and stacks of paperwork. "So, how're we looking?"

"Well, in terms of money… we have no money." Pyrrha sighed and stretched her arms up to relieve some of her stress. "As thankful as I am that Grimm attacks are dwindling, we definitely need to come up with a new source of income, quickly."

Jaune moved to give his partner a massage. "We'll think of something."

Pyrrha blushed at the feeling of Jaune's hands on her shoulders. "You know, Team CFVY - hilariously enough - set up a coffee shop in Vacuo to make ends meet. Maybe we could… I don't know, open a bed and breakfast? I mean, Ren makes really good pancakes."

"Yeah, but we'd need to find a place first." Jaune noted. "And I don't think my sister would let us do that at her house."

"You have to spend money to make money." Pyrrha smiled, optimistically, before frowning, slightly. "... then again, you have to have money to spend money."

"Yeah, let's call that Plan B."

Meanwhile, Nora was busy punching away at the sandbag set up in the backyard. With each blow, it felt as if lightning was surging through her veins, making her stronger and faster. Eventually, she punched a hole clean through the bag, causing the sand to spill all over the ground. With a bored sigh, she unhooked the empty sandbag from the tree, carried it over to the dumpster, and picked up a new one to hang up. But after having gone through so many already this morning, and knowing that it would be a while before they could buy any more, Nora set it back down and decided to head back to the patio to relax.

Sitting next to a cooler of water bottles, keeping her company as she worked out, was her childhood friend and lover, Lie Ren. While initially upset that JNPR decided to come out of retirement after the incident with Team SFIR, Ren had vowed to do whatever it took to keep Nora, Jaune, and Pyrrha in his life. As such, he resumed his training. Currently, he was trying to improve his aura and semblance through meditation before he sensed his girlfriend walking up to the cooler.

"You're bored." He stated without opening his eyes.

"Yeah, no shit." Nora grunted before taking a swig of water. "No work, no money, no Grimm, no excitement. We might as well have stayed retired. There, I said it. Go ahead. Tell me you told me so."

"Your negative energy is disrupting my meditation." Ren lightly scolded, still keeping his eyes closed. "I am in my aura… I can see everything… I am in my aura… I can see everything… I am in my aura… I can see everything…"

"I thought you were supposed to be using that 'mind-over-aura' technique to help us fight Grimm." Nora huffed as she leaned against the wall and watched her boyfriend. "Not to focus your feng shui."

"Focusing my chi." Ren patiently corrected as he meditated. "And I am helping us fight the Grimm. Ever since we came out of retirement, I've been trying to get back into shape; physically and spiritually. I've recently discovered that my semblance can also detect negative emotions of those around me as well as mask them… so if I focus on a large collection of negative emotions, I can most likely predict where the next Grimm attack will take place."

"Huh… okay, yeah. I can see how that'd be useful." Nora admitted with a proud smile. "Maybe I should try this meditation thing. See if I can unlock new uses for my semblance."

Ren finally opened one eye towards his girlfriend and smiled, teasingly. "I'd like that. Maybe if you did try focusing your energy more often, you wouldn't be so hungry all the time. It's not healthy for you, Nora."

"Gee, and here I was planning to share that sushi I bought the other day by allowing you to eat it off my naked body like I've seen on a few internet videos I've come across," Nora said with a teasing grin, "but if you insist on my eating habits not being too healthy…"

"Hey, now, you know I've never been one to turn down free sushi, especially if that is on the table," Ren called out with a grin of his own, "though for the record, I'll be needing to know where exactly you're finding those videos."

"Don't worry, Ren: you're the only one allowed to see me like that," Nora declared with her eyes full of love.

"Good to know." Ren smiled back before scooting over and patting the ground next to him. "So… want to give it a try?"

Nora blushed slightly as she scanned the other yards. "Uh… I like this new adventurous side of you, babe, but I said only you get to see me like that. And exhibitionism kinda defeats the whole purpose of-" She cut herself off once she looked back to see Ren's annoyed, half-lidded stare. Suddenly, it clicked. "Oh! You meant meditation! Ahem, yeah. Yeah, sure. Why not?"

Back inside, Jaune and Pyrrha had decided to come up with an advertisement to help get word out that they were back in action. The ad read; "Heroes of the Menagerie war seeking employment. Willing to work long hours. No job too big or small. Please contact Jaune Arc or Pyrrha Nikos for more details." Once the ad was posted on JNPR's Dustbook page, the duo let out a long sigh; everything else was up to fate. Taking a break, they went outside to check on their partners.

"How's it going out here?" Jaune asked.

"Pretty good. I've opened Nora's eyes to the enlightenment of meditation." Ren smiled as Nora sat next to him, mimicking his pose. "Now, choose any mantra you desire and repeat it as you look inward."

"Am I doing this right…?" Nora said as she kept her eyes closed. "Am I doing this right…?"

"Well, technically, there is no wrong way to meditate." Ren replied. "You just have to pick a mantra."

"This is my mantra. You said I could pick anything." Nora giggled before continuing her chant. "Am I doing this right? Am I doing this right? Am I doing this right?"

Ren rolled his eyes while Jaune and Pyrrha snickered. "Yes, yes, laugh it up: I'll admit that I walked right into that one."

"In all seriousness though, we're happy that the two of you are getting along," Pyrrha proclaimed. "Though are you sure that you want to be doing this, Ren? I seem to recall you arguing fairly heavily against it prior to what happened with Whitley."

"I'll admit that I did indeed say that I no longer desired to go looking for anything like what happened with Project Guardsman, but aside from the pep talk with Jaune and how things happened with Nora, there was one other thing that convinced me that taking this path was the right call," Ren admitted.

"What's that?"

"A funny thing happened after you had left following my proclaiming my desire to quit: a few of the leftover mercenaries and Grimm that we had been fighting up until that point decided to show up to take their shot at revenge or something like that," Ren proclaimed, "and this time, I didn't have my teammates backing me up. I learned rather quickly once that happened that for all of my complaints about what happened dealing with Project Guardsman that I still appreciated having you around and that there was only so much that I could do on my own. I also figured out fairly quickly that even if I forced myself to forget about the good times we had together, that wouldn't change that our enemies wouldn't be so quick to do the same. With that in mind, I ultimately decided that even if this wasn't exactly the life I originally wanted, it was still the life that I'd choose to have again and again if need be, as I'd rather live alongside my friends having crazy adventures than end up dying all by my lonesome."

"Good to know," Jaune said with a smile. "But, seriously, we need to earn some money."

"Oh-oh!" Nora eagerly raised her hand. "What if we all join a professional tee-ball league?!"

Ren couldn't help but snort. "Okay, Nora - sweetheart, darling, love of my life - even if that were a thing-"

"Is it not?" Nora asked, but Ren carried on.

"We are all way too old."

"We are not-!" Nora seemed offended at first, but her eyes suddenly widened as the realization sunk in. "Oh, my gods. We are way too old."

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, prompting Jaune to hide behind a potted plant. "She's not supposed to be back for another week! Get rid of her!"

Ren rolled his eyes. "Really, Jaune? She's your sister. Not a grimm."

"I'll get it~!" Pyrrha offered, skipping towards the front door. As much as her heart belonged only to Jaune, Pyrrha was absolutely smitten with all of the Arc siblings and would never miss an opportunity to chat up one of his sisters. Stopping only to check her hair in a mirror next to the door, Pyrrha straightened herself and opened the door.

But instead of Saphron or her wife, outside was a tall, middle-aged man with gray hair and a mustache dressed in a neat suit. He smiled at the sight of the invincible girl. "Ah! Ms. Pyrrha Nikos in the flesh! Such a pleasure to finally meet you! I've been wanting to meet you and your teammates for quite some time now."

"Pyrrha? Who is it?" Nora asked as she, Jaune and Ren approached from behind.

"Hello, friends!" The older man smiled. "My name is Oliver Cole. You may recognize me as one of the political candidates running for a seat at Argus' council."

"Oh!" Pyrrha brushed herself off before shaking the man's hand. "Of course, Mr. Cole! It's a pleasure to meet you! Um, what can we do for you?"

"Well, my dear, I was hoping that I could hire your services." Oliver replied.

Everyone on Team JNPR dropped their jaws to the floor. "What?"

"Um, could I come in?" Oliver asked, politely. Nora ran to grab a chair from the kitchen while Ren began brewing tea. Pyrrha used her semblance to pull the table closer to their guest and Jaune got the cups ready for the tea. Oliver sat down and happily sipped from his cup. "Oooh, is this jasmine?"

"Yes, sir." Ren nodded. "I grow it myself in a garden out back."

"Very impressive." Oliver complimented before Nora slammed a tray of muffins in front of him.

"I baked these myself!" She exclaimed, nervously. "I hope you're not allergic to blueberries!"

"I love blueberries." Oliver grinned as he accepted one of the muffins. "Now, as I was saying, I saw your advertisement and was hoping that I could hire your services."

"What, uh, what kind of services?" Jaune asked.

"Well, as I'm sure you know, being a politician is not a very glamorous job. Recently, I received a threatening letter in my mail." Oliver reached into his coat pocket for the letter and put on his reading glasses before reading the letter out loud. "Ahem… 'Mr. Cole, give up your campaign. Or else, suffer the consequences at your speech tomorrow.' As you can see, there is no signature, and the letter was written out with magazine clippings so I couldn't identify any potential offenders. However, I refuse to back down from my campaign. And as luck would have it, a handful of the extraordinary young people who took down Salem at Menagerie live right here in Argus."

"So you want us to protect you at the speech tomorrow and catch the bad guys in the act?!" Nora surmised, excitedly.

"Um, well… yes." Oliver nodded. "That's just about the size of it. And I'd be willing to pay you all handsomely for your services."

Pyrrha shook the politician's hand once more. "We accept, sir!"

"Perfect!" Oliver finished his tea and made his way to the door. "I'd like you all to come meet me at my mansion tomorrow morning. Let's say, 8:30?"

"O-okay, thanks!" Jaune waited until Oliver entered his vehicle and drove away before slamming the door shut and excitedly faced his team. "We've got a job!"

"Yeah, we do!" Nora pumped her fists before dipping Ren into a passionate kiss.

The Next Morning

The team had gotten into their old outfits in preparation for their new job and made their way to Cole's mansion. Once they arrived, they were escorted inside to a lovely foyer with an entire wall lined with multiple weapons. At last, Oliver arrived. "Ah, right on time, my friends!" He smiled, warmly. "And I see you've found the last remnants of my old life."

"You made all of these?" Pyrrha gasped in awe at the rows of shields adorning the wall.

"Ah, yes. I started out as a blacksmith when I was a boy. Building weapons and armor for huntsmen and huntresses in an attempt to help them in their battles against the Grimm. But after years of watching so many heroes leave my city with my weapons and armor, while I was stuck in the city watching it slowly succumb to injustice, I abandoned my obsession with blacksmithing and turned towards the political arena." Cole smiled, fondly, at the hammer and anvil in the center of the room. "But, since I have no need for them, please, help yourselves."

"Wait, really?" Jaune gawked.

"You mean, we can use this stuff?" Nora asked.

"Of course! Consider it a down payment for your services." Cole nodded, happily.

"I don't understand though: all of this technology could aid huntsmen and huntresses all over Remnant: why isn't it standard issue?" Pyrrha couldn't help but ask.

"Aside from how most folks prefer to use stuff that they made personally, there is the matter of how much it costs," Cole admitted with a shrug.

"How much are we talking about?" Jaune called out with a quirked eyebrow.

"Well…" …and that was as far as Cole got before leaning in and whispering something in the team leader's ear, causing his eyes to widen before he himself froze in place.

"Jaune? Jaune!?" Ren asked with worry clear in his voice before poking Jaune in the cheek, causing his friend to fall over as a result, showcasing that he had somehow fainted while still standing.

"That bad, eh?" Pyrrha asked with a slight wince even as she moved to attempt to wake her leader and lover back up.

"Don't worry: I'm covering the tab here: just use whatever you want," Cole declared with a reassuring grin. "Believe me: this will be worth every lien I'm spending here. So go ahead! Take whatever you'd like!"

With that, the group scattered across the warehouse to select which weapons would work best for them. Jaune, once he had woken back up, immediately headed towards the armor section to find pieces that would compliment his own. Ren found an excellent selection of long-ranged throwing weapons that he could even infuse with dust. While Pyrrha tried to decide which new shield she wanted, Nora spotted a glove with the initials "WRS" stamped on it.

"Hello, what's this thing do?" Nora curiously slipped the glove over her right hand to get a feel for it. Suddenly, a green light appeared on the palm.

["Please, select your weapon."] A robotic voice chirped. Even more curious now, Nora picked up Magnihild with the glove, causing the light to turn blue. ["Weapon acknowledged. Electromagnetic frequency established. Please, discard weapon to test the Weapon Recovery System."]

Nora shrugged and threw her hammer into a nearby wall. Suddenly, the glove made her arm reach out towards the hammer, prompting Nora to reflexively dig her feet in and hold her ground. But while she stayed in place, Magnihild began to wiggle out of the wall until it flew back into Nora's palm.

["Test successful. Weapon Recovery System; fully operational."]

Nora's eyes sparkled in delight as she gazed down at the glove. "This is gonna be fun." She grinned.

At the same time, Jaune had found enough pieces of armor to cover his entire body before finding something else that caught his eye. It was four specialized discs powered by energy dust that were designed to attach to gloves and boots for limited flight capabilities.

"Ooooh!" Nora grinned, elbowing Jaune in the ribs once she spotted what he'd been looking at. "Nothing says 'professional huntsman' like jet boosters!"

"Mmm, I dunno…" Jaune nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "I'd probably break my neck."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Nora teased. "Jet boosters seem more like a Krasnaya thing, anyway."

Once his teammate walked off, Jaune gave a second glance at the jet boosters. He grabbed a new helmet and slipped it over his head before attaching the boosters to his palms and heels. At the same time, Ren added a dozen kunai to his belt and upgraded StormFlower with grappling hook features. He then practiced a few techniques to familiarize himself with the new upgrade.

Pyrrha did a few tricks with her new spear and shield to get a better feel for them before the group heard something crash on the other side of the workshop. The trio ran towards the source of the noise, only to pause in amusement at the sight before them. Jaune had added much more armor to his suit, including the jet boosters built into the gloves and heels, and clumsily hovered through the air.

Once he landed, he took off his helmet and tried to steady his breathing. "Heh… that's gonna… take some getting used to…"

"Okay!" Nora clapped. "New toys, loaded weapons… let's get out there and earn some gainful employment!"

"I'm glad you're so eager, Ms. Valkyrie." Oliver smiled as he returned to the group. "My limousine is waiting right outside. And we have another car for you four to follow us to the rally."

"Do you mind if I ask you a question while I have the chance?"

"Just one?" Oliver teasingly replied with a grin.

"Ignoring that. Anyways, not that we aren't grateful for the new equipment and/or the assignment, but I have to ask, why did you hire us?" Jaune couldn't help but ask. "I feel like there were plenty of other people out there who were just as qualified who could have taken up this job."

"Maybe so, but none of them could say that they went up against Salem and lived to tell the tale," Oliver said with a shrug. "Trust me when I say that you're exactly what I'm looking for in regards to what I have planned going forward."

"Oh, well… gosh, that's flattering." Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, bashfully. "Considering you could've asked Team RWBY or CFVY. I mean, they were there, too."

"I mean, I did consider hiring them as well, but they were all busy with their own thing, so you four ended up getting the job by default," Cole admitted with a somewhat sheepish looking expression.

"Victory by default is still a victory! Good job everyone!" Nora called out with a grin causing everyone to give a light chuckle in response.

Half an hour later, the group arrived at the rally and were immediately struck with awe at how many people had shown up for the speech.

"Wow. Argus must really like Cole." Nora remarked.

"Or they're just tired of the councilmen in Mistrial." Ren shrugged. "You'd be surprised how often those two options are interchangeable."

"Maybe so, but clearly someone doesn't want Cole to win or else we wouldn't be here," Pyrrha said with a serious expression.

"Right, here's the plan; Pyrrha and I will be up on stage with Mr. Cole. Ren, you find a high spot to keep a lookout." Jaune ordered.

Ren nodded and headed off. Nora smiled widely. "What about me?!"

"Nora, you stay in the car and listen to the police scanner in case they see anything suspicious."

"Aw, what?!" Nora whined.

"We need someone on backup to warn us of any incoming danger that Ren can't see right away as well as someone who's ready to come in and break some legs once those assassins Cole told us show up."

"I guess I can go ahead and do that then," Nora called out with a light grin before heading back to the car.

Jaune smirked as he and Pyrrha joined Cole onstage. "Ah, the old 'break some legs' angle: works every time."

While Nora waited in the car, she listened to the police scanner her team had bought weeks ago to hear if the local police spotted anything suspicious. Pyrrha claimed that she could only get the device to receive police transmissions, so Nora couldn't outright ask for help in looking for the assassins. But it was better than nothing.

["2-1-2, this is 2-4-8."] One officer's voice called. ["About that 10-70 at Forks High School? Yeah, it turned out to be a false alarm. Some kid tried to get out of a history test by pulling the fire alarm."]

Nora couldn't help but laugh at the absurd notion.

["Oh, you think that's funny, 2-1-2?"]

["Huh? That… that wasn't me, 2-4-8."]

["Well, who else could it have been? This is a secure channel."]

Nora's eyes widened in shock. "Oh, crap!" She muttered and hastily shut off the scanner. Apparently, Pyrrha had fixed the device better than she had thought.

At the same time, Ren had scaled the side of an apartment building from across the street and took out a pair of binoculars to survey the crowd. Once he was certain that there was no immediate threat, he signaled for Jaune and Pyrrha to escort Cole onto the stage.

"Thank you, people of Argus!" Oliver happily waved at the crowd. Once they quieted down, he cleared his throat and began his speech. "My friends… Argus is a proud city. With much to be proud of. For one thing, we are home to Pyrrha Nikos! Who is here with us, today!" Cole motioned to the huntress in question, prompting the crowd to cheer for the blushing Invincible Girl before Cole carried on. "We are one of the largest non-capital cities in all of Remnant. Mistral depends on us for trade and agriculture. And yet, only their politicians have been elected to be a voice for this city. Argus needs a native councilman! Someone who knows what this great city needs!"

"Give the guy credit for this if nothing else: he really knows how to make a good speech," Ren remarked to himself even as he continued to observe everything around him.

"There are those who think we need to be content with our place!" Cole carried on. "That we shouldn't have our own voice on the council! Well, to them I say, we must simply speak louder!"

The crowd roared in applause.

But while Pyrrha continued to listen to the speech, she also spotted a glowing red dot travel up the podium and towards Cole's chest. A fraction of a second later, she heard a gunshot and managed to spot the bullet just in time to use her shield to deflect it. Cole was unharmed, but the crowd was now in a panic. "Ren! The accounting building! Fifth story!" She called into her comm-link.

"On it!" Ren replied as he moved to catch the shooter. Using his new grappling hook features on StormFlower, he swung from the rooftops and smashed through the building's window just in time to kick the shooter to the ground before he could escape. With the assassin pinned to the ground, Ren held his blades just under his neck. "As duly hired bodyguard, you're under arrest for the attempted assassination of Oliver Cole!"

"Wanna bet?" Another, more feminine voice remarked before Ren felt something smack him in the face, knocking him off of the gunman.

Luckily, Pyrrha had used her Semblance on her shield to levitate herself onto the same level and assist her teammate. But not before getting a glimpse of their quarry. "I recognize you two!" She gasped. "Lotus Chen and Lilith Ambrosia! But why?! You're both respected hunters!"

"Times are tough without Grimm to hunt, darlin'." Lilith grunted as she reloaded her weapon. "And considering it was Salem's death that cut Grimm attacks by such a margin, this is all sort of your fault when you think about it."

"You do realize that if we hadn't killed Salem, her plans would've left us all dead, thus making your complaints about a lack of Grimm attacks irrelevant, right?" Pyrrha felt the need to point out.

"I mean, you aren't wrong," Lotus said with a shrug, "but that doesn't change how there weren't any other jobs available and I'm sure even you can understand the notion of taking any job one can get to gain money."

"More than you might believe, but it doesn't have to be this way: there's still time for you to do the right thing."

"Sorry, but in this instance, doing the right thing doesn't exactly put food on the table." Lilith declared with a neutral expression. "For what it's worth though whatever happens next isn't personal."

"So be it."

Meanwhile, back on the ground near the stage, Nora had abandoned the car and rushed into the crowd to offer any assistance she could. And it turned out to be just in time; as another cloaked assassin picked up a wrecking ball on a chain and swung it towards Cole.

"Get away from him!" Nora exclaimed as she tackled the cloaked woman away from the politician just in time to prevent Cole from getting hit, with the two of them rolling away a bit before coming to a stop at the edge of the stage soon afterwards. The cloaked woman then grunted before throwing Nora off of her and getting to her feet.

"Going to take more than that to beat me!" Nora declared as she too got to her feet.

Her opponent's only response was to give an arrogant chuckle - as if to say "I was hoping you'd say that" - before ripping her cloak off to reveal the person beneath it.

"Whoa!" Nora cringed, uncomfortably, at the sight before her. The woman who had attacked Cole was a horribly scarred woman with charred black skin dressed in a pink sleeveless jacket and baby blue jeans. Shaking her head, Nora readied her weapon. "Okay, I've gotta hit you now. You're just too disturbing to be walking around."

However, once she swung her hammer, her opponent managed to block it with one hand. But what truly disturbed Nora was that the woman's arm suddenly changed into the same metal Magnihild was crafted from, as did the rest of her body. Nora's eyes widened in shock before a metal fist collided with her face and knocked her back.

"Pretty sick, huh?" The scarred woman smirked, cracking her metallic knuckles. "My semblance lets me transform my body into anything I touch. I'm gonna enjoy this."

Nora could have sworn that the woman's voice sounded slightly familiar to her, but she was too distracted trying to stay alive to think much about it. The assassin picked up her wrecking ball once again and swung it over her head to strike her opponent, but Nora managed to draw her hammer just in time to block the blow and pulled the trigger to fire a lightning dust grenade upon contact. The result was an electric explosion that knocked both combatants back.

At the same time, an armored mercenary arrived on the scene with a mace and rushed at Cole. Jaune quickly blocked the blow with his shield and tried to retaliate with his sword. While they clashed back and forth, Ren and Pyrrha managed to knock Lilith and Lotus out of the building and onto the ground level. Team JNPR managed to corner the mercenaries at the edge of the stage and opened fire.

"Alright, fall back! The job's screwed up!" The armored mercenary ordered.

The mercenaries ran from the stage and headed towards the street. The scarred woman reverted back to her flesh-form and grabbed the limo-driver out of the seat. She tossed him aside and started to drive off once her companions jumped in after her. Team JNPR tried to follow, but the panicking crowd blocked their path, and the limo was out of sight before they knew it.

Two hours after the police had arrived, the team continued to protect Cole while he made a statement for the press. He explained that he was certain that the attack was set up by one of his political rivals, but assured the crowd that he would continue to run for councilman, undaunted. After the press had enough, JNPR escorted Cole back home.

"Oh, thank you so much, my friends!" Oliver smiled as he shook all of their hands. "You four saved my life!"

"It was nothing, sir." Pyrrha smiled. "It's why we became hunters in the first place."

"And… as promised." Oliver grinned, handing Pyrrha a check.

The team huddled around the Invincible Girl with wide eyes. "Oh, wow… so many zeros…" Jaune gasped, quietly.

"Don't spend it all in one place!" Oliver joked, playfully. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to catch a train to Mistrial. But please, do stay in touch."

"We will!" JNPR promised in unison.

Once their benefactor had left, the team made a mad dash to the nearest bank so Pyrrha could quickly deposit the check into her checking account.

"And there we go!" Pyrrha cheered. "The check's deposited! Once it clears, I'll transfer your shares equally!"

"Oh, man!" Nora clapped. "First thing I'm gonna do is stock up our pancake mix! Then, I'm gonna find a castle and buy it!"

Ren happily took Nora's hand in his own, spun her, and pulled her close. "I was actually thinking I could use my share to treat you to dinner, dancing, and a show, m'lady." He smirked. "That famous magician Zachary Zircon is gonna be in town this weekend. But for tonight, do you still have that sushi?"

Nora's grin grew wider as she put on bedroom eyes. "I've been saving it since we got our acceptance letter to Beacon."

Ren blinked before his face twisted in disgust. "What? Nora, that'd make it… years old."

"How old?" Pyrrha asked.

"Uh, let's not get into specifics." Ren shuddered at the thought of eating rotten fish off his girlfriend's body. "Let's just say 'old.'"

"Doesn't fish stay fresh until you cook it?" Nora asked, innocently.

"Only if you freeze it." Ren corrected. "But I'm assuming you just put it in the fridge."

Nora blinked upon hearing this before giving a sheepish grin. "Hehe, oops. If it helps, I do have some more relatively fresh sushi leftover from a couple of days ago."

"Much better," Ren said with a relieved sigh. "We'll partake in that just as soon as we throw out that no doubt rotten fish."

"Sounds like a plan." Nora replied with a more genuine-looking grin on her face.

"Hey, guys." Jaune interrupted, having a serious look on his face. "As much as I hate to stop this discussion… that was too easy."

Pyrrha blinked upon hearing what Jaune had said. "What?"

Jaune just shook his head in frustration. "Don't get me wrong: I'm glad for the money, but didn't that attack seem…I don't know: like it was kind of staged or something like that?"

"Now that you mention it, the emotions that I picked up off of those goons via my Semblance didn't really match what one would think of regarding trained assassins," Ren remarked with a curious expression. "Almost like they weren't all that upset that we had foiled their plans."

"Almost like they had wanted us to win?"

"Yeah, exactly like that, actually."

"What do you think it all means?" Nora couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know yet, but I feel like we should keep our eyes peeled from this point forward: something tells me that our troubles aren't quite over just yet." Jaune rubbed his chin in thought. "I think it'd help if we could find that limo they stole for their getaway."

Upon hearing that, Nora suddenly remembered something from before the assassination attempt and got an idea. "I think I know just who to ask!"

The others followed her into the living room and watched her toy with the knobs to the police scanner. "Nora, that only receives. It doesn't transmit." Ren tried to remind her, but his girlfriend was adamant.

"Breaker, breaker! This is 2-4-6!" She shouted, trying to disguise her voice. "I'm gonna need an update on that stolen limousine from the Cole speech today!"

["Roger, 2-4-6, this is 2-4-8."] Ren, Jaune, and Pyrrha blinked in shock at the response. ["I spotted a limousine that matches the description heading down Flower Blvd."]

"Ten-four! Tail it!" Nora ordered.

Despite the circumstances and how he was glad that they had a lead, Jaune couldn't help but give Pyrrha and Ren a teasing grin soon afterwards. "It doesn't transmit, eh?"

"Well, I've been wrong before," Ren said with a sheepish expression.

Pyrrha likewise felt her face lighting up with a blush soon afterwards. "In hindsight, it's possible that I didn't notice that the microphone was working due to how my Polarity Semblance messed with the electronics a little bit by accident."

"Shhh!" Nora scolded, lightly, before turning up the volume on the receiver.

["Alright, I'm having him pull over on Halibut Avenue. Stand by."] The police officer must have failed to turn off his radio, because Team JNPR heard him exit his car and address the driver. [Sir, I'm going to need you to step out of the vehicle… sir! This'll go a lot smoother for you if you cooperate-ACK! No! AAUGH!"]

The group shared a concerned look as they continued to listen in.

["I told you stealing this limo was a bad idea."] Lilith's agitated voice crackled over the radio, apparently oblivious to the fact that she and her cohorts were being spied on.

["Alright, on the bright side, we've got a new cop car we can use."] Lotus suggested. ["We'll drive it to Cole's train station and get on with the rest of our job."]

["Fine. Let's move."]

Nora hastily shut the scanner off and turned to her teammates. "Sooooo… we're gonna go stop them, right?"

Ren gave a cocky smirk as he held up StormFlower. "As if you had to ask."

Minutes later, JNPR made their way towards Cole's train station to intercept the mercenaries. The station was also adjacent to one of Cole's office buildings; a perfect place for someone to hide after hours. Once they spotted the limo, the team snuck into the building to search for their quarry. On the first floor, they made their way towards the medical wing.

"Man, I hate all this sneaking arou-AAAAAAAH!" Nora yelped in fear and stumbled backwards at the sight of a skeleton hanging next to the door she'd entered. Her teammates ran to see what the problem was. "Dear gods! It's their last victim!"

Ren facepalmed. "It's a model, Nora."

Nora then noticed the stand holding up the skeleton as well as the small metal wires holding the joints together. "Ahem. I knew that." She grunted, brushing herself off as she stood back up.

"Hey, guys! Over here!" Pyrrha whispered as she beckoned the others to peek out of a window towards the train station. Sure enough, they saw the four mercenaries from earlier waiting on the platform.

"So what's the plan?" Ren couldn't help but ask.

"Just observe them for now," Jaune said with a shrug. "We can't exactly stop their plan without knowing what they're really up to, after all."

"That's fair," Ren called out with a shrug of his own.

Pyrrha converted her spear into a rifle and used the scope to get a better look at their enemies. "Hey, Jaune? I think you'll want to see this." She declared before handing the rifle over to her leader.

Jaune blinked in surprise before cautiously looking through the scope before gasping at what he saw.

"Cardin Winchester?!" Jaune sneered as the fourth mercenary finally took off his helmet. "Of course, he had to be in on this."

Suddenly, a loud whistle announced the arrival of a train. The mercenaries straightened themselves as it came to a complete stop. Out stepped a single passenger: Oliver Cole.

"Oh, no!" Nora gasped. "They're about to kill Mr. Cole!"

"Hang on…" Ren held her back; his Semblance was sensing something off about why Cole was down there. "... something's not right…"

"Well done, my young companions." Oliver remarked as he handed out checks to the mercenaries. "With that performance, the people of Argus will be more determined than ever to get me elected. Especially if they believe it was one of my Mistrial opponents who hired you."

"Not a problem, boss. So, what's our next step?" Cardin asked.

"Oh? I thought you'd be satisfied with your pay here," Oliver declared with a raised eyebrow.

"With all due respect, you hired us to lose to a bunch of wannabe heroes: no amount of pay is going to satisfy the desire to recover our lost pride on that front…and besides, given how much money you've spent thus far, I'm not inclined to believe that you are satisfied with just getting elected. Now I'll admit that I don't quite know what exactly it is you have planned, but whatever it is, it's big, and I want in."

"Us too," The pink-clad scarred woman remarked with the other two mercenaries nodding in agreement.

"Fair enough, and well timed too, as I did need a bit of hired muscle for the next stage in my plan," Oliver said with a smile and a shrug.

"Which is?"

"I need a few of my employees to become martyrs for my cause." Oliver explained. "I've already sent word to the Mistrial council that I am heading to their headquarters near the coast by next morning. Now, they assume I will be taking the train. Which is why we will load this train with explosives set to detonate once it arrives at the first station. Then, once the initial shock has worn off, I will reveal that I decided to drive myself. But the people of Argus and Mistrial will assume that my rivals attempted to assassinate me once again. After that, my victory will be all but assured and it will be nothing less than child's play to secure more power in the following years. So, if you would all be so kind as to help set the explosives…"

"I don't believe it!" Nora called out as the rival team began loading explosives onto the train while Oliver got in his limo and drove away.

"I know: Oliver was totally playing us from the start and we didn't even notice it!" Pyrrha growled out beside her.

"Not only that, but the fact that they were paid to lose to us means that fight with that scarred woman didn't even count!" Nora declared with a frustrated groan.

"Well good news is that you might get a proper fight with her soon." Jaune declared. "After all, we'll need to stop them from blowing up the train station."

"Sounds good to me." Ren nodded as he cocked his weapon. "Let's split up. Nora and I will sneak around the other side while you guys stay here. Once we box them in, we can jump them."

Jaune and Pyrrha nodded in agreement and got into position. While Ren and Nora snuck through the station, they were forced to stop once Lotus and the scarred woman in pink headed towards their position. Nora grabbed Ren and pulled him behind a crate just in time.

"Gotta hand it to Cole, he sure pays well." The woman remarked, pocketing her check before picking up another crate.

"Heh, that's for sure." Lotus agreed, pausing to purchase a bag of crackers from a vending machine before continuing his work. "Want some?"

"Dude, get that crap away from me!" The scarred woman snapped. "I told you, I don't eat gluten!"

Once the mercenaries were out of sight, Nora got up from her hiding spot and began running. Ren got up and followed closely behind. "Nora! Slow down! What's wrong?!" He whispered.

"Oh, my gods! I'm so stupid!" Nora berated herself as she hastily loaded her grenade launcher with lightning dust grenades. "I can't believe I didn't recognize her voice because I was so fixated on her scars!"

"What? Nora, what's going on?" Ren asked, running alongside her.

"That woman working for Cole! The one with all the scars! She's Sara! Sara Amazon!"

"Wait, the woman who kinda looked like you who worked with Whitely during our last mission with Team RWBY? That Sara Amazon?!"

"Do you know anyone else with that name?"

"Well, no, but I have to say, I'm surprised: I thought that she had died in that vat of molten magma after we left her there."

"I mean, to be fair, we never went back and checked to see what happened to her, but the point is that there's no way that Cole wouldn't have known about that seeing how our battle with Whitely's forces is common knowledge at this point, which means that there's a lot more to this situation then we first thought."

"That sounds like a lot of exposition to take in for someone who isn't familiar with our adventures with Team RWBY and Project Guardsman." Ren declared before he and Nora glanced past the screen of whatever device the reader was using to view this fan fiction. "Regardless, that just means Cole definitely needs to be stopped."

"And we're just the team to stop him!" Nora smirked.

"Uh, pretty sure we're the only team who can stop him. Being the only ones who know about this and everything." Ren remarked.

"Still counts!" Nora readily replied with a smirk before running off with her boyfriend following close behind with an amused shake of his head.

At last, the couple made it to the other side of the station just as the mercenaries finished loading the explosives onto the train. Jaune held up three fingers and counted down, signaling his team to attack. Cardin and Lilith jumped aboard the train to get it started while Lotus and Sara drew their weapons to keep JNPR from interfering.

Pyrrha initially tried to use her Semblance to take the wrecking ball from Sara, only to find out that it was non-ferrous before it smacked into her forehead. Ren and Jaune tried to sneak up on her from behind, but the brawler just swung wildly and managed to knock the wind out of both of them.

"Someone give me a real fight!" Sara laughed, wickedly, as she swung her wrecking ball to strike Jaune.

But something had caught the wrecking ball, prompting Sara to look back in shock. Nora had grabbed the ball, mid-swing, and glared at her former copycat. "If it's a fight you want, you've got one!" Nora declared before tugging with all her might and pulling Sara towards her. Once she was close enough, Nora swung her hammer and launched Sara off of the platform and into the parking lot. Sara recovered her wrecking ball and chain and used her Semblance to absorb its metal into her skin before Nora jumped after her.

"You know, I'm actually glad you're here: I never was entirely satisfied with how our last fight ended during that whole mess with Whitely, so I've been itching for a proper rematch for a long time now," Nora admitted.

"Funny: I was just about to say the exact same thing," Sara declared with a manic grin.

At the same time, Ren and Lotus squared up against each other. Ren collapsed his weapons and took up a tai chi stance, taunting Lotus with a smirk as if silently challenging him to unarmed combat. Reluctantly, Lotus tossed aside his own firearm and mimicked Ren's stance. Jaune and Pyrrha could only watch in awe as the two combatants quickly traded blows as if they were enemies in a kung-fu film. However, in spite of Ren only recently coming out of retirement, Lotus was obviously more skilled as a marksman than as a hand-to-hand combatant. As a result, Ren easily overpowered his opponent and knocked him out with a swift kick to the head.

"And that's how it's done." He boasted, blowing on his knuckles.

Meanwhile, Nora was still dealing with Sara in the parking lot. Using her grenade-launcher to disarm Sara of her wrecking ball, Nora correctly guessed that her enemy could only transform her skin into another material if she continuously touched it. Her theory was proven correct once Sara's metal skin shifted back to flesh. But Sara just knelt down and touched the pavement beneath her feet, transforming into that for protection.

"I told you! My semblance lets me turn my body into anything! Including rock!"

Nora smirked and converted her weapon back into a hammer. With a powerful swing, she obliterated Sara's entire left arm, leaving the villain stunned. "My hammer smashes rock, Einstein." She snorted.

Sara backed up with fear clear in her expression as she held her shoulder in pain, quickly realizing her error here. "Wait, stop: you can't do this!"

"Watch me." With another strong swing, Nora shattered Sara's entire body, leaving her in as a conscious pile of rubble. "Hate to smash and run, but I've got a train to catch."

"Are you kidding me?! That's super cheesy!" Sara spluttered, indignantly, as Nora ran off.

Just as the others finished tying up Lotus, a loud whistle alerted them that the train was moving.

"Quick! Get on the train! We have to stop it before it explodes!" Jaune ordered.

The team ran as fast as they could, but it was obvious that they wouldn't be able to catch up in time. Suddenly, Jaune remembered about the jet-boosters he'd added to his armor and took off into the sky. Pyrrha used her Semblance to hold onto him while Ren and Nora held onto her. At last, they made a safe - but not too graceful - landing on top of the train.

"Well, that was exciting." Nora chuckled, dizzy.

"Never mind that," Jaune called out even as he briefly gave his teammates a chance to regain their bearings. "We need to get to the front of this train before it reaches the station."

The group continued onwards until they arrived at the bar car of the train. At which point, an armored mercenary made his presence known.

"Hey, Jauney: you miss me?" a familiar voice mockingly asked.

"Not even a little bit, Cardin," Jaune growled out. "Don't worry about me, guys! Get to the engine!"

Once his teammates went ahead, Jaune ducked behind the bar and bit his fingernails, nervously. He knew that he couldn't afford to wait for his team to catch up, but at the same time, Cardin was way stronger than him. "What am I gonna do?" He muttered to himself. "What would grandpa do? What would Krasnaya do? What would Pyrrha do? What would the Hunts-Man do?"

The blonde huntsman's eyes suddenly widened as the realization hit him. "Wait a minute! I am the Hunts-Man!" Jaune reached into his pocket and pulled out a red mask which he tied around his head. Suddenly, he felt himself filled with courage and confidence as he drew his sword once again. "Alright, Cardin, you want me? Here I am!"

In the meantime, Pyrrha somehow got separated from Ren and Nora while passing through the luggage car and ended up inside the business car. Sitting there, discussing the rest of their plan with Lilith Ambrosia, was Oliver Cole.

"What the…? You're actually here?!" Pyrrha gasped.

"Of course: in times like these, it's important to keep an eye on one's operations to make sure they all run smoothly," Oliver declared. "But enough talk: if you plan to try and stop me, it's only fitting that I force you to grovel before your better, so do come and face me. Bow before King Cole!"

Pyrrha drew her spear. "I don't bow to false kings."

"Pity." Cole remarked before swiftly drawing a taser and blasting the Invincible Girl.

Cringing from pain on the floor, Pyrrha found the strength to look up. "Was it all a lie?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"How much of what you said to us the other day was a lie?" Pyrrha felt the need to ask. "Was your life and/or campaign ever in any real danger, or were you planning on killing us from the start?"

"Oh, I assure you, my dear, not everything I said that day was a lie," Oliver declared. "I truly did enjoy the tea and muffins that you had served, but more importantly, I truly did mean it when I said that I refused to give up on my campaign, something which those fools in the Council failed to accept, so a show of force was needed to cement my seat of power, and how better to showcase my power then to have those who helped bring down Salem lying dead before me? Rest assured, it wasn't anything personal."

Having heard enough, Pyrrha yanked the taser's prongs out of her chest and jumped back to her feet. Lilith drew a flechette and tossed it towards her enemy. Pyrrha tried to use her Semblance to redirect it, only to duck out of the way once she realized it wasn't working.

"That's new," Pyrrha nervously called out as she eyed the flechette in the wall that she had barely dodged in time.

King Cole merely chuckled as he pulled out some more flechette from his sleeves. "Promethium blades and platinum handles. Not the sharpest weapons, admittedly, but still more than enough to deal with that pesky Polarity Semblance of yours. You didn't honestly think I would have hired you without doing my research on your team's strengths and weaknesses, did you?"

"I mean, seeing how I only recently found out that the job was part of a larger scheme, I didn't have much reason to even consider that sort of thing," Pyrrha remarked with a slight frown while also realizing this would be harder than she originally thought.

Lilith drew several more flechettes and rapidly tossed them at Pyrrha, forcing her to dive towards cover. The obvious solution would be to use her new shield to block the projectiles while she rushed them, but there was no telling whether or not they could tear through it. Scanning the area, she noticed a snack cart loaded with stainless steel cups. Pyrrha smirked as she tied a red mask over her eyes.

"Let's try this again, shall we?" She asked, getting out from her hiding spot and drawing her spear and shield.

Lilith drew four more flechette in each hand, holding them between her fingers, and threw them at Pyrrha. But the newly-masked huntress used her Semblance to lift eight stainless steel cups to block the projectiles before throwing her shield into Lilith's stomach, knocking her to the floor.

"How did you…what are you?!" Lilith spluttered.

Pyrrha merely smirked in response. "I'm just your friendly neighborhood Red Huntress." With that, she kicked the villainess in the head, knocking her out.

"This isn't possible: I accounted for every possibility!" Oliver called out in a state of shock.

"Oh, it's very possible, because you made the exact same mistake that Salem did all those years ago: you underestimated us!" Pyrrha proudly remarked before smacking the flechette that Oliver had drawn out of his sleeves to the ground with her sword. Afterwards she quickly used her Semblance to break off two bars from the luggage racks and bent them in mid-air before using them to pin Cole to a nearby wall. "Now, you stay here while my team and I try to stop this train."

With that, the Red Huntree ran towards the engine just as Nora and Ren caught up with her. At last, the trio reached the car where Jaune was still fighting off Cardin. "Guys! What's our status?!" He called out as he dodged another strike.

"Three down, four if you count Oliver, and one to go." Pyrrha informed him. "All we have to do is take down Winchester and stop the train!"

"Maybe so, but at the risk of sounding cliche, I won't be going down without a fight," Cardin growled out in response. A strike to the chest sent Jaune to the floor where he got a good look at the interior of the car.

"Ren! Nora!" Jaune called out as he got an idea. "BOOP!"

Ren and Nora shared an excited smile before rushing towards Cardin at full speed and opening fire at the same time. While Cardin easily shielded himself from the shots, Ren jumped on top of Magnihild, allowing Nora to launch him into the air. Once he lowered his shield, Cardin prepared to strike Ren once he got close enough, leaving himself vulnerable to a lightning dust grenade to the chest. With that, Ren fired his grappling hooks to the sides of his target and pulled himself down, crushing Cardin beneath him.

"Not bad, partner," Nora declared following the successful combo attack.

"Right back at you," Ren replied as he briefly "booped" her on the nose, drawing a giggle from his partner.

"Way to go, guys!" Jaune praised. "Okay, Ren, head to the engine and stop this train!"

"On it!"

Meanwhile, Cardin tried to get up, but flinched once he noticed the tip of a sword right in front of his face.

"I told you not to mess with my team ever again." Jaune said, triumphantly.

"Laugh it up, Arc, but the truth is that you only were able to get anything done by coasting on the accomplishments of others: all you'll ever be is a weak little boy who cheated his way into Beacon," Cardin spat out.

"Is that so?" Jaune asked before sheathing his sword and putting his shield away. "Alright, I'll humor you: all you need to do is punch me and I'll let you go."

"Jaune, what are you…?" Nora began to ask before Pyrrha put a hand on her shoulder, signaling her to trust their leader.

"You…you're serious," Cardin called out with a laugh. "Don't you recall how I dominated our fight earlier?"

"No, what I recall is that you were blasting me from afar and likewise letting your teammates get up and personal to me while you stood back and watched," Jaune declared. "From what I've seen, ever since you got into contact with Oliver Cole, you only get up close and personal after you've worn down your opponent with your armor's capabilities. If I were to guess, you haven't won an actual hand-to-hand fight since you left Beacon."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Cardin snarled out.

"Prove it then: no armor, no weapons, no teammates: just us," Jaune remarked even as he let his sword and shield drop to the ground and put up a fighting stance.

"Ooh, you're going to regret that," Cardin called out with an arrogant smirk as he quickly moved to strike Jaune in the face…only to lose said smirk immediately after he nearly fell on his face as Jaune casually sidestepped him.

"Again."

"Ooh, you think you're so…" …and that was as far as Cardin got before Jaune tripped him up and lightly slapped him in the face before he had even fully gotten back to his feet.

"You're leaving too many openings for me to exploit: you need to know how to anticipate what your opponent is going to do before they do it," Jaune declared, drawing a smile from Pyrrha due to knowing full well where her leader and lover had learned that nugget of wisdom from.

"Shut up! There's no way you're stronger than me!" Cardin barked out as he launched another punch at Jaune…only to freeze in place as Jaune effortlessly caught his fist.

"You call that a punch?" Jaune mockingly asked even as Cardin tried and failed to free himself from his grip. "This is a punch!"

…and that was all the warning Cardin got before Jaune decked him in the face, knocking him out in the process.

"I'm guessing that felt good," Pyrrha felt the need to call out with a smirk.

"You have no idea," Jaune declared with a grin of his own even as he picked his sword and shield up off the ground. "Anyways, let's see how Ren's doing with his assignment."

"Uh, yeah… about that…" Ren nervously bit his nails as he suddenly came back in, having apparently heard what his leader had said. "The train won't stop."

"What?!" Jaune yelped. "Ren! I told you to go to the engine and shut it down!"

Ren huffed at Jaune's tone. "Yeah, well, y'see, I did head to the engine like you said." He explained, growing more frustrated with every word. "And when I got there, I took the velocity of the train, multiplied it by the distance between where we are and where we're going, divided it by the mass, and then realized that I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FUCKING DRIVE A BULLET TRAIN!"

"Alright, alright! Calm down!" Jaune replied as he picked his sword and shield off the ground. "Let's all go to the engine, put our heads together, and figure this out!"

With that, Team JNPR ran up to the train's engine to try and stop it. But once they arrived, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Nora could understand why Ren was unable to do anything; the engine's controls were far too advanced for any of their liking.

"Okay, uh… okay…" Jaune gripped the sides of his head as he thought of what to do. At last, he spotted an operator's manual and got an idea. "Okay! Pyrrha, you get on the roof and try to use your semblance to slow down the wheels! Nora, you charge yourself up and try to push against the front! Ren, load up on ice dust and shoot the wheels! I'll try to figure out where the breaks are!"

Nodding in unison, everyone went about their assigned tasks. Pyrrha smashed open a nearby window, climbed outside by stabbing her spear into the side, helped Ren climb up to the roof, then helped Nora climb onto the front. Meanwhile, Jaune began skimming through the manual to figure out how to apply the brakes.

Nora removed the lightning dust from her grenade launcher and crushed it in her hands, activating her semblance as she firmly planted both hands against the hull of the train and dug her feet into the tracks below. At the same time, Pyrrha focused her own semblance on stopping the wheels on the left side while Ren fired ice dust at the right side. Back inside, Jaune kept trying to find the right page, but his nerves were starting to get to him as the train got closer to the station.

"Aw, fuck it!" He muttered as he discarded the manual and stabbed his sword into the control board. At last, the power died down and the train slowed to a crawl. Combined with his teammates' efforts, the train finally ground to a halt.

"Well that was close," Jaune declared as his team huddled back into the engine room.

"I'll say," Pyrrha remarked with her two teammates nodding in agreement, only for one of said teammates to notice something as she looked around the room.

"Hey, guys: did you know that there's a big red button on the control panel of this train for applying the brakes?" Nora called out with a curious tilt of her head at what she was seeing, prompting a mutual facepalm from both Jaune and Ren due to how they had failed to notice that due to their respective panic from earlier.

In order to ensure that there was no more danger, Team JNPR went back to the storage car and disarmed the explosives. But just as the police began to arrive, they spotted Oliver having managed to escape his bindings from earlier and trying to escape from the passenger car. Instinctively, Pyrrha threw her spear at Oliver, piercing him through the chest and pinning him to the wall. But instead of blood, a shower of sparks erupted from the corrupt politician's chest. His head began to spin uncontrollably before popping off his shoulders, with his arms and legs following suit right after. At last, the body burst into flames as his distorted voice muttered something unintelligible.

"Wait a second, this isn't Oliver: it's some sort of robotic replica!" Pyrrha yelled out with a surprised look on her face, having somehow not sensed that prior to this point.

"A King-bot!" Nora proclaimed with an equally shocked expression.

"We'll need to worry about that later: for now let's make sure all of his goons are secure and/or that Oliver didn't leave us with any other surprises to deal with." Jaune decided after the shock had worn off.

Minutes later, Pyrrha managed to explain to the police everything that had happened. Thanks to the video footage recorded on her new rifle's scope, they easily proved Cole's illicit plan. After that, it was only a matter of arresting the mercenaries.

"Are you sure that's every last piece?!" Sara shouted as the police sweeped her shattered remains into separate evidence bags. "Where's my lawyer?! I know my rights, you miserable-!"

The police officer closed the bag, muffling Sara's words as she was taken away. Just as the police were about to take Lotus away with her, Ren stopped them. "Hang on a minute officers, I've got a few questions for this guy regarding our quote-unquote mutual employer."

"I want a lawyer." Lotus muttered.

"You're getting ahead of yourself." Ren smirked as he aimed StormFlower at his enemy's crotch. "First, you want a doctor, then you want a lawyer."

"Sorry, sir. No one gets to question him until he's processed." The police officer remarked as he loaded the mercenary into the car. "But I promise we'll keep you updated."

"That's fair," Ren said with a shrug as he put his weapons away.

Once the mercenaries were taken away, the press arrived shortly afterwards to bombard the team with questions about what had happened.

"Mr. Arc, did you know that Cole hired mercenaries to kill him?!"

"Wha-? No, we-"

"Ms. Nikos, how did you manage to stop the train?!"

"W-well, it was more of a team effort-"

"Mr. Ren, did these mercenaries remind you of the ones you fought on Menagerie?!"

"Not really, what-"

"Ms. Valkyrie, is it true that Sara Amazon used to look exactly like you?!"

"No! Get your facts right!"

"Alright! Alright! That's enough!" The police chief shouted as his men pushed back the crowd. "These kids just saved the city! Give 'em room to breathe, you vultures!"

With that, the police escorted Team JNPR away from the pestering crowd to their car and they drove back to the Cotta-Arc house. They were tired, mildly injured, and in desperate need of some sleep. Regardless, Pyrrha automatically reached for her scroll once she received a notification.

"Hey, guys…" Pyrrha called out, staring at her scroll. "Cole's check cleared."

The team huddled around the scroll with wide eyes; the check had indeed cleared. JNPR cheered and hugged each other in joy.

"We're rich!" Nora cheered as she hugged Ren. "Rich, I tell you!"

"I mean, we'll have to spend most of it on a new house." Ren pointed out with a smile.

"We're well off!" Nora corrected. "Well off, I tell you!"

Jaune, however, seemed more confused than excited.

"I can tell via the progress I've made with my Semblance that something is bothering you: feel like sharing?" Ren gently offered.

"Why did Cole's check clear?" Jaune couldn't help but ask. "I mean, don't get me wrong: I'm glad it did, but from what we've seen and heard, his end goal was to see us dead to secure his power."

"Was it?" Ren felt the need to counter. "From what I heard, all he needed was a show of force to get the ball rolling, and even if we're still around to stand in the way of his plans, you have to admit that he still showed that he was capable of strategic knowhow, leadership, and concentrating raw power around him, all things that would be useful for a counselor, or rather a king, to have."

"Maybe, but either way, I get the feeling that this isn't the last we've seen of Oliver Cole."

And indeed, they had not. Far away from Argus where no one could reach him, Oliver sat in a brilliant throne room, viewing multiple screens that depicted Team JNPR fighting his mercenaries, as well as previous battles the team had fought in the past. He also had videos of Teams RWBY, CFVY, and even the rare footage of Teams CPPR and SWCD in action. But his observations were cut short when one of his assistants arrived to give him a status report.

"I regret to inform you that the mercenaries you hired have failed in their given task, King Cole."

"I'm not overly surprised: they were going up against one of the teams that took down Salem, after all," Oliver "King" Cole replied. "Still, Team JNPR is to be commended in helping me test run some of the experimental technology I've been working on. Next time we meet, I'll be sure to personally show them the improvements I plan to make on that same technology."

Back in Argus, Team JNPR were scrolling through house listings to set up their own base of operations when Pyrrha's scroll vibrated on the coffee table. She noticed it was Svetlana calling and immediately answered.

"Hello, again, Svet-oh!" Pyrrha cupped a hand over her mouth. "Er, or Kras-ah! I'm sorry! Who exactly is calling?"

"It's me, Pyrrha." Krasnaya's distorted voice replied. "I take it you haven't been watching the news?"

"Are you kidding? As of yesterday, we are the news!" Nora grinned.

"Why, what's up?" Jaune asked.

"A terrorist group is holding Shade City hostage." Krasnaya replied. "Get your gear, and get over here. I already called RWBY and CFVY."

Pyrrha blinked in surprise. "Are you asking for help?"

"Yes!"

The entire team shared a nervous expression.

"You never ask for help." Ren pointed out.

"Just get over here!"

"Okay, okay, we'll be over as soon as we can," Jaune promised.

To Be Continued!