"That could have gone better." Ren said the moment they stepped back into their dorm. The walk back having been a solemn thing. Thankfully there weren't that many people awake at this time. So there wouldn't be any rumours popping up.
"Sure, but I got everything we need." Jaune replied, bringing out a lock of green hair from his sleeve. Flicking his wrist, a vial of glass containing a single drop of blood that swirled around rested in his hand. "And more." He finished, flicking his wrists and hiding away the items.
"I thought you wanted us to scout?" Pyrrha asked with a frown. Crossing her arms nervously, her fingers idly tapping at her bicep. Fidgeting with her hair every now and then.
"There are different ways of gaining information. Scouting is just one of them." Jaune said, looking through the cupboards for something. Nodding to himself and pulling out a large salad bowl and filling it with water. Placing it on the table, he pulled out a chair. Bringing out the lock of hair and pulling out a single strand.
Ever so gently letting it float on top of the water, magically sinking down as the water's reflection changed. Painting the picture of a dark warehouse. The mint haired girl nervously tapping at her arm. The boy with silver hair and eyes sitting off in the corner, a self-satisfied smirk on his lips.
"Now, if you would please excuse me." Jaune ordered politely, taking of his hat and combing his hair slick back with his hand. Before submerging his face into the bowl.
His vision instantly changing. A white mist crept to the edges, the noise he heard switched abruptly. Gone were the background noise of the spirits making idly small talk, Nora digging around in the snacks drawer, or Pyrrha's nervous tapping. Instead it was replaced by the dim hum of machinery, the sound of old florescent tubes flickering on and off.
"We have a meeting with our old acquaintances at the old harbour tonight." A familiar voice called out. The mint haired girl fighting away a shiver. Another shape, dressed in crimson red like moving fire, coming into view. Black hair flowing like smoke, golden eyes burning warmer than the sun. "Some changes will be applied now that our target has changed. And Emerald, I don't tolerate failure. There won't be a next time. Is that understood?"
"Yes ma'am!" Emerald called out, standing up as nervousness raced through her. Eyes never leaving the ball of flame that had appeared in the woman's other hand.
"Good." The half-maiden purred. Eyebrows quickly furrowing as golden eyes stared into his. Pulling his head out of the bowl, some whispered words followed him. To distorted to make sense.
Standing up, Jaune quickly wiped away some of the water that clung to him. Frowning as his mind was working overtime, he already had a hunch of who their acquaintances were. And he didn't like it one bit. It was bad enough that they somehow managed to infiltrate the academy, maybe they had a person on the inside. 'Or it really is just that easy to sneak into the school.' That they had contact with the fang was all but disastrous.
'Honestly it makes a lot of things add up in hindsight.' Jaune frowned, scratching his chin.
"What… did you see, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen over their dorm without him noticing.
"That unless we can explain why I know that they are going to meet with the white fang, we have work to do." Jaune replied, not a hint of humour in his tone. "They are switching the plans from Beacon, too Pyrrha. If that means a hit, or something else. I don't know, and I don't want to know."
"Ohhh-" Pyrrha whispered wispily, leaning back onto her chair and staring emptily into the air. Tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. "But… why? I have never done something against them. And they want to kill me, for what? Some magical power?"
Jaune didn't say anything when Pyrrha broke out into soft tears. Not knowing what to say. Nora thankfully already by her side and giving her a shoulder to cry on.
"Some people don't need a reason." Elizabeth whispered lazily, staring uncaringly down at Pyrrha. "For some, you having a good day while they have a bad one is all the reason they need. You have something they want. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Can't we… anonymously tip of the headmaster. Or maybe the general?" Pyrrha tried, no matter how weak the attempt was.
"I don't trust them." Jaune replied with a frown. "There is something… off about the headmaster. I can't see his spirit. It doesn't change anything; he has shown again and again that he has something against us. First grounding us out of nowhere with an arbitrary, but understandable, reason. Then-"
Stopping abruptly, he stared at the crow that sat on their windowsill. It's soul far to large, far too bright for a simple animal.
"Then giving us an even harsher punishment for almost nothing." Ren finished for him. Distaste creeping into his voice. "Even if Jaune got into a fight, the scroll should have at least helped us come of lighter. I know for a fact that Ruby and the girls have gotten of lighter for worse." After finishing his piece Ren's eyes glassed over briefly, a nippy chill making itself known in dorm.
"Did Iosefka say anything?" Jaune asked, slowly making his way over to the window. Violet following after him like a lost duckling. The crow preening it's feathers without a care in the world.
"Yes." Ren frowned, distaste cracking his stoic mask. "She said that one is to be protected, hidden away under watch. While the other is different, to be moulded into a weapon."
"Hmmm." Jaune hummed, opening the window and letting the crisp autumn air in. The crow took flight, only for a chain of gold to wrap around it and pull it into his hand. "Ruby has silver eyes, doesn't she?" He asked, closing the window after him and holding the crow by the neck. Ignoring the beak trying to bite him or it's talons digging into his skin. Only scratching him comfortably at best.
"You don't think?" Nora asked with a frown, running gentle circles on Pyrrha's back. Shooting the crow in his hands a curios glance.
"It adds up." Ren frowned. "Ruby is talented, but she isn't enough of a prodigy to skip two years. She is skilled with her scythe and in the forge, and I'm sure she could have passed the entrance exam if she applied with me and Nora. But that wouldn't explain away the preferential treatment. Weiss and Blake's are somewhat understandable, Weiss being the current heiress of the SDC and Blake being the daughter of Menagerie's chieftain. Even if the island may have little political clout, that can change. Be it if they find some natural resource or another luxury good to cultivate. Yang is Qrow's niece, and so is Ruby. So maybe they get some preferential treatment-"
"Some?" Nora scoffed with a roll of her eyes.
"But say, if Ruby really is the descendant of a long line of warriors who are hailed to be the best at fighting grimm. It begins painting another picture. If it means Ruby can reach her full potential, some things can be brushed underneath the rug." Ren finished with a thoughtful hum. Turning to Jaune with a raised brow. "But, Jaune, what's with the crow."
"It's Qrow." Jaune said, making sure the golden chain was properly wrapped around the crow's neck before handing it over to Violet. His apprentice grabbing the creature curiosity, tilting her head as she squeezed. A dull red aura shielding it as it squawked loudly in protest. "Don't kill him but have fun."
"Qrow?" Ren asked, blinking twice and staring at the crow that furiously tried to peck at Violet's aura.
"The world is apparently far more magical than we knew." Jaune shrugged, quickly throwing the bird a look. "Hurt her and we are having pickled crow for lunch."
Instantly the crow straightened up, stopping it's struggling as it glared at Jaune.
"It's small." Violet pouted, looking at the crow as if it had somehow offended her. Squeezing her hands, the bird instantly squawking like it life depended on it.
"Well yeah." Nora giggled. "But it's a crow, even if it's apparently also a person. How big did you think it really would be?"
"Don't crows eat children?" Violet asked innocently. Prodding at the crow in her hands with her finger, not at all noticing the stares that everyone suddenly levelled Jaune.
"Eh, Jaune. How big exactly are crows in Yharnam?" Pyrrha asked, eyes still bloodshot. Nora's shoulder wet. Not that anyone said anything about it. Suddenly all to curious about the city where goodness had died all those years ago. Where hope was nothing but a sickness.
"Hmmm. How do I say this…" Jaune started looking at Qrow squirming in his apprentice's hands. Beady crimson eyes staring at him with cleverness. "They are big."
"The beak of the one dad had me kill was as long as my leg." Violet shared innocently. Turning back to him with a frown. "It's chest as big as me?"
"Smaller." Jaune corrected patting her on the head as he walked back to the kitchen. "Their torsos are about the same size as what the torso of a six-seven-year-old should be. Around there plus minus. They can't fly however, to gorged on meat."
"My friend Arthur was eaten by one." Violet said emotionlessly, something cruel and vindictive worming into her eyes. Rusty red aura appearing around the crow as she squeezed.
"That's rough kid." The gruff voice of Qrow escaped out of the birds beak as it struggled in her grasp. "Now, please don't listen to the voices in your head that says to hurt me."
"Can we take him with us tonight, dad?" Violet suddenly asked. Turning to him with a smile that was as innocent as it was wicked. Making Jaune maybe think it was time to begin teaching her the difference between right and wrong. He wasn't sure it was going to do much, Yharnam already having coloured much of her upbringing. However, he didn't want her to grow up completely without morals.
"No." Jaune answered flatly, Violet huffing with a pout. Qrow something managing to look smug in his bird form. "You see Violet, Qrow here have other problems. Like explaining to Miss Goodwitch why a talking crow was peeking at us. I don't know what the Headmaster asked him to do, but I don't think it includes spying on us."
"She is already on her way." Ren announced flatly, shoving his scroll back into his pocket.
"Are we not going to care about Jaune having her kill one?" Pyrrha asked somewhat unsurely. With a look that screamed 'I can't be the only one that noticed that.'
"Well, yes. But what's the difference between Jaune having Violet kill a big crow. And your dad taking you out to hunt your first grimm? Aren't they the same?" Nora shot straight back. Shutting Pyrrha straight up. "And honestly, the only difference is that one bleeds red. It's not like she didn't pop her grimm cherry down in the sewers. Or her murder cherry for that matter."
"Nora!" Everyone shouted as one, the bomber holding her hands up in defence. The younger ghosts shrieking in embarrassment, darting wildly around the room. Multiple cold guests of wind darting around. Even Alexandra flew away from Nora. Red to the tips of her ears.
"Poor choice of words aside, it's not like I'm wrong." Nora huffed, continuing to dig herself deeper.
"Dad, what does 'popping' a cherry mean?" Violet asked curiously. Suddenly turning to him with unblinking eyes.
"It's slang for losing one's virginity." Jaune answered dutifully. Rolling his eyes as Violet blushed furiously, huffing loudly and glaring at Nora. Qrow squawking loudly as his aura flashed. "Since it was the first time you killed a grimm, it's not exactly wrong to say you lost your grimm virginity. Tasteless maybe, but not wrong per se. So if you were to travel by sea for the first time, you would lose your boat virginity. Depending on the context it is either something you do for the first time, or it's referring to something pure or otherwise untouched. Like morning dew."
"Dad? Are you a virgin?" Violet asked. Eyes shinning with nothing but petty revenge.
"Well… that depends on how you want to categorize virgin." Jaune started, somewhat defensively.
"You fucked a sheep, didn't you?" Qrow asked suddenly out of nowhere. Cackling madly when Jaune sighed heavily.
"Well, I have some experience. I have kissed a girl and there was some light fondling going on." Jaune shrugged with a roll of his eyes as the ghosts blushed even worse. "But, yes, I am a penile virgin. I did after all lose my anal virginity to my own femur."
"Jaune!" Nora shouted, green faced as she stood up. Ren and Pyrrha not looking any better. "You promised to never bring that up again."
"I never did that." Jaune rolled his eyes. "That was something the three of you decided on behind my back."
"What?" Qrow blinked, almost slipping out from Violet's grip. "How?" He asked, Jaune quickly taking him out of Violet's hand. Shooting his apprentice a soft smile before making his way over to the door. A single echoing knock silencing everything in the dorm.
Willing the golden chains to withdraw into his wrist, he opened the door to one royally pissed of Professor Goodwitch. Emerald eyes staring at the bird in his hands. Qrow having the decency to puff up his feathers, darting to hide in his sleeve. Jaune caught him effortlessly, squeezing until rusty red aura covered the bird and Qrow hollered.
"Fuck you kid." He wheezed when Jaune opened his fist. "I'm so going to make your detention hell on earth. Fuck. Never learned to be gentler with a bird?"
"I don't reckon you know anything about this talking bird, Miss Goodwitch?" Jaune asked drily. "He has been spying on us, and I don't really remember for how long."
"I do." She replied icily. Grabbing him from his hands with a death grip. A squeaky yowl escaping Qrow, throwing one last look of betrayal back at Jaune before Miss Goodwitch said her goodbyes and power walked away.
"There goes one brave man." Jaune mumbled as he closed the door. Not minding how Elizabeth scoffed. "Brave?"
"Shame we can't kill him." Jaune shrugged. "I don't think the Headmaster would much appreciate one of his agents disappearing like that. Hopefully Miss Goodwitch can scare him straight."
"Isn't that a bit excessive?" Pyrrha asked.
"What if he had seen you and Nora changing? Or Violet for that matter?" Jaune shot straight back. Pyrrha's eyes shooting wide open as colour drained from her face.
"Death to the bird!" Nora shouted, standing up. Clenched fist held over head.
"Death to the bird!" Violet and the ghosts chimed in. A sharp icy chillness filled with an oppressive weight fell over the room, standing in stark difference to the mornings gentle chill that tickled the spine and made helped you quicken up in the morning. It felt like graveless wrathful spirits shared the same grudge.
"Good to see you are all in the right mood for tonight." Jaune rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately, we aren't heading out until it gets dark. So what do you want to do until then?"
"This!" Nora shouted, quickly heading over to her bed and pulling out a box. "I bought it earlier today, but since we got called up the second we got back it slipped my mind. It's an Ouija board."
"We aren't doing necromancy at seven in the morning, Nora." Ren sighed. However it didn't stop him from pulling out a chair and sitting down by the table. Nor did it stop him from helping her pack it out and set it up on the table.
"Come on, it'll be fun." Nora grinned.
######
"So we really are doing this." Pyrrha mumbled as they walked through 'old' Vale. The architecture different from the main city. Instead of high-rise buildings, neon lights, and loud cars. A different type of charm gripped this part of the city. Old brick houses with smoke coming out of chimneys. Uneven cobbled roads. Wrought iron fences containing all sorts of gardens, from filled with old apple trees older that Atlas, to rich and beautiful garden beds of roses and tulips.
"The last time to back out where when I made that little doll." Jaune said, taking a deep breath and forcefully keeping the paranoia at bay. It took all his might to not see beasts hidden behind every corner, or monstrous shadows cast on the walls. Vale's old city remining him far too much of Yharnam for his liking.
Even Violet looked around with curiosity. Looking completely lost as she desperately looked around. Up through the shadow of the horizon, Beacon's clocktower looked eerily similar to how the Grand Cathedral constantly loomed over the city. Casting it's shadow over the city. A visual reminder of who wielded power in the city.
"No." Pyrrha shot back quickly. Shaking her head as she breathed out. "I won't have you fighting my battles. If she really is coming after my life, then I will meet her determination with a resolute heart of my own."
"So there is a heart of something behind all that worry and tears." Elizabeth bit idly, floating through the air. The marvel and distaste in her eye as she looked around not missed on everyone. Neither was the envy with how her finger traced over the old bricks. Paint flacking where her finger passed over.
"Crying doesn't make me weak." Pyrrha replied with a hard look. Full of steel and fire. "I worry for Violet, because if I don't, who will? Jaune is too wrapped in trauma to see right from wrong. Your city-" Pyrrha spat, orange flaming briefly flicking over her eye as she worked herself up in righteous fury. "-warped him into something almost unrecognisable. Ren and Nora grew up fine, which is a miracle, but that doesn't change that they see the world differently. I cried for Amber, because she was innocent. Because no one else would cry for her passing. That didn't stay my blade. I worry, and I will freely cry in place of another. Because I know if I don't, who will?"
Taking a deep breath, Pyrrha did her best to calm herself. Blushing the colour of her hair all the way from the tips of her ears and down to her neck. "I'm sor-"
"Don't be." Jaune cut her off instantly with the barest hint of something akin to a smile. "Don't be sorry for telling something that's true."
"Yeah." Nora pipped in, bouncing over to Pyrrha with a smile. Throwing her arm around her shoulder with a grin. "And it's not like you are wrong. Me and Ren did what we had to survive, some good, some not so. At least our childhood was normalish. Compared to what Violet grew up in at last. Not to mention the trauma of dying and coming back again, only to die again that fearless leader experiences almost nightly. Really making the tittle true. Props to you fearless leader."
"Dad's morals aren't that bad." Violet protested in his defence. Puffing her cheeks up and shooting Pyrrha a nasty look.
"You have no idea what morals mean, do you?" Nora chimed. Grinning when Violet only pouted harder. Quickly bouncing over to him and giving him a sharp look. With an affectionate sigh, Jaune quickly bent down and lifted her up onto his shoulders. Rolling his eyes when she blew a raspberry at Nora.
"My morals aren't that bad… just… flexible." Jaune defended, trying not to remember what he had done in Cainhurst or Old Yharnam. Fighting back a shiver as phantom whispers echoed in his ears.
"Jaune. Darling. Calling your morals flexible is the first step to admitting you don't have any." Nora called out lovingly.
"Har har." Jaune snarked, rolling his eyes at her.
"But Jaune, are you sure Violet really should be coming with us for this?" Pyrrha asked, not at all caring when Violet violently snapped her head back to her. Glaring with all her little might. "I know she may have grown used to bloodshed in Yharnam. She certainly showed it in the train. But this isn't a simple fight. The half-maiden will be there. So are her accomplices, not to mention the White Fang. And I'm not talking about those we met in the train. But about the Vale cell's leadership most lightly. Adam, and his ilk."
"That's why she is safest closest to me." Jaune said. He didn't like the words that came out of his mouth, but this wasn't a choice he made blindly. "I don't trust that Ruby and the girls won't come if we asked them to babysit. If I didn't know better, I would say they are drawn to trouble. But she can stand on her own. And. Should it come to the absolute worst. She is privy to the same immortality I am."
"It won't come to that." Ren swore in instantly. Pink eyes hard as he briefly looked at Violet.
"It won't." Jaune nodded. "But the possibility is there."
"Sooooo, fearless leader, are you sure. Absolutely, absolutely, sure, that we won't be found out? It's not like I don't love the clothes. But… are you sure we simply changing our clothes and making fake sleeping clumps in our beds is enough?" Nora asked, taking her arm of Pyrrha and doing a little twirl. Heavy brown leather boots stomping against the stone pavement. The greyish with robes of the executioner uniform appearing for the first time in Vale. The gems embedded in the gauntlet shining under the gentle light of the streetlamps.
"For the nth time Nora. Yes." Jaune sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Our scrolls have removed all tracker ware, and the gps chips installed are in our dorm. We have some believable dummies. There is a voodoo doll of Pyrrha hidden away in under the cliffs so it won't be found, while also making sure the other half maiden can't sense her approaching. I burned a favour with Sun to make a distraction, there might be less in your alcohol cabinet, sorry for that. And no one knew we left, thanks to some magic. One of the reasons I had you dress up, is because now Pyrrha don't look like the invincible girl. But more like someone eager for a fair and trying out their outfit early. It's a reason why we are walking through the old district to get too the old harbour."
"Huh, you really thought about everything, didn't you." Nora mumbled.
"The outfit is surprisingly comfortable." Pyrrha shared, looking regal in her outfit. A crimson red dressed wrapped in a beautiful black robe with golden highlights running around the rim. A red cape slung over from her right shoulder, decorative golden chains holding it in place. Looking closer to a breathtaking dress someone would wear to a ball, and not the outfit of Cainhurst's knights. "Fashionable as well."
"Of course. Matching functionality and aesthetics are crucial no matter what situation you are in." Elizabeth snubbed with a roll of her eyes. "It does not matter if it is hunting beasts, attending a ball, or even if it is for sex. A good outfit that makes you feel confident, will give you confidence. Having the added benefit of making your opponent's feel less confident as well. Why do you think us women wear lingerie in the bedroom? A part of it might be to doll ourselves up, making ourselves more desirable. The other is to instil us with a confidence we might not have. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a good marriage. But if we are confident in the bedroom, then we are not trapped canaries in the cage. We can fight back. Whispered words to instil doubt, gentle remarks of lacking prowess. My dear, sex is as much about power as everything else in life. An-"
"The reason I chose this outfit back then was because it was the one that imitated Torchwick the most." Jaune butted in. Interrupting Elizabeth before she could delve deeper into different ways sex was power and other power plays in the bedroom. "He looked confident, in control. And that was a time in my life when I felt neither, so I picked this outfit in hope of somehow feeling a bit of what he did. Even if it was nothing but delusion back then, I made it real. I am confident, maybe not as in control as I would like, but even when things spin out of control. I have a cool head on my shoulders. And sometimes that's all you need."
"Fashion really is a surprisingly profound topic." Ren nodded, having been content with preparing mentally for what was to come. Dressed in Gascoignes old hunter's garb. Somehow pulling of the priestly cassock and heavy robes. Together with the stoic sereness that clung to him, he looked ready to hold a sermon right there and now.
Violet had almost thrown a tantrum when he had handed Ren the garbs. She still threw glares towards Ren every now and then. But the petty anger had turned into something akin to lost reminiscence.
"Fearless leader, now that we know Roman was nothing but a pawn for the one that killed, or wounded really, Amber. How does that make you feel?" Nora asked innocently, a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. "Since you copied your outfit after him and everything."
"Let me answer your question with another question." Jaune shot back with a smile. 'Honestly, if anyone were to overhear us, they would never know we were going to kill someone.' He thought idly, before focusing back on the conversation. "Did Torchwick look like he never was in control? Can you remember a moment, that's not the train, where he looked like a pawn? Even if he was a pawn, he had the whole world thinking it were his plans. If that isn't confidence, then I don't know."
"Touche, fearless leader, touché." Nora nodded.
Not saying anything when he had them cut through multiple alleys. Cutting through the old town, the faint smell of the sea permeating through the air. The houses around them changed the closer they got. Stepping out of the alley and back onto a road, only old dock houses with half fallen of signs littered the road down. There even a staircase further down so someone could walk by the water if they wanted. It was as abandoned as abandoned could be. Only old gas pipes that coulndt be turned off without turning of the gas to the entire neighbourhood kept the streetlights burning.
"Uh, Jaune. If the 'new' harbour is so cramped for place. Why don't the SDC simply use this dock?" Pyrrha asked, emerald eyes scanning over the dock house. Eyebrows quirking as her gaze landed on one that read 'West's King's Company'. A flame of orange flickering out over her eye.
"No, down." Jaune chided instantly with a sharp glare. "Even if it slips out, the more of the maidens power you use, the quicker the link that ties you to the doll burns up. Keep a lid on it. Magic power or not. You are the master, not it." The flame around Pyrrha's eyes quickly puttered out as she took a steadying breath. "As for your question, well there is no right answer. Preserving culture, the cannon arrangement, corpses buried under the stones, activist groups, mines in the water from the last war. Possibly more. Take your pick."
"Wait, wait, Jaune." Nora exclaimed, darting over to him as he grabbed and gave a quick shake to the old wrought fence to 'Lost Bay Shipping'. Nodding to himself and having Violet climb onto his back. Quickly vaulting over the fence. Leaning forward and catching the dock ramp down until he landed with a loud thud inside the shipyard. Pitch black darkness surrounding him.
"What do you mean mines." Nora continued, landing next to him in the darkness. Reaching for her scroll, Jaune quickly stopping her by taking her hand in his. "No light. Element of surprise." He whispered, reaching into his pocket, pulling out something and snapping his fingers. Instantly an invisible light only they could see lit up on the candle. Held tightly in place by a cut of hand. A bone like material sticking out from the wrist, grabbed firmly in his hand as he held up the torch.
"Jaune. Why is there a pickled hand in your hand. Why can I see?" Nora whisper hissed as she looked around, panic quickly growing. Ren and Pyrrha joining them just a second later. Landing all but silently, both staring around in shoch as the darkness around them suddenly disappeared. Allowing them to see almost as if it was in the middle of the day.
"Hand of Glory. A thief's best friend." Jaune replied, crouching down as Violet slid down from his back. "Only we can see the flame and use its magicks since I made it so. We are all but invisible, our steps are muffled, so is every sound we make." Shrugging he began walking, a soft but sharp sea breeze coming over the sea. "Of course, should the candle burn up, the hand will come alive and strangle me to death. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there."
"Wait a minute, is this the thing you bought in that shop when you talked about your twin sacrificing goats?" Ren asked with a frown, looking around with quiet wonder.
"Nope. That was a fake, made up of clay, plastics, and some latex to give the illusion of skin." Jaune shared. "This one is as real, real can be. This is the left hand of someone hanged for murder in Yharnam. Dried and pickled. A souvenir from Hemwick's witches. Maybe not as good as their magic, but more than enough for our needs."
"Is that where you got the powder you sprinkled on us before leaving also came from?" Pyrrha asked idly, green eyes burnt onto a faint light in the distance.
"Yup. Simple powder of invisibility." Jaune replied, stepping around and old hauler. Humming to himself as he looked around. Freely stanching an old unopened glass container of whale oil and having Isolde spirit it away. "However it's invisibility is different compared to the one offered by the hand of glory. The hand makes us invisible and unnoticeable in the more literal sense. While the powder simply made us invisible to people around us. You could go streaking through downtown after sprinkling the powder on you, and no one would notice. Their mind and spirits unable to notice you even if you looked them into the eyes."
"Out of all the examples you could use. Why did it have to be streaking?" Ren asked, honest confusion mixing with exasperation.
"It's effective, isn't it?" Jaune threw straight back.
"The two of you really are cut from the same cloth." Ren shrugged, throwing a quick glance between Jaune and Elizabeth.
"That won't hurt you." Jaune whispered to Annalise, the youngest spirit curiously poking her finger into the candle's flame. "And I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. Now, everyone remembers the plan?"
"Kill the mint haired girl first. Don't get in the way between Pyrrha and the other girls magic battle. Support each other, don't be afraid of disengaging an enemy if it means supporting someone else. Teamwork makes the dream work, ganking someone is all fair and game. Don't do anything before you give the signal. And don't forget to have fun." Nora listed out with cheer. Bringing out magnhild. The usual pink and grey grenades switched out with grey containers filled with heart shapes on the side. The twice transmuted grenades radiating power even when loaded.
"I don't remember the last part. But sure, why not." Jaune snarked with a roll of his eyes. Rolling his neck, he all but transformed in front of their eyes. Back standing straighter, every muscle coiled like a spring. A chilling mist escaped his breath, in the ghost light of the hand of glory his teeth looked sharper. Crocea Mors vibrated in her sheath. Eager bloodlust wafting out from her. Giving the salty breeze just the faintest tinge of blood. An unsaid promise of what to come.
The darkness around them disappeared slightly, the cracked moon coming out of hiding. Washing the entire old harbour in gentle light.
Quickly climbing over another fence, they skulked into 'West's King's Company's' unused harbour. Some old freighters pulled up, other's having been left in the ocean to rust and sink. Hushed voices rang out. A pair of goons in white masks held a weak flashlight and looked around. Moving the light over them and completely ignoring them as they moved past them.
Sharing a nod with Ren, Stormflower appeared in his hands as he stepped out and into the darkness. Footsteps completely silent as he slinked behind the goons. The knife's on the pistols biting sharply into the back of their skulls. Killing them without them even knowing what happened. Violet by Ren's side in an instant, watching as he caught the two goons and softly laid them down on the ground. Moving them in a way so their feet where in the water.
"I want to learn how to do that." Violet demanded the second they stepped back into the hand of glory's 'domain'. Looking eagerly up at Ren with stars in her eyes.
"Maybe, but not today." Ren replied quickly, drying the blood away on his dark robes. "The trick lies in speed, or in one smooth continuous action, really. Remember, slow is smooth, smooth is fast."
Violet instantly turned to him, Jaune nodding at Ren's words. "He is not wrong. It's an approach I try to keep too while hunting. I'm not the fastest, the strongest, the smartest, the most agile, or flexible, but that doesn't change the fact that I am the last one standing in all of my hunts. Even if yes, my survivability is off the charts, that doesn't mean anything if I don't have the skill to take advantage of it. Something I can. But, focus."
Pulling out his revolver, the handle of Mortem felt scorching hot in his hand. Passing around another docked hauler, he raised her and fired.
Thunder rumbled under a clear sky. Blood, bone, and grey matter with strands of green splattered all over the gathering of people. Her corpse didn't even manage to hit the ground before a dozen fiery spears shot through the air. Fire exploding from Pyrrha's boots as she launched herself against the woman in red. Met with roar of fire, a wall appearing out of nothing and crashing towards her. Followed by multiples burning balls of fire shooting darting through.
Grenades darted through the air as Nora joined the fray. Exploding into clouds of pink, electricity dancing like snakes as they darted around in their own thunderclouds. The white fang goons caught in the clouds didn't even manage to scream before they died.
"Our deal is over Cinder!" Adam bellowed over the roar of fire. Crimson blade shooting out and almost taking Mercury's neck off. The silver haired boy dodging impossibly backwards, sliding under and smashing his hands against the concrete ground. Kicking the blade away with one foot and deflecting stormflower with the other.
"Mercury!" Cinder shouted. Confusion instantly turning to delight as she looked at Pyrrha with a predatory smile. "Pull the trigger. We will settle this now. Especially since they came to us alone!" Pushing a free hand out against the silent sea. An invisible ripple disappearing into the dark.
"On it." Mercury smirked, hand vaulting away with impossible quick speed. Reaching for something on his back as Ren came in to interrupt him. Only for the silver haired boy to smile cockily and stomp one foot into the ground.
For one brief moment light washed over the entire city. A rumbling boom echoing all the way down to the old harbour. In an instant the fight stopped momentarily. Everyone stood transfixed, watching on in horror or twisted delight as Beacon's Clocktower exploded up in flames. Even down in the old docks they could see the city's shining beacon crumble and fall.
Mercury and Cinder leapt at the opportunity, racing towards Pyrrha. A fireball already racing her way. In an instant, Jaune was between his partner and the ball of fire. Crocea Mors screaming her arrival with a bloodcurdling screech. With flat apathy Jaune stared into Cinder's amber orbs. It was impossible to miss the glee and smugness that shone in them. To her, his death was already a forgone conclusion.
With a single thought, he cast a spell from his almost empty repertoire. Hitting the ball of fire as if it was nothing but a baseball. Soundlessly the fireball abruptly shot backwards twice as fast. Amber eyes shooting wide open as she barley managed to throw herself out of the way. The ball of blazing hot fire racing past her. Smashing into something inside the wharf and exploding into a fiery inferno that rose into the sky.
Faint echoes of gunshots rang from within the city. Spotlights fell over the city from the Atlantean ships in the sky. Then it happened. The flagship opened fire upon the city. A walking barrage shot from its cannons. While other cannons shot it's fellow ships out of the sky. Sending burning husks of metal and ammunition falling towards the city.
In an instant pandemonium had gripped the city.
Jaune looked towards the city, Crocea Mors coming up to deflect a crimson blade.
"We have unfinished business, friend." Adam snarled, hair looking like fire to the backdrop of the burning city.
#####
"Click those buttons again Neo!" Roman ordered, nervously puffing on a cigarette he had pilfered. The nicotine doing nothing to calm his beating heart. Thanks to Neo's semblance they had managed to sneak out of the containment pods. And thanks to some quick thinking and some sedatives, none in the flagship had been none the wiser. The little access Cinder had given him thanks to the hacked CCT having allowed him to fake the pods readings.
It hadn't helped that he had spent the last three hours walking on eggshells. Mapping out what he could of the flagships layout while he and Neo infiltrated the bridge.
Then the world had gone straight too shit.
One moment Beacon's Clocktower transformed into a pile of rubble. And while the entire bridge stood transfixed in horror off what had just happened. The security robot's helmets display had turned red. Coldly and methodically executing the entire bridge expect him and Neo.
Roman knew a signal when he saw one. He also knew that there was only one way for him to possibly survive. Already having uploaded a file into the ships system about everything he knew about Cinder. It wouldn't do much, but he was playing vacuuan roulette. Six rounds were already loaded, and the chamber was spinning.
Vale would give him the death penalty. Atlas would do the same, if they wouldn't beat him half do death first or something else. His aching rib and broken tooth still hurt like all fuck. Cinder would kill him the second he stopped being useful. Which was soon. The only way he could somehow survive was pitting the titans against each other and hope they wouldn't notice the mouse scurrying away in the aftermath.
He felt like shit, he knew what he was doing. Tensions would skyrocket. 'But I will do anything if it means I survive another day.' He swore to himself, forcing away the shivers.
"I don't know what it does, but it made things go boom. And we need boom. The more boom the better." Roman shouted. Darting over the control board, flicking every switch he saw and pressing every button in a silent prayer they did something.
"Roman!"
Roman barley managed to get his aura up as he threw himself to the side. A boar of ice charging straight past him. Tearing up consoles ad wires before breaking open the window. Specialist Schnee looked at him with murder in her eyes.
"Neo! Scatter!" Was all he managed to scream out before an army of ice was sent his way.
#####
Note: If there is a difference between how the Headmaster handles RWBY and JNPR, that is intended. After all, one is a weapon and should be raised as such. While the other is something to protect and keep hidden specially with how the opposition have proven themselves able to undermine magic to steal it.
Note: Vale is an old metropolis, of course it's going to have an old city section.
Note: Huh, you can really create a lot of chaos by moving something forward some days. Sure, I have pointed to the fall of Beacon a lot. I never said when. After all, with the half-maiden right before her, Cinder really has no reason to not pull the trigger early.
Note: It was delightful reading all the kind comments that took up how Jaune would stop the fall or intervene. No, he is the trigger. It was still going to happen. His actions are why they pulled the trigger
Note: Poor Emerald, she did done dirty. But she is also without a doubt Cinder's most valuable asset besides the maiden powers. It was simple asset denial. Something Jaune have learned more than enough about in Yharnam.
Note: And to answer the question, what was Mercury doing all those chapters ago. Placing bombs. He was placing bombs. Maybe I should have explored that more. But owhell.
Note: And for those curious. Nora is currently dressed in the Male Executioner garb minus the golden hat. Ren in the Gascoigne set minus the hat. Pyrrha in the knight set minus the hat. And Jaune in the standard hunter b set. While Violet is dressed in the hunter b set only with the Gascoigne hat.