Author's Notes
We passed 100k views on this site with the last chapter, making this more successful than any other fic I've ever written. Hooray! I genuinely was not expecting this to become this popular, but I guess it's my fault for not foreseeing how a Jaune x Blake vigilante mercenary quasi-betrayed and kicked out of Beacon fanfic would go on this site in particular.
Happy rats, and don't do crime!
Chapter 42 – You Got a License for That?
Jaune has no choice but to break every law known to man, all in the name of Team Job.
Jaune couldn't hear anything, but Blake insisted that she could with her larger cat ears, and that was enough to convince him. It could have just been far off in the distance, in a pitch or frequency that human ears didn't register.
"Is it police? Fire department? An ambulance?"
"I don't recognize it," Blake said.
The sound wasn't close enough for him to hear, but Jaune didn't think that it just happened to be some sort of emergency services coming their way mere moments after he'd shut off Tyrian's utilities.
And his house is in ruins! S-word, we're so dead if they catch us!
"Describe the sound to me," Jaune said, a sense of hurry in his words. "Is it a weeeeeeee, or a wee-woo wee-woo, or a woheeeee?"
"I…a weeeooooo?"
"Weoeoeoeo?" Jaune asked. If it was what he thought it was, it was probably EMS in an ambulance.
"No, you're doing it too fast one after another. It's a long weeee, but then the oooo part melds right into it. Not weoeoeoeo or weeee-woooo, but weeeeoooo."
"Okay." Jaune put his hands on his head and began to pace back and forth. "Okay, that's police. That's basically the worst thing that could be coming."
If they ran…
But I left my fingerprints all over the place. They'll know I shut off the power and water if they bother to check. And bother to check they will; a house being torn apart with some damage to the neighboring ones, even if they're unoccupied, is the kind of things that the police follow up on.
"They're getting closer," Blake said urgently.
"Well, can't you make them slow down a little bit?!" Jaune snapped at her.
Blake took a step back in surprise. "Uh…n-no, I can't?"
"Sorry. Just…this isn't good." Jaune kicked at the hedge they were hiding behind. "This really isn't good."
"We can run, Jaune," Blake suggested. "I'll distract them with a shadow clone, and we –"
Shaking his head, Jaune realized he probably didn't have time to explain it to her. The sound of the sirens, now that he listened for them, was starting to reach his ears, and he had been right before – it was the police.
"We could take them," Blake said.
Jaune nearly bit her head off a second time. "Don't be daft. We'd win, but we'd also join the kingdom's most wanted list."
"It was a joke, Jaune."
Yes, but now isn't exactly the time for humor.
Jaune had no idea if she was instinctively thinking that police were some minor nuisance to be evaded with ease because of her White Fang days, but he, as a child of what was essentially Vale's biggest suburb, knew for a fact that trying to skirt the law was too risky. They might be quicker or more powerful than the police, but if they were even glimpsed by an officer's combat-activated body camera that turned on when their firearms were drawn, Team Job would go down the toilet, and life as they knew it would be over.
Time's almost up, Jaune. If you're gonna do the stupid idea you're thinking, you need to be out there.
"Alright, I'm gonna…just stay here. Don't – please don't jump out and try to save me," Jaune begged. "Trust me that I know what I'm doing."
He probably didn't know what he was doing, but Blake certainly didn't, and besides, she was carrying her sword, a dead giveaway that funny business was afoot. Right now, she looked like a huntress, but he was still in his casual clothes.
Biting his tongue, Jaune jogged out into the street in front of Tyrian's house and dialed Blake's scroll number. She was close enough that he could just faintly hear it ring a few times from Blake's hedge before she picked up.
"What are you doing, Jaune?"
The sirens were getting a lot closer sounding now, and he had no idea how long it would be before they arrived. "And how soon do you think you can have those on my desk?"
"What? W-What? What on your what?"
"Okay, that's not gonna be soon enough. Three more houses are on the chopping block according to this week's schedule, and I really don't wanna have to resubmit the 77-T forms."
"The…oh."
Blake seemed to figure out what he was saying right around the same time that Jaune's overcaution paid off. The police car, a single vehicle driven by a single man, rode into view from around a turn, its siren blaring. However, when the officer stepped out of his vehicle to Jaune on the phone, the siren turned off.
"I'm not keen on having any more delays over the traffic being redirected through 5th street…hold on a second." Jaune faced the approaching officer and pressed the scroll to his chest. "Can I help you, officer?"
"Yeah, you just might be able to. One of the houses in this neighborhood's power and water meters got triggered by something recently. We were concerned that it might be vandalism, but…"
Jaune waited for him to finish, but he never did. "But?"
The officer kicked a pebble towards Tyrian's house. "I mean, just look at it."
Jaune shrugged like it was the most normal thing in the world. "Yeah. It's mid-demo. Not a pretty sight, but it's not like it'll be around much longer."
"Mid-demo?"
"Yeah. The demolition had to be halted last night because of concerns about the traffic clogging out the detours. Did they not…oh, that moron in Districts and Planning forgot to send out the paperwork again, didn't he? What was his name, Morgan? Jensen?"
The policeman's brow furrowed. "Coleman?"
"That's the dumbass."
"But Coleman works in park management."
"Worked in. He switched to D & P about half a month ago, but he's struggling. You know how it is."
There wasn't even a 'D & P' Districts and Planning Bureau or whatever Jaune had said; it just sounded realistic enough that someone who was willing to buy the story might accept it being sold.
The policeman adjusted his belt, and Jaune averted his eyes from the gun to avoid acting frightened by it. "Sir, I think I'm gonna need to see some identification."
Relax, Jaune. Guns don't really mean much now that you have aura. It's his radio that could be more threatening.
"Sure." Jaune took out his wallet and handed the man his copy of Team Job's business license.
"This is…you're a subcontractor? Not government?"
Jaune nodded. "Team Job Construction Crews. Not a part of the district itself, so I'm afraid I don't exactly know how to resolve the screw-up upstream that's slowing things down. That's why I'm sitting onsite for as long as possible just to get approval for my mates to return. It'd be a Class C hazard by the construct code otherwise."
The officer returned Jaune's license to him. "You said they're, what, tearing this place down?"
"Not much use keeping an old pedo complex around when no one buys into it. Green Clover Estates might buy up the land and put some offices out here, but that's not really my concern. Um, if you don't mind, I've got my OSA on the line here…can I –"
"Go ahead," said the policeman. "Is it safe for me to…?"
Jaune nodded. "Go ahead, but try to avoid the western side of the house. The walls are least stable there."
"West would be…"
Jaune nodded towards the walls where the partially exposed bedroom in which Tyrian slept was. He actually had no idea if it was east, west, north, or south, but it lent him credibility, which he needed right now.
It was the unbelievability of any alternatives that was keeping him alive. No one in their right mind would suspect that a young man like Jaune could inflict that much damage on a house if he weren't the remainder of a construction crew that had left. To be fair, Hard Light minigun-wielding rabbits were rather uncommon in these parts, what with Velvet being the only one.
I gave him a legitimate business license for Team Job. Coupled with letting him make his own conclusions, I might just get away with this.
It was dangerous, but at least there was a chance that he could walk away from this scot-free. Police in Vale weren't incompetent, but the overwhelming influence of hunters acting as a deterrent against crime was enough to give them a reputation of mediocrity that he'd heard of even from the outlying villages.
It's not like it's completely made up. Tyrian lives our here because it's one man short of being abandoned. He can host duels out in this corner of Vale without risking it spilling over into populated areas.
"You cut off the utilities?" the policeman asked from the rear of the house, where Jaune had been just a little bit earlier.
"Yup," Jaune called out. "About a half-hour ago."
"After the demolition had already started?"
Crap. I didn't think it though.
Jaune needed to give an answer, and he couldn't hesitate for long if he didn't want it to sound like he was making it up. For all he knew, he was on thin ice, and this could be the extra weight that pushed him under.
When in doubt, throw more BS and see what sticks.
"As long as the conduits are mapped out according to the design plans in advance, it's actually safe. We made sure to hit all three of the high side wires without causing leaks greater than 50 volts."
He was literally making it up and praying to the gods that this policeman didn't have a history in construction. Blake was still on the line, Jaune reminded himself, so without waiting to see if the policeman bought it, he started talking to her again. He'd given his answer, and he was a normal subcontractor who was waiting for his construction crew to return, so there was no need for him to wait and see if the policeman bought the lie.
"Sorry, it's law enforcement. He's just checking it out right now – but, we were talking about getting equipment out here?"
"Traffic," Blake said, clear distress in her voice. Still, she played along amicably, even though the policeman couldn't hear or see her in spite of the fact that she was actually only a few hundred feet away. "We were discussing traffic."
"Of course. Would you be able to get me an idea of how much traffic this street sees? Or at least an ETA on how long that'd take?"
He continued lying his way through a conversation with Blake that the policeman probably wasn't even hearing at this point. It was all part of the show, Jaune reminded himself.
The policeman just gave him a nod before driving off, as Jaune was still babbling to Blake when he finished. It was tempting to try and ask if anything looked suspicious or if he'd believe Jaune's nonsense, but that was literally impossible to do without ruining all of his hard work, so Jaune had to let it go.
If he suspected me, he'd have arrested me. Police don't give thumbs-ups and then leave when they believe you're impersonating a city planner.
It might come back to bite him in the A-word if the police department followed up, but he hadn't actually given any personally identifying information to the policeman short of a brief look at his business license (which, thankfully, didn't have enough characters for the full title of 'Team Job Security' on the first line and left it abbreviated).
We'll turn on the power and water at the end of it, and hopefully this whole thing will slip to the back of that dude's mind.
Jaune waited for a little bit longer to make sure that the guy didn't return with reinforcements. After a good hour (if it took 30 minutes for them to drive out here, that would be how long it took), he made his way to Blake and received a slap for his troubles.
"You idiot! Why did you do that? We could have just run!"
"Because now they don't care what's happening out here. If we'd left, they'd investigate, find clues of our involvement, and think we destroyed Tyrian's house." Jaune rubbed his cheek. "And by the way, ouch."
"You deserved it, you dummy."
Jaune frowned at that. "Not really a healthy attitude to have, Blake. I don't wanna make a mountain out of a molehill, but I'm kinda not okay with you slapping the S-word out of me because you feel like it."
"I…" Blake scowled. "…fine. Sorry."
It sounded like the apology had been beaten out of her for how unwillingly she gave it, but she had apologized, so Jaune let it go.
"I am sorry for worrying you, but it's my job. To go out and do what I did, not worry you, that is."
"Let's just go," Blake mumbled. "And don't ever let me catch you pulling stunts like that again."
Jaune had to admit, it was a rather risk-laden play. Not to mention, he'd lied to a police officer.
Mr. Callows hired us, and it's his house that got destroyed. He's okay with it, so I think we're in the clear legally speaking. We couldn't tell the police guy that at the time, since we're technically foes, but maybe we can clear it all up when we complete the mission. I'm sure an upstanding citizen like him is on good terms with law enforcement.
Blake had them set up three eight-hour shifts to keep tabs on the Callows household, lest its sole resident turn back on the water and interrupt their plan. Since Jaune was their human, he was given the daylight hours with noon at the center, and Blake and Velvet took the later evenings and early mornings.
As their plan was to weaken him by depriving him of sustenance and hydration, they needed to know when he began to falter. Two days had passed since the beginning of this mission as denoted by Jaune's text message, so they watched him for a few days. That was how long Blake said that it took for an otherwise healthy person to start to feel the effects.
Except it didn't.
For the first shift of Jaune's, when Tyrian didn't budge from his cot, Jaune ventured to guess it was the leftover water in the Faunus' pipes sustaining him, or perhaps a hidden store that he'd been drinking during the girls' watches. He thus didn't think much of it when Tyrian slept through the full day.
On the third day, there was still no movement to report, but Jaune decided to actually check in with the others at this point. When he relieved Velvet, he asked her if she'd seen any activity, and he gave Blake the same question when she came around to switch out with him.
Both gave the same answer.
"I don't understand," Jaune said to her, electing to stick around a little bit longer. "He's been entirely immobile for two days? Is it dehydration kicking in already?"
"It shouldn't be. Dehydration won't paralyze a Faunus, and certainly not this quickly. He should be out and about, seeking something to drink or eat."
"He isn't dead," Jaune said. He looked down through the binoculars at Tyrian's house and saw that he was still asleep, but every now and again he twitched or shifted in his sleep. "What's going on here?"
Just to be on the safe side, she agreed that they should give him another day of observation. Blake agreed to relay this to Velvet when it would be their shift, and Jaune departed.
He had sixteen hours off until his next shift, but it was about forty-five minutes of travel back home from Tyrian's house, so that cut it down to fourteen and a half or so. Jaune slept for the first nine of those, eager to be well rested when the fighting started (Tyrian certainly would be). With his remaining morning of time, he hit up the gym and found Blake already there.
"Velvet says she think she might know what's going on, but she wants to observe him for her shift just to be sure," Blake said.
Since Blake was in charge of Jaune's training, he and she had typically spent their time together when the third member of Team Job was keeping eyes on Tyrian. Velvet knew that they had been training together even before this mission, but Jaune wasn't keen on her seeing just how weak he could be in solo combat against another hunter.
He was still no closer to actually beating Blake in a spar like he'd vowed to long ago, back at the origin of Team Job, but the slow progress was a steady one. Jaune was getting better every day. It helped him that they could now do battle with actual swords as opposed to fists or sticks, but that also meant that Blake was far stronger a foe to be faced.
He certainly knew everything there was to know about the Grimm. The books that Blake had insisted he read on them had sparked his interest, and he'd gotten sucked down the rabbit hole in researching every little bit of information he could about them. It was just so interesting, so enticing to learn more about them. They were the epic, evil villain-monsters from real life fairy tales, still present on Remnant after generations of war with humanity and the Faunus, a plethora of beings each with recognizable traits, unique features, and intricate folklore, and Jaune honestly had to wonder why he hadn't realized they were a fascinating subject before.
They only trained for four hours of their five before Jaune's scroll got a call from Velvet.
"What's up?" he answered.
"I think I know what he's doing," Velvet replied. "And it's not good news for us."
"It's something I'd only heard of before, but they say that some of the best aura users can basically spread out their aura to each cell of their body to make them last longer," Velvet explained to the two of them. Jaune and Blake had converged on her location to see what all the hubbub was about.
"Is he, like, meditating or something?" Jaune asked, unsure of what Velvet exactly meant.
"It's more like he's conserving his energy and resources," Velvet said. "He's gone into power saving mode, so to speak. It's an aura technique so advanced that Beacon doesn't even teach it since no one would be able to do it, but there're sketchy-ass records of huntsmen who endured for full months without water or…well, they say it was a year without food for one huntress, but I don't know how true it is." Velvet looked over towards Tyrian's house. "From what I'm seeing, I'm guessing Tyrian's not doing some sort of 'living forever on a cup of water and crust of bread' kinda thing. He's not trying to last forever, but he will keep himself in peak physical shape even after starving and dehydrating himself for the full week."
In other words, he was completely undercutting their methods and would be fine when they barged in and tried to apprehend him, instead of ragged and half-defeated already.
"What do we do, then?" Jaune asked Velvet.
"I'm not really sure. I only just figured it out, and I called you right away."
We have our weapons – I even brought the stun guns and handcuffs just in case. If there's no advantage to waiting, we may as well push in now and get it over with.
There was no reason why it would end up any different than last time, but maybe now they would at least have a better idea of the threat Tyrian posed and could tread more cautiously.
"It's day six of seven," Jaune pointed out. "If we get our butts kicked as badly as last time, we wouldn't have time to recuperate for another go at him. I vote that we try our luck and see if we can maybe overpower him as a group."
"I could level the house," Velvet offered, looking at the Dust stores inside of her camera. "I brough a reload."
"I'd rather we didn't," Jaune said. Now that the police were involved, he didn't really want to do anything that couldn't be undone. Walls could be repaired without much issue, but if Tyrian's entire building were flattened, that might get them in some trouble with the law.
This was probably a no win scenario for them. Tyrian was practically unbeatable according to the girls' description of him, and the reason Jaune wasn't basing it off of his own experiences was because he'd not survived long enough to have any. Still, it wasn't like they had any other option but biting the bullet and hoping for some luck.
"Well, if we're going to go down fighting, let's at least give ourselves the best shot first," Velvet said.
Her camera created a Hard Light construct, this one in the form of a familiar scythe.
"Is that Ruby's weapon?" Jaune asked, recognizing it from the time he'd seen it close up when she'd shown it on the first day of Beacon.
Velvet nodded and looked down the scope of her mock Crescent Rose. "I'm going to see if I can lower his aura a little bit by…wait, where'd he go?"
Jaune frowned when she said that. Tyrian hasn't moved for days on end now.
But she was right, Jaune confirmed via his binoculars. Tyrian's sleeping body was no longer visible through the crevice in the wall that they'd used to spy on him. That meant he was up and about in the house.
How did he know we're here?
Hoping that he might be able to catch sight of Tyrian walking around in the kitchen. Jaune's gaze lowered to the lower floor room, which had a gaping hole in its wall.
I don't see him. Crap, I really hope he isn't running towards our location in some underground tunnel or –
Wait, is that…?
Jaune double-checked the small object in the open cabinet was what he thought it was. He hadn't seen it before, having been so focused on Tyrian that he'd never done a close inspection of the visible portions of the other rooms of the house, but it was clearly there.
"We need to go. We need to go, right now!"
The kitchen cabinet's contents were a second chance at salvaging this mission, but if Tyrian was up and about right this very moment, they didn't have a second to lose.
Blake and Velvet weren't getting up, though; both just stared at him.
"Get up!" he screamed. "NOW!"
At his sudden burst of energy, both of them hustled to their feet, but Jaune was already running towards the house. He knew he was the slowest among the three of them, so they would catch up to him while he got a head-start on them now.
Was that always there, and I just never saw it? Or did he leave it for me to see? It could easily be bait.
"What is it?" Blake asked, catching up to Jaune quickly. Velvet, with her pregnancy, was trailing just behind the two of them.
"In the kitchen cabinet on the right of the fridge, there's…there's something in there. Velvet, you and I will tackle Tyrian while Blake gets it. She's the quickest of us all and the best at fleeing."
Blake pointed out the obvious. "You can't beat him."
"We don't need to beat him." Jaune struggled to speak as he sprinted at full speed towards the house. "Just slow him down for you to get the thing in the cabinets back to…uh…319 Rosebranch Avenue."
In spite of the fact that Jaune visited that address on a near weekly basis, he wasn't sure if it was the right one. However, it was close enough that Blake would see her goal from there when she got there.
If she gets there. We have no guarantee Tyrian will even let us take it.
"But what's –"
"I can't explain it," Jaune said. "You wouldn't understand if I did. Just…trust me, okay?"
He made eye contact with Blake first, then Velvet. Both of them, despite being confused by his vague instructions, nodded resolutely.
"Remember, Velvet, just stall him as long as you can so that Blake can get away. Only chase if there's a danger of him catching up to her. Blake, leave us behind if you need to."
They were at the house now, a stone's throw away. Jaune drew his sword, knowing it would be mostly useless against someone that much faster than him, but it was mainly to empty up his sheath-shield. A solid defense was potentially the only thing between a one-hit knockout from Tyrian and Jaune's full aura.
"Top cabinet, right of the fridge," Jaune reiterated.
"Rosebranch Avenue," Blake said, repeating her own instructions.
Running into the house through the torn open wall, Jaune found immediate pressure on Crocea Mors' defensive half.
"Welcome back to the battleground, dear Team Job." The Faunus had a manic look in his eyes as his stinger pressed into the metal shield, pushing Jaune back. "Is it me you've come to mob?"
Screwing up all of his might, Jaune kicked forward and leaned into Tyrian with everything he had. "BLAKE!"
Tyrian's eyes drifted towards the cat Faunus, who was now at the cabinet, and widened as he watched her open it up.
"No, accursed cat! I can't let you take that!"
Velvet slammed into him from the side, letting her full body impact his. It wasn't enough to knock Tyrian to the floor, but the lack of pressure on Jaune freed him up to drop his shield and tackle the Faunus duo as well. That was enough to topple Tyrian.
"No, no, and another no! Please, gods, say it isn't so!" Tyrian writhed beneath the two teens, desperately trying to break free. He could easily defeat Jaune and Velvet on their own, but his focus on Blake was his undoing. Instead of engaging and destroying them as he had before, he was trying to escape, and it wasn't working.
"Jaune, there's only a lo–"
Jaune didn't have time for her protests. Clamping his arms around Tyrian's left arm and shoulder and Velvet struggled to keep those legs and that tail still, Jaune grunted out to Blake.
"I know! But take it! Go!"
She needed to get it out of here and to the address he'd given her…the address for the supermarket at which Jaune shopped.
Tyrian turned his semblance on Jaune and backhanded him, but Jaune knew it was coming this time and braced himself enough to endure the hit. The Faunus' desperation was making him sloppy.
Velvet lost her hold on Tyrian, and he scrambled up to his feet, but Jaune threw his entire body only the man's back. Wrapping his arms around Tyrian's neck, his yanked backwards. Hands, whose he could only assume were Velvet's, wrapped around Jaune's own waist and assisted him and keeping hold of the slippery scorpion.
For a split second, Jaune looked forward, and he and a very alarmed-looking Blake locked eyes. He could see the uncertainty in her eyes, of whether to aid or abandon her friends.
"GO, BLAKE, GO! PLEASE, TRUST ME!"
The moment passed, and she ran out of the hole in the house with Gambol Shroud in one hand and a wrapped loaf of bread in the other.
Coming Soon: Bread End
Blake does a grocery run.
Author's Notes
Them beating Tyrian when he knows they're out for him, even in an unfair fight, would be rather farfetched. However, them getting his criminally obtained provisions might not yet be beyond the realm of reality.
Additionally, we have the requiem for a Sun in this chapter. Jaune won't just take the slap.
Happy rats, and don't do crime!