Author's Notes
Wow, the big 50%, or close enough to it. That is to say, 50% of the current chapters - I may yet add more individual stories and missions if I so feel after the ending, but that's miles away.
Happy rats, and don't do crime!
Chapter 50 – The Long Night
Count to ten…thousand.
"Checking in, 1:15am," said Blake's voice in his scroll.
"Checking in, 1:15am," Jaune replied to the scroll.
"Checking in, 1:15am," the scroll said back in Blake's voice.
If it was 1:15am…starting at 5pm, that meant that they'd been walking around for…
Five hours to get to 10pm, two hours to midnight, then one and fifteen minutes. Five plus two plus one. Eight, then tack on fifteen minutes to get 8.25. That's 33 increments of fifteen minutes, and 32 check-ins.
He wasn't counting like that for fun. After these many long hours of walking around, keeping his eyes peeled, and periodically checking into the open doors, Jaune had to do something to keep himself from getting hypnotized by boredom and falling into distraction. The numbers and times was a good way to check that he was still sharp. Eight hours was a long while, but if they could just make it to morning, then most of these people would go to their jobs, like Blake had decided at the fifteenth check-in.
Fifteenth check-in. Fifteen is three fours plus three, three hour plus three fifteen minutes, add that to 5pm and you get 8:45pm.
If he nodded off for even a second, it could spell disaster. Heck, it didn't even need to be sleep – if he lulled off and stared at his feet, it could be the end.
The people with their doors open were pretty much all asleep, but at Jaune's request, they'd kept their lights on. It made it easier to peek in and see that no one had tried anything.
Blake had also pointed out at the fifth check in – five is one four plus one, one hour plus fifteen minutes, that makes…add that to 5pm and you get 6:15 – that there was no actual need for them to stay on the same floor, so Jaune had taken one through four. The cat Faunus so high above him was patrolling six and seven, and they'd mutually agreed that Velvet was too critical to move from five and leave it unattended for even a minute.
When the dawn broke, Team Job would use Mrs. Dorean's apartment to sleep in, but until then, it was 100% awake 100% of the time for all three of them.
It wasn't the first all-nighter Jaune had pulled, but the girls also had the advantage of night vision on him, meaning that he had to stay extract sharp in his duties as a lookout.
How does Faunus night vision even work? Jaune wondered. Some animals' eyes have it, but some animals also have…
You can keep thinking, his sense of duty cut in. Just look while you do it.
Jaune checked the nearest door, then looked out into the central area of the complex. Nothing.
…some animals have night vision eyes, but some animals have toxic skin or flight or plenty of other traits. I mean, sharks even have a sixth electromagnetic sense, and naked mole rats are blind. Why does optical night vision carry over?
Blake was a cat Faunus, so he could have excused her maybe, but rabbits were diurnal. They had no biologic reason for a rabbit Faunus like Velvet to be able to see in the dark.
It's almost like…nothing in that door, nothing on the first three floors…it's almost like the biggest uniform biological advantage of the Faunus was designed by some higher power with cats specifically in mind as the base template. Weird.
Jaune had promised himself that he could pull through and not lose focus, but by 10pm (five hours, 20 fifteen minute increments, 20 check ins), it was difficult to keep the same energy he'd felt at the start. Only the consistent mental reminder he had that people had and could continue to die here was what pulled him through it.
"Checking in, 1:30am," said Velvet's voice in his scroll.
"Checking in, 1:30am," said Blake's voice in his scroll.
Jaune swallowed his spit to prevent his throat from getting too dry, glanced up and down the rings of apartments, and sounded off.
"Checking in, 1:30am."
An even twelve hours from 5pm to 5:45am, plus 45 minutes. Twelve hours is…forty eight? Plus two makes fifty one, but subtract one because we didn't start with a check-in at 5pm, so a nice clean fifty. Nice and clean fifty, oh, I can hardly wait…
They weren't yet at 5:30am, so Jaune's perfect fifty in hadn't transpired so far, but he was moments away from it. He just knew it was less than a minute away. After forty-nine of them so far, he was getting pretty good at the timings.
His eyes idly roved over the two levels above him and one below, catching no signs of motion. One more time, then another just to be completely sure, and his eyes pulled back to the doors. The absence of anything different among any of these rooms or walls was what made Jaune sure that he was going to notice when…if something did happen out of the ordinary, in spite of his tiredness.
"Hey, something's up," said Blake's voice in his scroll.
"Checking in, 5:45am," Jaune said back. Then, "Wait, what?"
"There's one of the doors open, but it was closed before. It's on the sixth floor right now."
Jaune looked up and caught sight of Blake looking down at him. Velvet wasn't visible, meaning that she was directly above him and thereby out of sight.
"Did someone leave?" asked Jaune.
"No, but I didn't see anyone come up and open it either. I've been on this floor for the past twenty minutes, and I've been alone."
"Maybe someone inside opened it?" offered Velvet.
That might be true…but they would need to know for sure.
If Blake goes in to check it, her floors are unprotected. Velvet could cover while she does, I suppose.
"Are there any lights on inside?" he asked, trying to exhaust all possibilities before breaking their perfect routine.
"No," Blake said instantly. "And I tried calling in to them. There's no answer."
"I think we know what you're gonna have to do," Jaune said, grimacing.
If this is it, Blake's going to be entirely alone in there. And if it's not it, we'll be stretched far too thin on this outside. Darn it, why does it have to just be the three of us? Where are the police? Where is Beacon?!
"I'll stay on the line, walking you through what I see at all times. If I stop talking, assume I'm in combat."
"It could be a trap," Velvet said. "If…If no one's responded, you could probably take out your sword."
"Oh, I already have. The law can piss off when there's a potential serial killer out and about."
If it was a trap or a distraction, that was all the more reason for Jaune to keep his eyes peeled and roving over the areas with which he was charged. When Blake stepped through that door, the rest of the complex would be in more danger then than ever before.
"Okay, I'm stepping in. I'm flicking on the light switch, and the lights have come on. I'm walking, and I'm walking, and I'm walking, and now I'm in the kitchen. Nothing's here, no one that is, and now I'm walking into the dining room. I'm cornering around the edges, and no one's here either. Now I'm walking, walking, walking, walking into the bathroom."
The stream of consciousness that they were receiving from Blake was a little grating to listen to, especially given how Jaune's ears and skull were feeling sore from sleep deprivation, but it was necessary. She needed to keep speaking at any given moment, telling them exactly where she was and what she saw, so that they could know exactly where the trap had fallen if it did. Those few seconds could cost Blake her life if she were dueling a rabid huntsman or huntress while Jaune and Velvet searched empty rooms to locate her.
"The bathroom's clear, and I'm…I'm going back to the bathroom, and I'm sliding the curtain, and…yes, it was clear all along. Okay, now I'm going to the bedroom. I see two closets, but one's barely more than a cupboard. Clear one…clear…clear two. Nothing under the bed. Nothing at all. It's empty…what do you guys think?"
"Sounds like a fluke," Velvet said. "Back to normal? I think we missed a check-in, but that doesn't particularly matter."
A fluke…
Jaune wasn't so sure about that.
"Blake, you're sure no one's in there?" he asked.
"Yup."
"And you saw no one approach the door?" he asked.
"Nope. It was closed before now."
"That means someone opened it," Jaune said. "Someone consciously chose to open it."
He quickly looked up and down the walkways and stairs for movement. Again, nothing was there, but Jaune's heart began to pound.
"Someone chose to open it," he repeated. "For a reason. Velvet, you're keeping an eye on the sixth and seventh floor?"
"Yup," she said with a yawn. "I could go up if you –"
"No!" Jaune shouted through the scroll. "No, that's…it's probably what they want. Think about what the obvious sequence of events would be. Blake finds an open door and goes to investigate. Obviously, her floor is now the weakest, but we're not facing a novice. Hunters are smart, and they're professionally trained. They'd know that Velvet would take over Blake's areas, leaving the fifth floor more vulnerable than ever."
"It's a diversion," Blake said. "You're right – the door wouldn't just blow open in the wind."
Jaune looked up and noticed Velvet, pacing along a perpendicular walkway to the one he was on. She was moving a little bit faster now as she traveled in the square pattern.
It's the distraction, but nothing's happening…
Because we aren't falling for it. We haven't, not yet.
"Blake, you can go invisible with shadow clones, right?"
"Not invisible," she said. "But I vanish for a moment while the shadow clone is placed."
"Here's what I'm thinking," Jaune said, his hands shaking from excitement and terror. "Don't do any of this – just let me know if you think it's a good idea. Blake, go outside and say you need Velvet's help. Then, Shadow Clone away and sneak down to the fifth floor. Velvet will go up and meet the Shadow Clone while Blake gets eyes on the fifth floor."
"But…"
"Whoever's doing this is making their move," Jaune reasoned. "We have two options – we let it pass and wait until they make their next move, or we start this fight on our terms - spring the trap and counter it with out own."
"I thought the point was to not use the people as bait," Velvet said.
"I know, it's a crappy idea," Jaune said. "But the killer can wait us out. For all we know, they've been resting all night in preparation for this moment. I think we need to push a fight while we can. There's no guarantee we don't slip up next time and miss something. We have the advantage of knowing what they're planning right now. We ought to use it."
"I disagree," Velvet said. "If they are targeting the fifth floor, your plan means that they're gonna go ahead and try to kill someone. If I stay put, it'll keep them scared off."
"Let's put it to a vote," Jaune said. "Like we did earlier. Blake?"
There was silence on the line for a second, and for a moment, Jaune found himself filled with worry.
"Blake?!"
"Sorry, I was thinking it over. I'm still here." Blake was breathing heavily on the other line. "Vel, I'm sorry, but I think Jaune's right. There's a risk to it, but it's minimized right now. If we wait, we lose our advantage."
"…okay," said Velvet. "So, Blake's gonna go and call for me? What'll you do, Jaune?"
Jaune realized that his 'master plan' hadn't even taken his own position into account.
"I don't know," he admitted. "What should I do?"
"Stay put," Blake said. "We don't know that this'll work. If it doesn't, and it turns out it wasn't a play to get Velvet to leave her post, we need you downstairs, monitoring all four lower floors. I'll shout for help if I need it – hell, I'll scream for it, but otherwise, keep to where you are."
Hand tightly gripping the hilt of his sword, Jaune continued to perform his normal duties, pretending to not be tense about the desperate move he and his team were about to make.
"Hey, Velvet."
Jaune leaned over and feigned surprise at the shout from above.
"Can you come up here and help me search? I want another pair of eyes to see if I missed any clues."
Just stay where you are, Jaune. Trust your team to do what they know how to do better than you.
"Okay. Gimme a second."
Jaune let his eyes linger for a few seconds, just in case he was being watched. Had this not been a planned maneuver, he would have been surprised by both of them shouting to one another so blatantly.
His heart was ready to explode out of his chest from worry. If this went wrong, if Blake couldn't get there in time, his plan could legitimately get someone killed.
But there's no right answer. We're the ones who decided to show up, not the trained professionals. All we can do is the best we can.
There was a loud crashing noise from up above.
Jaune frantically ran over to the railing and leaned over, looking upwards.
Blake screamed Jaune's name.
Jaune spent no time on the stairs. The sprint from the second floor to the fifth was instantaneous. He was flying, sword drawn in one hand, crossbow in the other, dirk still in its holster. There was no Jaune Arc, no stairs, no passage of time, just whoever he was and the weapons he carried.
By the time he'd gotten up there, he could clearly hear which room the clash was taking place in. The door was wide open, and the lights were on, but what really told Jaune the answer was the screaming coming from inside.
It's next door to the drug dealer dude – they're moving in a line!
Velvet was coming down to the fifth floor from her own level, but Jaune couldn't wait for her. Blake had screamed for help, as she'd promised she would.
Racing into the doorway, Jaune ran straight thought the open hallway into –
THWAM!
Someone collided into him, but it was a light something, with not nearly enough force to knock him off his feet. Whatever the other thing was, however, fell down.
Jaune's crossbow was aimed at the person's center of mass in less than a second, but it was a woman holding a small child, about four years old.
No aura…
Meanwhile, the loud noises were still coming from further down the hall.
"GET OUT OF HERE!" Jaune roared to who he assumed were the apartment's residents, then leapt right over them and towards the bedroom.
Blake was in there, her back pressed against a wall as Gambol Shroud pressed against a golden sickle held by a pale, human man dressed in an oversized black jacket and tan pants. In his other hand was a twin sickle matching the first, and it was being pulled back for another hit.
Jaune didn't hesitate to stab the man in the back, but Crocea Mors just struck solid gray aura. The man grunted and turned around to slash Jaune's way, catching his sword with the curve of the sickle.
Between him and Blake, the man, presumably their huntsman serial killer, was completely pinned down…but Jaune wasn't. His crossbow flicked open, and Jaune got two arrows (the first one pre-loaded and the second having been set by the automatic loading mechanism) into the man's side before it was kicked out of his hands by the huntsman's boot.
Velvet, who Jaune hadn't even seen entered, tackled the perp into a wall, fracturing the wood with the force of her attack. While he was free to move, Jaune drew out his stun gun and fired a blast into the man's arm.
"Grahh-ah-ah." His voice was shrill in tone, and it sounded a lot older than he looked. Clutching his arm in pain, the huntsman's eyes flared wide as he looked at the security force that outnumbered him. "No good."
It had been a tense stand-off, but it was over now – Team Job had this guy on the ropes. Jaune recollected his crossbow and the two steel bolts it had fired while Velvet leapt forward to pound the man back into the wall once more. Blake kept Gambol Shroud, now a gun, aimed at the dueling hunters, just in case.
Both of his sickle weapons were on the floor, so Jaune placed his foot on the closest one and kicked it over to the hallway, just in case there was a sudden reversal and the man tried to regain it for a last stand. However, that felt unlikely; Velvet was unloading into this guy, really beating the stuffing out of him. His gray aura was probably moments away from breaking.
In a desperate bit to save himself, the huntsman wildly swung his fist out at Velvet, but she was by far the better boxer and leaned back to avoid it. Then, with all the grace of the master martial artist she was, Velvet charged forward with a finishing punch.
tzzz
To Jaune's great surprise, the huntsman disappeared out of existence at the sound of that light buzzing noise, reappearing behind Velvet. Her punch was already too far along to stop, and she smashed a fist into the already damaged wall.
Between Velvet and the wall, the wall broke first. Weak sunbeams of the rising morning star entered through the hole that she'd torn open, and Velvet, arms flailing for balance, tumbled forward down to the street down below.
tzzz
The man vanished and reappeared a second time, once again crossing only a short distance – this time, it was the one from the bedroom to the hallway.
Kneeling down, he picked up the sickle Jaune had kicked away.
tzzz
As abruptly as before, the man appeared in front of Jaune and Blake once more, still in the kneeling position. His open hand lifted up the second sickle, and he rose to his feet.
"Ahhhh," he sighed in relief with a wobbly smile. "That's more like it."
Coming Soon: Splinter
What cannot bend, breaks.
Author's Notes
RIP Velvet she fukcign died from falling
the babby survived, and it was adrien arc from the lebians (GASP)
Happy rats, and don't do crime!