Knox: We're back again!

King: We were away, so this took longer than originally anticipated.

Knox: Part two, baby! Let's do this!

Inspiration: Red vs Blue

/\

This round opened to a traffic light turning from green to yellow, then red. A car came to stop at the light. Inside was the trio of Mercury/Siris, Jaune/Felix, and Emerald/Locus. Emerald was in the back of the vehicle with arms across the back of the seats. Everything was rather calm until they heard Whitely wake up and start to shout for help. Jaune just rolled his eyes and turned up the radio.

The car moved on when the light turned green but found another red light down the road.

Yang groaned, "Ugh… I hate that…"

Mercury, who was behind the wheel, growled. "Come on…"

"Relax," Jaune was notorious in the group as the more relaxed. "Job's done."

"Job's not done until he's in custody and we get paid."

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Then just run it."

"No way. Last thing I need is a traffic ticket."

Emerald shook her head. "Seriously?"

And Jaune agreed, slowly turning to face the driver. "Wow… Mercury Black, trained killer of men, draws the line at public safety."

"To be fair," Jaune stated, "it is a weird dichotomy."

Everyone agreed it was weird, but more siding with Mercury. Some for the discretion abiding traffic laws can bring, others because that's just how they are.

"Arc…" Mercury turned for a moment, "I am not…"

Emerald glared from the backseat, "Codenames…" If they were still on the job, then it was codenames only.

They both looked toward Emerald as her eyes closed before the light turned green again. Mercury sighed, "Look, money's just a little tight right now."

Jaune chuckled, "Money? We just scored the bounty of our lives! Split three ways, that asshole is still buying me a new car, you can get your wife something nice…"

Emerald groaned, "Did not need that image in my head. Besides, who would bother with you of all people?" She was trying to goad a reaction out of Mercury, to no avail. He just kept watching.

Jaune leaned to face Emerald, "Locus does…" He paused, "whatever she does with money. I'm assuming therapy?" Emerald glared toward him, but remained silent before returning to her state before. Jaune shook his head and faced forward again. "Point is, we'll be fine. Cash in the bounty, lay low until things cool off underground…"

Mercury was distracted by his car's internal display, "The fuck?"

He didn't notice something that Jaune did. "Hey! Stop, stop, STOP!"

Tires screeched as the car narrowly avoided hitting a faceless drunk. Said drunk then cursed them out and flipped them off before walking away.

Winter smirked, "Seems Qrow is in this after all…"

"Hey!" Said drunk then cursed her out and flipped her off.

Jaune sighed in relief, "Jesus, man, pay attention."

Emerald leaned forward from the back, "What is it?"

On the display, they say Whitely Schnee's face, name, and… no record. No bounty. It was gone.

"Well that's not good…" Glynda groaned.

"What? Did they take an innocent man?" Ruby turned to the teachers.

"That's not how bounty hunters work." Of all people, Roman explained. "They bring in those who have outstanding court evasions or those the police cannot acquire for whatever reason. But, if his record is gone, it means someone within the department scrubbed it away."

"So… do you have a bounty then?"

Roman smirked, "Why? Hoping to try to cash it in Red? Good luck. I do have a bounty in Vale. 650,000 Lien. My hope is to hit a million before I finally croak."

Neo grabbed a poster, showing her face with a bounty of 575,000 Lien.

The scene transitioned to an empty parking lot. All three were outside the car as Mercury kicked a can as far as his frustrations would allow, with a hardy, "FUCK!" shouted into the air.

Emerald was sitting on the trunk. "They have someone inside the IDP."

"No! That's not possible."

Jaune was pacing back and forth, thinking, "Every police force has bad cops."

Roman nodded, remembering a few deals he'd made to stay where he is.

"Bad cops? They erased his record! As far as they're concerned, we have an innocent man in our trunk! The fuck are we supposed to do with that?!"

Emerald had another issue on mind. "And there's the equipment costs from the mission."

That did not help Mercury's mental state. "Damnit!" He kicked his car with his bionic leg, leaving a massive dent. "Great… Now I have to fix the car…"

"I… almost feel bad for Mercury here…" Yang leaned forward, explaining herself before anyone asks. "Guy's just trying to do his job and finds out its all for nothing. He's got a wife at home and money isn't coming in…"

Weiss blinked. "That was… rather insightful of you. And no jokes…"

"Not exactly something I joke about."

Jaune had an idea. An idea only this Jaune could have among them. "I know how we get our money…" He turned back to the two. "I don't care what his record says. Whitely is not an innocent man. But he is the son of the wealthiest man in the city. And we have him tied up in our trunk."

"Is… is he saying…"

Mercury refused to believe what he was hearing, "No."

"Siris…"

"We are not crooks!"

"Siris…"

"Ransom?! Are you kidding me?! That's what you're suggesting right? You want to hold this kid for random?!"

"Think about the money…" Jaune tried to appeal to the main reason they were out there that night.

But Mercury tried to put his foot down. "The three of us set out to stop criminals! We do good, get paid, everyone wins! Random makes us no better than the guys we're trying to take down!"

Roman sighed. "Normally, I'd crack wise about their moral codes, but he's already proven they're on the line. They're bad guys that do good deeds, if you think about it. If they do that, they would be like everyone else…"

"Philosophically speaking, I see what you're saying, I do. But you're not thinking about this pragmatically." Jaune was notorious for this kind of behavior during the war.

"War?" Jaune wasn't sure if this was a war hero type scenario or, if how he was acting now was anything to go off of, a war criminal.

"You're the one that brought us together." He pointed toward Mercury. "You saw something in us that we didn't, saw the good we could do with our talents."

Emerald and Jaune were veterans of the Great War with the Covenant. The two had no marketable skills other than fighting.

"But what you don't see… is that Whitely Schnee is a bad person. His father Jacque is a very bad person, that pays bad people to do bad things! We hold his for -fuck it- let's say double the bounty, and we're taking money away from Schnee. We hurt him financially. Jacque Schnee takes a major hit, and we reunite a family." Jaune played this up as best he could, with was rather well.

Emerald agreed with Jaune, "It's likely Jacque will become more protective of his son when he's back. Less men to cause trouble in the streets, less money to make those men happy. It could yield better results than the original mission…"

Jaune felt a shiver run up his spine. He… agreed. He saw the line of logic and how it might do better for all involved. He saw the greater good it could do. Considering the underlying plan, though… that scared him. This was a slippery slope of thought. He'd have to be careful.

Mercury didn't like it, but he saw the logic. It was the only way out of the situation at this point. "Alright… So who wants to make the call?" Really, there was only one answer. The quote-unquote 'people person' in the group.

The screen snapped to the interior of an old warehouse with Jaune holding a phone to his ear, a bored expression on his face.

Yang snickered, "Jaune's the people person? That's like saying Ruby's a social butterfly."

Both parties shouted in unison, "Hey!"

They heard the phone ringing, only to get a voice mail. "Mother fucker!" He slammed the phone down onto the table.

Mercury tried to inject a bit of humor. "Maybe he's not home."

"Very funny…" After a moment, the phone started to vibrate. It continued for a few vibrations before Jaune picked up the device. "Hello?"

There was a pause, before he spoke, "Where is my son?"

Weiss felt a cold snap run up her spine. It was the voice her father had when he moved beyond anger and into seething hate. She knew this wouldn't end well for anyone.

"So that's what your dad sound like." Yang scowled toward the screen. Weiss told the team stories about how dysfunctional the Schnee family was, and she was not a fan of the head of the company that shared their name.

Jaune smirked and placed the phone on speaker mode. "Jacque Schnee. I'm pleased to inform you that Whitely is here with us. Safe and sound." They could now see Whitely was tied to a chair with a bag covering the top of his head and duct tape over his mouth.

"Should he not be in the custody of the police?"

"See, that's the thing. According to their records, he's completely innocent! Must have been some mix-up at the IPD. Honest mistake, I'm sure…"

"Hmm… I see…" It was clear by his voice that Jacque had no hand in clearing the record. It almost sounded like he'd have preferred Whitely was arrested. "Then what, may I ask, do you plan to do with him?"

Jaune laughed for a moment, getting his two partners to raise a brow. He was too into this. Jaune walked over to the window, "I can assure you, we have all sorts of plans for your son. But what happens to him… is up to you." Jaune walked around behind Whitely, "See, we went to a lot of trouble apprehending young Whitely, here," he pat his prisoner on the head and leaned against his side. "All you have to do, is transfer 4 million Credits to a specified bank account."

"Credits?" Ruby's head tilted as she asked.

Knox appeared again, "This world's currency, like your Lien."

"That's… that's a lot of money."

Jaune stood back up and knelt down in front of Whitely. "Once we get the payment, you'll receive Whitely's location and you two can go on with your lives. I know this must be difficult, but please know that if your payment isn't received by sunrise… these will be the last words you'll ever hear from your son." He ripped off the tape, causing Whitely to cry out in pain.

"Dad! Please! Just give them what they want! Just… pay them…" He was cut off when Jaune placed a gun to his head. "Oh God…"

"Yikes…" Yang winced, "Never knew Vomit Boy could be scary."

Jaune didn't want to say he's been told he's intimidating before. He just never tried to at Beacon. One time, when he was first meeting the boyfriend of one of his sisters, he was quote-unquote 'scary as hell.'

Jaune stood again, gun pointed square toward Whitely. "So, Mr. Schnee, I suggest you think very carefully about…"

"You're a fucking idiot."

This caught Jaune off guard.

And everyone viewing. Whatever was going on wasn't making sense.

Jaune turned back to his team, but they were just as confused. Jaune turned back to the phone, "I… I'm sorry?"

"No… You're not. But I'm going to make you fucking sorry."

Yang paused a moment before speaking, "So… is he going to be like… the action movie dad and try to break in to save his kid?"

Weiss and Winter turned toward each other, not sure how to think about this. Their father was a coward and a snake. Plus 4 million Lien would have been a drop in the bucket. He'd rather have just paid and moved on.

Jacque continued, "I'm going to make you wish you never set foot inside my fucking nightclub you stupid, rat-faced shit!"

That did not go over well with Jaune. "Mr. Schnee… I don't think you understand the gravity of your situation." He pointed the gun low and shot a hole into Whitely's leg.

This got everyone to jump in their seats. Jaune's friends were just caught off guard by the sudden action. The villains were just surprised in general.

Mercury shouted, lurching forward, "Hey!"

Jaune tossed the gun to the side and held up his hand to stop them. All the while, Whitely cried out in pain. Jaune gestured toward the captive, "Shut him up!"

Emerald thought for a moment before moving over behind Whitely. She placed an arm over his chest and the other hand on his mouth to muffle his screaming. She nodded to Jaune to continue.

Jaune shouted into the phone, "Four million credits, or your son is DEAD!"

Jacque didn't even pause. "Do you think I give a shit about my son?"

Any parents watching the scene were in horrified shock. He hadn't just said that, right? And if any of the parents were mad, Salem was downright Hellish. Everyone could feel the seething anger coming off her at how this man was acting.

Jaune leaned toward his partner, "Um… So, who is she?"

Pyrrha tapped her chair, "Her name is Salem, but she's from a different reality to one we live in."

Nora popped up with a grin, "And she's also your mom in that reality!"

Jaune blinked, "Wait, really?" That… would explain the anger. His mother in his own reality had a similar tick whenever someone threatened her family. Stories around his home said even Grimm would flee when she was mad.

Whitely stopped struggling against Emerald's grip.

"My son… is the worst thing I have brought into this world. A fucking disgrace. He couldn't even run the nightclub I gave him. He is a parasite that does nothing but piss away my fortune. If you want the truth, killing him would be doing me a favor."

Salem roared out in a tirade of hatred for this man. The alternate Summer from the last three-part set got on her nerves. The Raven she met was a total bitch. But this guy? This guy took the cake and fucking ate it right in front of her.

"Unfortunately, this does not excuse you for the damage you have already caused." The scene changed to the nightclub as men picked over their dead. The camera panned along to show the dead as they were left by Jaune and Emerald, reaching the discarded bat. All the while, they heard Jacque speaking, "If word got out that two bounty hunters killed my men, shot up my property, and kidnapped my son… all without consequence? That would most certainly be a sign of weakness." The camera followed the bat as it was picked up and tossed in hand by Jacque Schnee. "That is why I'm going to personally bash your skulls open and feed you to my dogs." The scene then returned to Jaune in the warehouse. "Do we understand each other? Or have you not yet grasped the gravity of your situation?"

Jaune shook in anger. He'd fought in the Covenant War. He's killed too many aliens to count and even some humans that turned traitor or went crazy. He wasn't afraid of some two-bit ass hat of a crime lord. "You're full of shit, Schnee. And now your kid costs five million!"

There was silence. Mercury tried to push forward and stop this, but Jaune gestured to stay back. After a while, Jacque spoke again. "Far too bold. It's obvious I've worked in this world longer than you have. You're a bad liar. But so you know that I'm not bluffing, I can tell you that the bounty hunters Locus and Felix will not live to see the sunrise." This got under their skins. "Oh, that's right. I know your aliases, and your scars. I know… that you're in the abandoned quarry outside of town."

Winter felt her eye twitch, "How on Remnant would he know that?!"

"What I want you to know, is that I have more than enough information to find you in the city. And if you somehow manage to slip away… I will find the people you care about. The people you love… and I will make them suffer in your place."

"Wait!" Mercury ran over and grabbed the phone, fear for the safety of his family overcoming him, "Listen! Just take your kid and we can forget this ever happened! No ransom, no money… Just take him and you'll never see us again!"

Emerald glanced toward Mercury for a moment. If he actually cared about someone other than himself, would he act like that instead?

"I'll be seeing you soon, gentlemen." With that, Jacque hung up the call.

Mercury shook, "Fuck… FUCK!" He tossed the phone hard enough to shatter the screen on the ground.

Jaune turned to Emerald, "You botched the cameras, didn't you?!"

Emerald shook her head, "Cameras were offline."

"Than how does he know our names, Sustrai?! How does he know what we fucking look like?!"

Mercury was still freaking out. "How does he know we're here…"

Whitely whimpered, "I got a chip…"

"Wait…" Weiss held up a hand, "As in a tracking chip?"

"In my neck. I got a GPS chip in my neck. My dad put it there… And… there was a girl under my desk…"

Qrow nodded and took a swig. "I was wondering what happened to her."

"Under your…" Jaune took a moment to really process what he heard. "Oh. Oh… OH! That is perfect! Classy too!" He was less than happy. Jaune walked passed the captive and took a breath.

"I can't believe he said all that…" Whitely was not in a good place right now.

Mercury tried to walk off, "I have to call Megan…"

"You're not doing shit, Black!" Jaune got up in his face for that."

"She could be in danger!"

"We'll we're all in danger until we sort this shit out!"

Emerald walked over and looked down at their captive. He was useless to them now. She didn't even hesitate to put him out of his misery.

This got everyone to jump. Even the motherly Salem's rage was broken by sheer shock. The shot came out of nowhere; happening in the background, no less. The Schnee sisters were sad to see Whitely get murdered but remained stoic enough. And Emerald? Well, she's never actually killed anyone before. So this was an odd sight.

Emerald walked between the two, "Codenames…" She was broken by the war. Even no her codename, Locus, was the name of her armor variant at the time. It was a name she chose to use instead of her own. And was this attitude that scared her partners.

The world blacked out to the sound of Emerald slamming the door.

Jaune sunk into his chair. "Oh gods… And there's one more of those…"

Ruby took a breath, "Jeeze… that was a trip…"

Yang nodded, "But… I mean, at least we know it's nothing like our Vomit Boy." Yang chuckled at Jaune's groaning.

Jaune groaned, "Will you ever stop calling me that?"

"Nope~"

Jaune took a breath. First chance I get…