King: Okay! 96. Here we go again. ... Knox? You there? ... Where on...

Knox: FBI! OPEN UP!

King: WHAT THE HELL?!

Inspiration: Rainbow Six: Siege's Kapkan (RWBY)

/\

Knox popped back in with a laugh. "I love that guy~ Wonder what's next."

King appeared again soon after, "Something that our young students might want to take to heart. This should be good."

They both disappeared together and screen formed the window to the next reality.

The screen opened to a small airship flying through the air. The national symbol of Arcadia was painted onto the side, just under the canopy. The ship landed at the courtyard cliff in front of Beacon. But, before they could see who left the vehicle, the camera moved away and back around the school.

Nora groaned a little, "Aw man. I wanted to see who was on the ship."

"We're probably still going to see who it is." Ren reassured her. "Why bother showing us the ship otherwise?"

The new scene was that of Port addressing his students in front of an elevator door. "Now, students! For today's lesson, you'll be working in teams to complete a grueling gauntlet challenge!"

Nora got excited again, "The obstacle course~!"

Ruby groaned, "I hate that course."

Blake shrugged, "Maybe if you didn't try to run through everything in it…"

Weiss nodded, "The course requires more finesse that simply running fast."

Yang raised a hand among the students, "No offense, sir, but we did this test with Ms. Goodwitch pretty recently."

Port just laughed it off. "True, you've tested yourselves against the course, but this is a different test." He paused as the students murmured among themselves for a moment. "Today's test is one not against the clock. You have all the time in the world~ Instead, your opponent is smarter and far more skilled than a stopwatch. You'll all be facing a member of the Arcadian Defense Force."

Yang leaned back and crossed her arms, "So, like a soldier? That doesn't seem that bad."

Ironwood grinned. He really hoped this soldier was amazing. He wanted a military to get one over on them. Huntsmen and Huntresses in training have this tendency to underestimate the military.

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "A member? Just one?"

Blake shrugged, "Doesn't seem that much harder."

Port grinned from behind his mustache. "And, for an extra challenge, your teams for this exercise will NOT be the teams to which you are currently assigned. Instead, you've all been placed into teams of three at random."

Qrow chuckled to himself, "And that test just got harder."

Ozpin nodded, "First years are notorious for their more tribalistic sense of the team. It's rare to find teams that can go beyond their own bubbles at first. It's one of the reasons this particular year has been a little more interesting than others. Particularly with teams RWBY and JNPR."

This got all eight of the teens to smile a bit. Their teams were practically family at this point.

Ruby panicked a little, "What?!"

Port just nodded once, ignoring her tone, "Quite! You won't always be in situations with your team now, and you may have to learn to work with others at a moment's notice!"

Port chuckled, "A fine lesson to learn! Take this to heart students~"

"Now, your opponent should be here soon enough~"

"Actually…" A voice from among the students rose up and they parted a bit to show Jaune. His usual hoodie and jeans were swapped out for military survivalist gear. The upper portion of his face was darkened and matched with a hood and mask for better stealth in low light environments. Though, both the mask and hood were out of place for the moment. "I've been here for a bit now."

Blake blinked in surprise. "Oh… Okay. I see where this is going."

Sienna smiled at the sight, "Young huntsmen versus the military hunter. A battle to be the apex predator."

Jaune walked out and turned on his heel to the students. "I am Specialist Jaune Arc of the Arcadian Defense Force."

Winter thought for a moment, taking in the look of the young man, "At least he looks the part."

Yang chuckled a bit, "Really? You can't be any older than us."

"I have trained just as long as you all have, simply in a different field. You all learned to kill mindless monsters. I learned to kill smarter targets. And I'm going to be using those skills on all of you today. We'll be competing with paint-based ordinances and ammunition. On the floor below us, I've set up a decoy explosive made out of paper mache. Your mission is to bypass my defenses and 'defuse' the device. But make no mistake, I will be there to stop you. You have five minutes upon entry to complete this task. What's more, you'll all be tracked through your aura system. Taking a set amount of damage from the paint will remove you from the match. Don't get careless."

Yang was just stunned at what she was hearing. "Okay… This is different." He sounded… cool?

Jaune turned as the doors opened. "Get into your groups and prepare." Jaune walked into the elevator and disappeared to complete his prep work.

Port laughed at the look on his students' faces. "Well said! Now then… shall we get started?"

The scene turned dark and opened like the elevator doors. The first four to enter the training floor were Coco, Nora, and Yang.

Velvet chuckled to herself, "That's a dangerous combination~"

Ren grinned and nodded. As did the rest of team RWBY.

Begin!

The three readied their weapons and started to run into the compound. The new look reminded them of old office buildings down in Vale. Nora shifted her weapon into a hammer and reared her arm back to break through one of the walls. "We'll find that bomb in no time!" After a few hits, she broke the wall apart and found a burst of three paint-bullets in retaliation.

Port's voice rang out over their scrolls, "Three clean hits to the core! Ms. Valkyrie is out!"

Nora went into a fit, "AW! WHAT?! WHAT WAS THAT?!"

Jaune was behind the door with a bullpup rifle in his hands, his hood up and mask over the lower part of his face. He ran off before Nora's temporary team could capitalize and attack. That said, he made it very obvious which way he was going. Yang and Coco ran off after him, only for Coco's leg to get caught in an old snare trap, hanging her upside-down from the ceiling. Three bullets hit her stomach and painted her attire in bright gold.

"Ms. Adel is out!"

Coco took in a sharp breath. "Yikes. He's seriously good."

Yang growled but took a defensive stance. She couldn't see him anywhere, and it was pissing her off. "Enough of these stupid games! Show yourself and fight!" Everything was way too quiet. There was no sound, only her breathing getting heavier with her adrenaline rushing. Her eyes turned red as she looked around.

What happened next would only make things worse.

A paint bullet hit the back of her legs, knocking her off balance for a moment. She caught herself and spun around as the third paint bullet slammed into her forehead.

"Ms. Xiao Long is out! Team wiped! Mission failed."

Everyone was silent in shock. Jaune had just wiped all three in a matter of minutes. It was going to be one of those, wasn't it?

The screen showed as student after student was defeated by Jaune. A few of which were a bit more creative than others.

Ruby was tripped and forced into a paint balloon a wall.

This got a few snickers out of Ruby's friends. The situation was just funny.

Cardin got dropped by a paint grenade that was shoved into the top of his mace.

Jaune took mental notes about Cardin's fighting style and how he might be able to exploit them.

Velvet was captured by a box cage with Jaune sitting on top of it.

Coco sighed with a slight laugh, "Oh my gods, it's like that old rabbit trap gag with the box…"

Velvet shrunk in her chair in embarrassment.

Taking down Weiss was more methodical. The hits to bring her down were all sneak attacks spaced out over the five minutes to keep her from counter attacking effectively.

Weiss sighed with a sense of defeat.

Soon enough, only three remained: Pyrrha, Ren, and Blake.

Jaune thought for a moment before speaking up, "That's a really good team. But, and no offense to my teammates, I think that's only because Blake is on the team."

This got Blake's attention, causing her to turn to the knight, "Why's that?"

"Pyrrha and Ren don't have stealth training like you do. We're all used to head to head combat, not hit and run."

Ozpin nodded, "Excellent observations, Mr. Arc."

Pyrrha knew he was right, but still wanted to see how this played out before speaking.

Pyrrha, Ren, and Blake entered the combat area and stayed in a basic formation, moving slowly through the compound. They were more careful than many of the others, at the insistence of Blake. Blake being a faunas also helped with the low light levels of the zone.

As they went, Ren peaked around a corner and nodded, "Clear." Once he said that, the three moved on again.

Ironwood nodded with a grin, "A definite improvement over the first group."

Yang, Coco, and Nora all groaned.

The three made it to the halfway zone of the area. They got closer than any of the other groups. And so, Jaune got aggressive. As they reached another corner, Jaune popped out around it and grabbed Ren, pulling him around the corner. Pyrrha and Blake ran after him, but Ren was already covered in paint and dropped onto the floor. Jaune had escaped into the darkness and dropped their count to two.

Blake was a little too impressed. He wasn't a ninja or anything when it came to stealth, but this Jaune was seriously skilled in his trade. Get in, take out a target, and get out. He put most of the White Fang's infiltration groups to shame.

Pyrrha and Blake were placed on edge because of this. As they moved, the shadows gave way to show Jaune above them on a tall set of crates. His rifle pointed square toward Blake for a moment. One pull of the trigger would take her out of the equation. But… The sights moved to the side and fired a three-round burst toward them, hitting Pyrrha with two of the shots. Jaune ducked back behind the crates as they scrambled to get to safety.

This just confused some in the audience. Blake in particular, "If he could knock me out, why didn't he?"

Sienna's eyes narrowed, "Sick bastard…"

Ilia turned to her leader, "What is it, Lady Kahn?"

"He's toying with them now. He's removing the two that aren't as trained in stealth to isolate Blake."

Pyrrha and Blake ducked behind a corner, it was the best they could find short notice. Both were breathing heavily, trying to calm themselves down again. Blake growled a bit, "Damn it. He's too good at this."

Pyrrha had a thoughtful look on her face. "Blake. I may have an idea."

"I'm all ears."

"It's obvious he's planning to deal with me first to get under your skin. I'll lead him off as best as I can and you get to the device."

Ironwood nodded a bit solemnly, "A good strategy given the circumstances… Though, if this were a real engagement, she'd likely be sacrificing her life to do so."

Blake knew this as well but saw it as the only option they had. "Alright. Be careful." Blake disappeared into the darkness, leaving Pyrrha alone.

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed, "You might as well come out now."

Jaune turned the corner with his weapon pointed square toward Pyrrha's torso. "How do you plan to distract me, then?"

Pyrrha put on a grin, "That would ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?"

Nora chuckled and wrapped an arm over Pyrrha's shoulders, "You're so awesome~!"

Pyrrha smiled, slightly embarrassed. "Thank you, Nora."

"Hardly. Your teammate isn't here."

Pyrrha's grin fell away for confused fear, "What are you…"

"It's obvious your friend is skilled, trained. Almost militaristic. You dd everything right up to this point. Checking corners, watching each other's backs, and giving the all clear. Unfortunately, you all fall into the same trap as everyone else. Tell me, Ms. Nikos, do you know the first rule of hunting?"

Blake tapped her chair in thought. "Wait… Isn't that…?"

The camera followed Blake as she ran through the halls. The path opened up to the room with the false bomb, then everything moved in slow motion. The camera tracked down to her foot and panned to the right to show a device bolted to the wall. Her foot passed through of the laser wire as Jaune finished speaking.

"Always watch where you step."

The scene exploded into gold paint.

"Ms. Belladonna is out! Time is up!"

Blake slammed her palm into her face in embarrassed annoyance. That was a rookie mistake that she should never have made. "Crap…"

The gold paint opened like the elevator doors as Blake and her team walked out. Blake's left side was covered completely in gold paint, and she was not happy. Port laughed as Jaune approached behind him, "An excellent first attempt students. Let this be a lesson for you all. Go on and get cleaned up." As the students dispersed, Port turned to Jaune, "That was rather harsh, using those traps of yours."

Tai tried to think through what he saw, "What was that trap anyway?" He expected Ruby to know instantly, but she didn't give him his answer.

Jaune did. "It looks like the Entry Denial Device my cousin Maxim invented."

Ruby spun around toward the knight, "Really?! What's it do?!"

"It's an explosive that spreads shrapnel when someone steps into its range."

Blake felt a shiver go up her spine. She would be killed by small chunks of metal tearing her apart, and that was horrifying. "He doesn't use it, right?"

"He hasn't had to, so no. He's part of the Defense Force so he doesn't need to unless someone attacks us first."

Jaune huffed, "Life's harsh, professor. Especially now that the White Fang are becoming bolder. That's why I'm here. To hammer these lessons into their heads so they're ready for the worst."

Port sighed. "Of course." As he moved forward, he almost tripped on a glob of paint left behind by his students.

Jaune just walked off, his foot never touching any of the paint without trying, "Watch your step."

The last words of the reality got a laugh out of them.