Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Do you know what this is about?" Blake asked the boy.

He shook his head, the look on his face belying equal confusion to her own. She studied him for a split second, to see if there was any connection between them that might warrant them both being asked to wait together for the headmaster in this tiny room while the other students got settled in and prepared to sleep soundly the night before Beacon's first day.

He was a tall, spindly man, reminiscent of a stalk of corn (especially because of that bright yellow hair). It certainly wasn't their species in common – except, Blake recalled, Beacon didn't know she was a Faunus. As far as the staff was aware, both she and this boy were humans.

But that's hardly a reason to call us aside. Nearly 90% of the other students were all humans, and yet we were singled out from among them.

She was, of course, feeling a small amount of fear; it would be impossible for her not to be worried about being asked to meet with the headmaster of Beacon Academy given where she'd come from. Being called aside by the teacher could easily mean she was in for some sort of rebuke or chastisement.

Except, once again, there's a human with me. If I'm about to be arrested for my ties to the…for my former ties to the White Fang, why call a random witness? And there's absolutely no way that this guy is also ex-Fang, so it can't be that he's being arrested for the same thing. Calm yourself down, Blake – it's probably nothing, and you're making a mountain out of a molehill.

Stressing out over this wasn't doing anyone any favors, not Blake, not Ozpin, and certainly not this blond boy she didn't even know the name of.

"I'm Blake," she said impulsively.

"Huh? Oh, uh, Jaune. Jaune Arc. Pleased to greet'cha."

He didn't offer a hand for her to shake, so she didn't either. Truthfully, she'd really only just introduced herself to fill the silence and to put a name to this guy's face.

Jaune. Are…Are we being partnered up or something? I was told Beacon teams are pairs of partnerships, and they're very secretive about the process. Maybe he called us both up to declare us partners, and then he's just going to do the same for the rest? I guess that'd make us the first partners of Beacon's newest year.

Neither continued the conversation, so she and Jaune went back to sitting side by side in awkward silence. They'd been sought out and found by Professor Glynda Goodwitch, Headmaster Ozpin's famous second-in-command, and asked to wait in a small room that was probably about the size of a personal office while she fetched her boss. It wasn't a classroom, but it was bigger than a broom closet (though not by much). The only contents of the room were three chairs, two of them side by side and occupied, and the other awaiting the rear end of the most influential man in Vale to fill it.

The empty seat didn't have to wait long. Probably about ten minutes after Goodwitch had left, the woman returned with the headmaster in tow.

"Ah, thank you both for waiting."

He nodded at them, but the sad smile on his face set off alarm bells in Blake's mind, because it was not the face of a man with good news.

Ozpin took the remaining seat, with Goodwitch standing stiffly above his left shoulder like a mannequin, her hands folded behind her back. She broke this position to hand him two manila envelopes, then immediately returned to it. Blake caught sight of more objects in her hands – they looked like more envelopes, but she couldn't really tell.

"Now, then. Please confirm that you are both…" Ozpin slid a page out of the first manila envelope. "…Jaune Arc, and…"

The elderly man awkwardly shuffled to close the first envelope with one hand while simultaneously opening the second in the other. Goodwitch reached down to help him when it became clear he was about to drop them both.

"…and…Blake Belladonna."

"Yes, sir," Blake said clearly. "I am Blake."

The human boy to her side just nodded.

"Ms. Belladonna and Mr. Arc." Ozpin handed them both the manila envelopes, one each. "You may recognize these as your application forms to Beacon Academy."

Blake's heart sank, and the other kid let out a whimpering whine.

"These are, of course, photocopies of the original documents, which were submitted three months ago and signed by the two of you. Now, following a more detailed background investigation of the information you put on these forms, Beacon has concluded that you both fraudulently completed these applications. It is with deepest regret that I must inform you both are being rejected from Beacon Academy. Your applications have been formally withdrawn and will be returned to you once a complete investigation has been completed."

Shit.

Blake looked over the paper, recognizing the handwriting as her own.

Shit.

This had been her last chance.

It certainly hadn't been her first; she'd actually tried applying for a lot of other jobs and academies first – corporations and trade schools, nothing huntress related. She hadn't wanted to use the combat skills she'd learned in the White Fang, feeling like it would only be a continuation of her unethical work under Adam. It was only when she'd been given letters of rejection at all of these places that she realized a life of nonviolence wasn't coming her way, and she would need to utilize her unwanted but undeniably great talent at hurting and destroying. Not many companies in Vale were looking for someone with no legitimate work experience, and certainly not a Faunus with no legitimate work experience.

And they won't have changed their minds for a Beacon drop-out who never actually made it in to drop out. I need to do something!

"Sir, my qualifications are real," Blake argued, tucking the application back into the tan folder. "I'd be willing to complete an assessment, if that would prove it. Nothing on here is…what was it…fraudulent?"

Goodwitch's riding crop tilted forward, and Blake's head suddenly felt one bow lighter.

Well, crap.

But…maybe I can still…

"A-Are you saying you're k-k-kicking me out because I'm Faunus?" Blake asked, letting her lip wobble.

Ozpin and Goodwitch did not look impressed. "No, Ms. Belladonna. We are kicking you out because you truly did lie on your application form. See Line 19."

Blake hadn't memorized the document, so she slid it back out.

Line 19…hmmm. Let's see. Have you ever committed…a…felony…

Shit.

Blake deflated at that. Any chance of appealing their verdict flittered away as the realization that they were aware of her White Fang past. Beacon was never going to let an ex-terrorist into their precious school.

So, they did know. I was right to be worried. But then what did the other guy do? I somehow doubt he's also got a past with war crimes riddled in.

Blake glanced over at the kid who she'd nearly forgotten about, despite him sitting next to her. His application form was still visible to her, but when she quickly looked it over, nothing stood out. It wasn't as though she would be able to recognize whatever lie was on his when she saw it, anyways.

As for the kid himself, he was just…staring. His eyes were on the application form, but he wasn't reading it or anything. Blake imagined that if she waved a hand in front of his face, she would get no reaction from him.

Biting her teeth, she shook herself out of it. Whatever his deal was, she needed to focus on number one here. If Ozpin, an individual with close ties to law enforcement and the council, knew about her past…

"Are we being arrested?" she asked.

She didn't really care about Jaune, but without knowing just how much dirt they had on her, it was better to not suggest anything. This way, it sounded like she was asking about whether 'we' (she and Jaune) were to be arrested over the application fraud. If Ozpin had something else to say, he would bring it up, but Blake wasn't going to go around incriminating herself by supplying the notion that her past 'crimes' might deserve arrest.

"No. As a matter of fact, you will be escorted off the premises and offered a small, one-time stipend." Ozpin turned to his deputy and held out a hand. She placed the white envelopes from before in his hand, and he distributed them to the two teenagers. "This check for three thousand lien is coming out of my own finances and not the school's, as I feel partially…personally responsible for the unpleasant situation we all are in right now. Had I been able to notice the discrepancies in your records earlier, I might have never approved them and sent you an offer of acceptance to Beacon. This was something I should have caught, and because I didn't, you were forced to come to Beacon only to be turned away at the door. Had you not, you might have been able to make other plans or apply for other, more suitable career paths."

Blake didn't really want to assuage Ozpin's guilt by accepting, but she had no job prospects after this. None at all. She needed any help she could get.

"Consider this a personal apology," said the old man as Blake took her envelope.

Jaune didn't even react to the envelope being proffered; in the end, Ozpin placed atop on the unresponsive boy's application form when he didn't take it. Blake's eyes lingered on the untouched envelope for a second.

Opening up her own, Blake looked over the check to make sure it was real. "What…What are we supposed to do?"

"I'd advise you either go home to your parents or look into attaining gainful employment. As seventeen-year-olds, you are legally adults in the kingdom of Vale, and thus…"

"…not Beacon's problem?" Blake finished for the veteran huntsman.

"…responsible for your own care," he corrected with a frown. "Remember, Ms. Belladonna, I am not only overlooking this breach of protocol on your part but bending over backwards to accommodate you. I suggest you keep that in mind when you speak."

Blake's eyes dropped down to the floor again, this time in abashment. "I apologize, headmaster."

Ozpin went on. "Had you applied to Atlas, there is no doubt in my mind that Ja– that Headmaster Ironwood would have had you both in police custody for attempted treason at this point."

"Th-Thank you for not doing that, sir," Blake said, biting her tongue to endure the humiliation. Groveling to a human who had no idea how hard it would be out there for her was unpleasant, but she couldn't afford to risk pissing off the man when he was right – she was being accommodated here, and he had the power to screw her over royally if he so chose. "Thank you for everything you have done for me – for us, sir."

Ozpin's head curtly nodded once at Blake, apparently satisfied with her act of supplication. He turned to Jaune. "Have you anything to add, Mr. Arc?"

There was no response from the boy.

"Mr. Arc?" echoed Goodwitch. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

He glumly looked up at the occupants of the room, shook his head robotically, and then went back to staring dejectedly at the papers in his hands. If she weren't devoting every ounce of her own pity to herself, Blake might've felt bad for the guy.

"Three thousand lien should be enough to cover room and board within Vale for one month, which I hope shall be suitable time to get you both on your feet. Ms. Goodwitch will now escort you to a bullhead that will drop you off into the city." Ozpin reached into his breast pocket and took out a handkerchief, coughing into the cloth a few times. "I wish you both the best of luck in your future endeavors, and I do so dearly hope that you've both learned a vital lesson about the value of honesty today."

It was a completely silent walk to the airship, and it was a completely silent flight from Beacon back down into Vale. Blake had no idea whether Goodwitch was quietly pitying her or quietly despising her, and she got the feeling she would never know.

"This is where I leave you," said the elder huntress when they landed. Then, she walked back into the airship without another word and flew back to her cushy life at the top of the hill without a care in the world.

I'm being unfair. I did lie and cheat to get into the school, and the White Fang isn't exactly using kiddie gloves on humans these days. They have every right to kick me out, even if I'm a little bitter over this whole thing.

That didn't change the fact that she was now stranded in Vale with no options. Ozpin had suggested going to Mom and Dad, but Blake had no intention of facing them after…after what she'd said when they last met. They probably wouldn't even give her the time of day, let alone shelter from an inhospitable world.

And going back to Menagerie means potentially meeting Adam. He has no sway in Vale, so this is quite possibly the only place I can stay beyond his reach.

Blake once again peered into the envelope in her hand – her only possession in the world besides the clothes on her back, the sword at her hip, and a case of smutty books she somehow hadn't lost during this whole hullabaloo.

Three thousand lien. Ozpin said it would last for a month, but Blake could probably stretched that to a month and a half if she tried.

There was a very big problem with that, however.

Ozpin had also rightfully said that her only option (short of running home to mommy and daddy) was to find a job. Well, there were no jobs in the kingdom for a Faunus except for the one field in which she was talented…hunting.

I don't have a license, but if I can somehow find and take a mission for some desperate village, they can pay me in cash under the table. It's how the world works.

The aforementioned problem was that being a hunter required a downpayment. Bullhead flights outside the kingdom weren't cheap, and neither was Dust. Three thousand lien might pay for a hotel and some cheap groceries for over a month, but it wouldn't last a full week if she also took a job and came up with new work expenses.

An odd thought struck her – three thousand lien was exactly half of six thousand lien.

"So. J-Jaune."

He was still in the same place Goodwitch had left him, staring off blankly into space. Blake had really been into Beacon, but this guy was acting like losing it had broken him entirely.

"I was thinking. You and me, we're in the same boat. Two peas in a pod, right? Right. We both got shafted by those rich pricks, and we both…I'm guessing that you're also not sure what to do now? Well, I mean, if we pooled our lien, we could last a lot longer."

Blake stepped over to be in front of the shellshocked boy, but he didn't react in any way.

"Money lasts longer with a roommate. If we share a hotel room – I know a lot of good places, I'm excellent at that sort of scrounging – it'll last longer. I just…I'm not ready to go back to my parents yet."

There was no way to know if he was buying it. She really did believe she would be able to make their collective money last longer, even if it wasn't out of sympathy or kindness like she said.

"I brought my own bag, and I can sleep on the floor if you need the bed. I won't be a burden." Blake waved her hands to the side. "Trust me."

Desperation was beginning to sink in. Blake wasn't a greedy individual, but Jaune's check would mean twice as long in Vale, the one safe place from Adam. It could even mean a lasting investment into a career here if she played her cards right.

And in spite of her promises, Jaune said nothing.

"Art?" She tilted her head, bunched up her forehead, and got a bit closer to him. "You still with me?"

"It's Arc," he mumbled at last. "Jaune Arc. Short, sweet…Arc."

Well, at least she knew he was still alive in there. Blake supposed that it was a good sign that their dishonorable discharge hadn't entirely dissolved his brain or something. She didn't want to steal from someone who was mentally ill or something.

Not that I'm stealing from him or anything. It's to his benefit that we pool our resources and work together as much as it is to mine. Well, a pretty boy human like him probably can get a job wherever he likes. Blond hair, blue eyes, tall human male, not too thick or thin; he's got every advantage in this judgmental, biased –

Hellllllllo there.

"Say, pal. Kicked out together, left adrift by our lonesome – you and me have a lot in common. That kinda sounds like the basis of a good friendship."

This guy, he was a huntsman drop-out. She had no idea what he'd done to get kicked out of Beacon (probably bumped his failing grades up a letter or two to meet Beacon's high entry requirements or something), but he had to have some experience from his primary combat school. Even if he was at the bottom of the class, Blake could work with that. It wasn't even about his skills – it was about his looks.

He's got the face that people trust. I thought I couldn't get a job, but I couldn't get a job alone. A lone Faunus? Hell no. A human 'boss' with his Faunus 'subordinate?' And with this particular human? People will be lining up to hire us.

If his current state was any indication, Blake could probably be the driving power behind any relationship of theirs. The guy was clearly a pushover with jelly in place of a spinal column. She…She wasn't going to cheat him, but…if…

I'd never…it would be a fair and equal…

Okay, I need to start planning this seriously. No more lying to myself.

Blake needed to watch out for herself. If that meant using this guy, then so be it. Ozpin and Beacon had screwed her, so the time for generosity for her fellow sapient being was long passed.

I'll take his money, and I'll let him talk to our first client. They'll trust a human huntsman more than a Faunus huntress. I don't mind doing all the work on the job…but if I do, it's only fair that I take the lion Faunus' share of the reward money. If Arc's okay with that, then great! We're partners. If not…I won't tell him how I plan to divvy up the spoils until the job's done and the cash is in my hands.

Completing a mission would probably set them for a while – hunters were highly paid for their troubles. Blake was confident that after everything she'd had to do for the White Fang, a few Grimm would be nothing she couldn't handle.

Shit, I've been silent for a while. I'd better remind him I'm still here.

"Jaune Arc, right? Jaune…got a good ring to it. Jaune and Blake, Blake and Jaune. Can't be Team BJ for, heh, obvious reasons, so Team JB then. Team…Team…" She snapped her fingers. "Team Job? Yeah, that's pretty good. Team Job – I like it!"

Blake internally cursed at how much it sounded like she was rambling right now. If Arc weren't catatonic right now, he'd probably be looking at her funny.

I'm coming on way too strong, but I think his brain might be internally swelling right now.

"Team Job it is. Alright – our first order of business is to find accommodation for the night. We can't operate out of the airship landing dock, after all. I can find us a hotel…I know a few places, the kind that take less lien as long as you don't mind a little noise. Then, from there we can peruse some mission boards and select one that fits us."

"Don't…"

Blake looked over at Arc eagerly. "Yeah? What's up, buddy?"

"Don't you need a license to view those?" He was still just staring out into the middle distance, not even facing Blake, but he'd referenced the conversation. That was another good sign, right?

"Nah, they took that requirement out a few years ago," Blake lied, desperately hoping Arc didn't have huntsman family who might have told him otherwise. "Most of the unclaimed jobs are in remote villages and have first-come, first-serve things going on with them. So, I think that we can use my check to pay for the hotel, and yours can go towards renting an airship and pilot toward whatever we choose. Hunting pays well, and I imagine we'll recoup our losses and then some, but I'll still pick something that isn't far –"

"Can…" Arc rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "Can I just have a minute here?"

"Suuuuure, mate. You take all the time you need. Here, why don't you sit down on the curb…" Blake took him by the arm and gently sat him down in the edge of the street just outside the airship dock they'd come from. "I'll start browsing those mission postings on our behalf. Don't worry, I'll pick something niiiiice and simple. Ease us into it, eh?"

Arc didn't even nod. He didn't even do anything.

I…I guess he's really disappointed. Beacon must've been a big dream for this kid if he's this beat up about it. To be fair, he's probably spent his entire childhood training for this, so having the rug pulled out from under him and learning that his education was wasted must suck.

Blake took out her scroll and began logging in. Mission postings did require a license as Arc had said, but the White Fang had found out that if you logged in through a VPN from Atlas and used that to log into a VPN from Mistral and used that to log into a VPN from Mantle, the third password that one typed in was always accepted instead of locking the user out of the system. A neat little backdoor discovered by a Faunus programmer in Mantle, now Blake's for the using.

"I won't stop until I've found the best one they have, Jaune. It'll be perfect for what you and I need. Don't you fret."

Blake waited two minutes for show, then tapped the first mission she saw.

"There we go! Perfect. Grimm culling at Lemuria Settlement just south of Vale. How'zat sound? A good starting job for a budding team, Grimm are just Beowolves and Ursai, pay good enough to recoup the costs and then some. Shall I sign us up?"

"Huh?" He looked up at her. "What?"

"Ooh, and they offer room and board while we're on the mission for up to three days. Nice perk, right?"

"Uh, sure, I guess."

"Great." Blake tapped the screen, sending the digital signature of her thrice-VPN'd scroll to the mission posting system and claiming the job in their name. "Perfect. We're signed up, and I've added us to the waitlist for bullhead flights over. When you're all ready, we can go and find a place to stay and…and…yeah. Go team!"

Leaning over, she patted him gently on the shoulder. He did nod a few times, but he wasn't listening. He hadn't heard anything. Blake forced herself not to sigh; just like with Ozpin, she was dependent on this human's favor. When they showed up at Lemuria Settlement, she would be turned away unless she had a human shield to ward off any criticisms.

"Take your time, uh, bro." She considered patting him again but decided against it. "All the time you need."

One hour later, Arc hadn't even budged. If anything, he'd somehow constricted into himself even further, now pulling his knees in to his chest and hugging them. Blake couldn't hear any tears, but she had a hunch that she would see them if he lifted his head up.

Stepping around the sad sack, she crouched down in front of him and stared at his face, specifically his eyes.

There was nothing there. No presence, no humanity, nothing. Jaune Arc had checked out, probably a while ago.

Blake stood up and went behind Jaune. Placing her arms under his armpits, she lifted the dazed boy up until he was up on his feet, standing from his own power. He was alive and fully conscious, but the stress of it all had made Jaune retreat too far into himself to acknowledge the real world.

Blake had already looked up the cheapest Faunus-friendly hotel in the area she could find, so she grabbed ahold of her precious discrimination lightning rod by the arm and led him on with no objections. He said nothing, so she said nothing.

What a great start to a productive team up, I guess.

Coming Soon: One for the Ages

Team Job meets and greets one another for real in the looming shadow of their upcoming first mission.

Chapter Text

Huntresses were truly kind people.

Huntsmen too, probably, but Jaune didn't exactly have much experience with huntsmen, and the one huntress he'd spent more than a few hours with certainly had to be the kindest soul in the world. After all, who else would look out for someone overnight just because they'd both suffered the same ignominious firing from Beacon?

Well, we didn't really get fired as much as we were just…turned down. But still, it was really nice of her to take care of me when I was trapped in my own head.

It was morning, and he'd woken up in a somewhat dingy motel in a messy two-person bed. The girl who'd presumably taken him here – he didn't remember a lot from yesterday – was in the room's chair, the one that motels always had at the corner of the room.

He wasn't normally such a braindead wuss. It was just…when Ozpin handed him that paper, it had been the summation of all of his fears. He'd dreamed of that moment, or rather experienced nightmares of it, for so long, but he'd never seriously expected them to see through his little deception. Jaune had invested so much of himself into becoming a huntsman, and to have that dream ripped away from him merely because…because…well, he'd just fallen apart. It had felt impossible to speak, to move, to breathe.

Yesterday was a bit of a blur beyond that point. Ozpin's words of wisdom were lost to him entirely, and he didn't really remember how he'd left Beacon, but he did recall the girl prodding him for…something about them working together because they'd both gotten the boot together? It was a nice consideration of her. Yeah, she'd been asking about work or something, and he'd told her he needed a moment, and then he'd just zoned out again.

And now here he was, sleeping in a real bed in the city of Vale. The place wasn't exactly luxury, but it was probably a good choice economically for two kids who were on a budget, so he had to agree with her choice to bring them here.

At the moment, she was still asleep in the chair. Jaune quietly pulled himself out of bed to sit at the edge and look at her.

The girl was a catgirl? Oh!

Somehow, he hadn't remembered that. Before Ozpin had handed him that form, he'd been in his right mind and had seen her very clearly, and those ears…were they new?

Of course not, you idiot. Faunus don't just grow their ears. You were probably so stupid that you didn't even notice them. Or…wait, she was wearing a hat or something, right? A scarf? Something like that was on the girl's head.

She, the girl, her…he really needed to stop thinking of her like that and start calling her by her name when he thought of her.

Her name.

Right.

It was…

Jaune mentally reviewed the previous day. He was certain she'd said her name at some point. What were all the names he remembered? Ruby Rose, then Professor Goodwitch, then Jaune Arc…

She'd said her name and asked for his, but the memory just wasn't coming up. It was a mental Error 404, name not found.

Darn it. I really hope it won't be awkward when I ask.

It was then that Jaune noticed the suitcase on the ground next to the Faunus girl. On top of it was a manila envelope.

Her application form would have her name on it. If I peeked quickly, I could save us both the embarrassment…

He also noticed the pristine sword at her hip.

There's also zero chance she wouldn't wake up riiiiiiiiiiight at the moment when I was looking through her private files. That sword's gotta be as sharp as Crocea Mors, and I rather like being a man.

He'd just play it cool until she said her name, then. It wasn't like she was going to wake up and ask him what her name was the second she did.

On that note, I'd better wake her up.

"Hey, uh…"

Crap.

"Hey, you. Um…it's…it's morning."

He considered jostling her gently but decided against it. This woman had shown him great kindness, and he didn't want to repay it by being the creep who touched her when she was sleeping.

"Um, I think it's time to wake up, Ms. Huntress."

She shifted in her sleep, then her eyes shot opened. For a moment, with those amber orbs darting back and forth within a cat-eared head, Jaune felt a bit like a prey animal being hunted by a big cat, but the feeling dissolved away into nothing when the recognition set in.

"Ah, Jaune. How'd you sleep?"

"Great. Fine. Th-Thanks for asking. How about you?"

She stretched out her back and rose from the chair. Jaune winced upon seeing that it had no padding or cushions on any part.

And she took it so that I could have the bed. What a generous woman…

"I slept okay. Caught up on some reading before bed." She gestured to the case with the envelope on it using her whole head. Then, something in her expression shifted, and she turned to stare at the suitcase with her full attention.

"I didn't touch it!" Jaune hurriedly spat out, fearful of the consequences for an action he'd only ever considered. "I swear!"

The girl immediately reached down and grabbed her manila envelope. Reaching inside, she took out another smaller white envelope, this one about the size of a standard letter sent in the mail. Upon seeing it, she let out a long, relieved sigh.

"Good. Um…what were you saying, Jaune?"

Jaune swallowed. "N-Nothing. Hey, you were saying something about work yesterday, right?" He bashfully rubbed the back of his neck and let out a little laugh. "Sorry about all that, by the way. Just…well, you were there, and you know how it felt."

She nodded. "I do. And I was able to reserve a mission for the two of us. Grimm culling in Lemuria Settlement – it's a typical gig, your average woodland Grimm and their senior forms. You don't need to worry about the details, I took care of them all."

"Ohhhh, yeah." Jaune nodded up and down slowly. "Yeah, it's all coming back to me. I asked if we needed a license, but you said that we didn't because…of something. And you said we get paid, right?"

Her smile became a little bit flatter for a second, but it went back to normal after a moment. Jaune immediately felt a hot pang of shame over sounding so greedy.

"Yes," she said. "We will get paid. And no, we don't need a license to take the jobs. Licenses are just…they're more like advertisements. If you have one, people know you trained at an academy or as an apprentice and they expect a certain degree of quality, but they changed the rule saying you need one strictly."

Jaune shot her a quick thumbs up. "Sounds good. And, uh, what was the type of Grimm? Woodlands?"

The girl blinked at him a few times. "W-Woodlands? Oh, no, it's woodland Grimm, as in Grimm of the…the, uh, woodlands. Usual stuff like Beowolves and Ursai."

"And…seniors? Senior forms?" Jaune didn't like the look on her face when he kept asking questions, so he tried to smile disarmingly. "Sorry, I'm still out of it from yesterday a bit."

"It's not a problem, Jaune." She shot him her own disarming smile, and he felt a lot safer knowing that he hadn't offended this actual huntress with his own lack of knowledge. "I just mean that there'll be Alpha Beos and both Minors and Majors."

Okay. That explains absolutely nothing at all. Alpha Beos…I guess that's an abbreviation of Beowolf? So then the Minors and Majors are the other ones, the Orzos? I thought that was a type of pasta, though.

Asking any more questions about Grimm would clearly expose him as a fraud, though, and he didn't want that. Right now, his only chance of survival in the big city was teaming up with this girl and learning how to be a huntsman from her, as he certainly wasn't going to be doing so under Beacon's many professors. It was kind of embarrassing to think about, apprenticing under someone his own age, but fraudsters couldn't be choosers.

And I refuse to give up on my dream. I will become a hero huntsman and start saving people like the Arcs from those books.

I will not go back to Dad with my tail tucked between my legs. I won't, no matter what.

"Great." The girl reached down and opened up her suitcase, then placed her two envelopes inside of it. "If you're up for it, I'd say we can pick up some breakfast on the way and then go over to the rental bullhead shipyard. They usually give preference to people on the waitlist when they show up in person, and it's better than sitting around here."

"Why are you taking your bags?" he asked, looking down as she lifted up her case. "Can't you leave them here?"

She shook her head. "Places like this, you don't wanna leave any valuables unattended. I can stow it in a locker at the bullhead place. You don't have any luggage, do you?"

"No," Jaune admitted. "Aside from Crocea Mors, and it's something I imagine I'll need on the mission."

"Crocea Mors," she repeated. "A good name for a fine blade. It's the kind of name of a weapon wielded by a hero that people trust – I like it. I think we're gonna do really well together, Jaune."

Feeling himself starting to blush at the praise, Jaune turned his head away. "Me too…"

Crap! I still don't know her name!

"Blake Belladonna," she said. When he looked at her in surprise, she just gave him that same peaceable smile. "It's okay. You were really out of it yesterday."

"Blake," Jaune said with a smile. "Oh, right, like in Team Job!"

Blake's smile faltered. "Team what now?"

"Team Job! It's our team name! You made it up yesterday. I only just remembered it."

"Oh, right! Team Job, for Jaune and Blake." The smile came back in full. "Team Job's first mission. This is gonna be one for the ages, my friend."

As they sat together on a bench in the lobby of the shipyard and waited for a bullhead to be made available, Jaune and Blake spoke to one another. They'd technically met yesterday, but this morning had felt like a real greeting between the two of them, and this downtime was a great opportunity for them to get to know one another.

"I think we should both agree to not pry about each other's, you know, application forms," Blake had said first. "I don't know about you, but I think that I'm not really happy with Beacon for how they treated us, and I don't want that negative energy to be where the two of us start."

Jaune was more than happy to not have this pro-huntress digging into his complete lack of experience, and he vigorously agreed to make sure she knew it. "That's a great idea, Blake. Like, just because we didn't…just because they didn't…I mean, the world always needs more huntsmen and huntresses, not less, right? I can't believe that they don't want to train us into heroes."

Blake nodded. "Exactly."

"I mean, how hard can killing the Grimm really be? Just aim the gun and pop 'em in the head, or stick 'em with your sword. Easy as a chicken dumpling."

The cat ears bobbed up and down again in agreement.

"What I really don't get is why those professors have to make it so difficult for normal people…uh, n-non-students, I mean, the folks who didn't go to primary combat schools…for those kinds of people to be hunters. Like, why not just train everyone? All you need is two hands to pick up a weapon, right?"

Blake just shrugged. "Probably 'cause aura attracts Grimm, but you're not wrong. After all, it's not like the city walls aren't perpetually swarmed by monsters braying for blood. I doubt it could get any worse if they just unlocked everyone like you're saying."

So that was the end of that conversation, then. Jaune had no idea what aura was, but the fact that it was apparently a reason why normal people (like him) weren't supposed to be hunters meant it was no longer a safe topic of discussion.

Casually shifting the conversation, Jaune moved to a much safer talking point. "Are you from Vale?"

Blake flinched, noticeably. "What makes you ask?"

"Oh, just curious. You don't have to tell me if it's personal. I'm from Ansel – it's a larger village, relatively speaking, but it's also a bit out of the way on the map. I think that two major rails pass by it, but you need to take the trains for a few days if you want to get there."

"Huh. That's neat, I guess. I'm from…south of Mistral."

"Southern Mistral?"

For some reason, Blake looked away, unable to meet Jaune's eyes. "From an island on the south coast of Mistral."

"Anywhere near Menagerie?" Jaune asked.

That got her attention back. Blake's neck moved so fast one might have thought her in danger of breaking it. "You know about Menagerie?"

"Well, sure. It's a huge place. As big as Patch, and ten times as populated. I mean, I live in Remnant. I know it's geography as much as anyone."

"But…But…But…I've met Faunus who've never heard of Menagerie."

Jaune didn't really know what to say to that. He was aware that education tended to be lower quality when you looked at predominantly Faunus schools, solely in terms of budget and resources provided, but he saw no way of bringing up that topic without sounding like a racist, so he just shrugged. There was no reason to needlessly fall out of grace with his Faunus benefactor over being mistaken as insulting her entire species' education.

His own education was a good one. Jaune wasn't stupid – he actually had nearly straight A grades, except for art class. The only problem was that he'd learned after the fact that huntsmen had different education systems from normies. Apparently, you had to go to a special thing called a primary combat school in order to become one, and that fact wasn't really well advertised.

It's not fair. I spent my whole life thinking that if I put in the work, studied hard, and did well in high school, I'd get to go to Beacon, but then I found out that I was in the wrong school entirely? And I only found out when I graduated? I mean, I had no other choice but to be a fraud. It just wasn't fair, you know?

If anything, it was the huntsmen at fault for his fall from grace here. They didn't tell regular people how and when to start the process, which made the entire career start to sound like some insular community where you had to know someone to get it. One of the few facts about huntsmen that he did know was that kids of existing huntsmen tended to make up 70% of the primary combat school population.

I wonder if something similar happened to Blake. Could she not get into a school? Is it because she's a Faunus?

It didn't matter in the end, as he couldn't ask. She'd explicitly requested they leave that part of their backstories alone, so he would respect her wishes. He certainly wanted his own privacy on that matter, after all.

Their conversation had sort of lulled, and Jaune couldn't really remember the last thing they'd been talking about – where they were from or something?

Maybe if he talked shop, it would be good? Actually, come to think of it, they probably needed to.

"Hey, so, how're we gonna do this?" Jaune asked. Blake didn't seem prepared to answer his vague question, so he clarified. "I mean, what is our plan for finding and killing the Grimm? We're both young, and we've never worked together before, so how are we gonna divvy up work? Do we split up or do we fight together? What's your weapon, and how does it work? This just feels like stuff we should know about one another…right?"

"I was just thinking I could…"

Blake paused and bit her lips. She was basically the brains of the operation, so Jaune figured he would give her as much time as she needed. As their resident real hunter, she was the one who actually knew how missions like this were supposed to go.

"I'll…how about we see how it goes?" she offered unsurely.

See…how it goes? That doesn't really sound great…but maybe normal hunters operate this way? That doesn't explain why she sounds so unconvinced herself.

"I always get the best measure of a fellow hunter when I see them in the field," Blake explained, some confidence returning to her voice as she elaborated. "I mean, I can't really determine how best to team up. It's not like I can just say 'I'm an agile fighter' or something. That could mean a million different things."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay." Blake started nodding, and Jaune joined along with her. "We'll see how it goes."

Ultimately, Blake was right about them being called earlier if they waited at the airship place. Jaune had no idea if the waits were usually long to get a private bullhead rented to take them to a place needing a hunter, but he imagined that a fifty-minute wait had to be pretty short.

She really knows her stuff.

Before they left, they did end up showing off their weapons to one another, since that was something that they could just explain without a Beosa in front of them or whatever the Grimm was called.

It was kinda embarrassing, to be able to offer nothing to their partnership except a sword that was made redundant by Blake's own sword. And her sword was also a cleaver and a gun and a ribbon and a hookshot and a…gods, it was so much!

Stupid family heirlooms…stupid hunters…

Jaune bit his tongue as penance for that though. His opinion of hunters, especially those like Ozpin who kept the job to those within the club, was lowering with every day he spent among them, but Blake – she was an angel. His guardian angel, in fact. Honestly, Jaune was beginning to wonder if she'd been sent by a divine being to look after him.

I'm just lucky to have a pro-huntress watching my back. I don't wanna say I'm glad she got kicked out, but…

Coming Soon: Human Shield

It's time for Jaune Arc to pull his weight.

Chapter Text

This fucking human…

Every time he so much as breathed, Blake felt a chill run down her neck, as though his harmless antics were going to be the end of her carefully crafted plans. He asked about licenses and then brought it up again, he grilled her about the Grimm for some reason, digging into where she was from…and then, the worst one of the bunch, asking about how they would split up the work.

I was just gonna kill more Grimm and then argue that I deserve more lien.

Assuming that he really was checked out when Ozpin had revealed Blake's felonious past, he didn't yet know that she was ex-Fang. As long as it remained that way, Blake wasn't in any danger from the police.

If Arc starts becoming more trouble than he's worth to keep around as a human-human interface, I can just grab his check and flip. Handling a primary school dropout or whatever he really is is fine, but I really don't want the police hounding me over what Adam and I did on that train.

Lemuria Settlement was coming into view from their slightly rickety bullhead (it still passed all of the inspections or it wouldn't be flying, but she had a feeling that it was the kind of airship taxi agency that the high quality pros didn't use). The town was probably only a few dozen kilometers away from Vale, and the fact that they could regularly get shipments of materials showed. The streets of Lemuria were paved with asphalt, not the more common alternatives like cobblestone or just even dirt. Their town walls and gate were more focused on being aesthetically pleasing than they were on functioning, and Blake had to wonder how a ritzy place like this even survived.

I sure hope it's not by splurging on cream-on-the-crop hunters, because the only thing Jaune and I can offer is being cheap. My big plan was to offer them a discount if things go dicey at any point…

All in all, it felt more like a neighborhood that belonged within the city than a settlement on the frontier. Blake imagined that some rich fucks probably wanted more space than the government was willing to offer them within Vale itself and decided to just make it for themselves.

"We're here," the pilot declared, setting down just outside the village walls. He did some sort of arm gesture to the lone watchman of the gate, which was responded to with a different one. Blake was familiar with Atlesian and Menagerian gestures, call signs, lingo, and even leetspeak, but Vale was entirely new to her.

The pilot cleared his throat. "Listen here, kids. I ain't paid to wonder why two teens are comin' out here and doin' mishin's, so I won't even ask. Ya contract is 36 hours, so I'll be back here in a smooth 36. If you ain't in this very same fucken' spot, youse can find ya own way home. Capiche?"

Blake nodded succinctly.

"We're reading you loud and clear, Mr. Pilot, sir," said Arc. "You can count on us to be here. This very spot!"

Please let him not be like this for three full days.

In spite of the odd looks he was giving them, the pilot stayed true to his promise to not give a fuck why two obviously unlicensed children were taking on pro-hunter missions and popped out an old, outdated model of a scroll as they disembarked. Two minutes later, Blake and Jaune were watching him fly away as they approached the settlement.

"I'll let you do the talking," Jaune said with a smile.

Blake shook her head. "Sadly, that isn't how it works. Not with these." She wiggled her ears to prove a point.

"Couldn't you put back on the scarf?"

"Scarf –?"

Blake nearly stopped dead in her tracks. She'd entirely forgotten that she could just…just…

Except Beacon saw right through it. I tried to put a bow on my ears, but any time they twitched, it would be visible. And I really can't imagine doing missions fighting Grimm and not losing whatever baseball cap I used to substitute for it.

Blake explained the points to Jaune, watching as he made little noises of agreement every now and again like 'yuh-huh' and 'gotcha.'

There was also some element of personal pride to this. Blake didn't want to cover up if she didn't have to; the problem was that she seriously believed she had to.

I'd rather eat than live proudly. But maybe I can do both, she pondered as she looked at Jaune. If he does his job, and he does it well, and he doesn't fuck it up, maybe it'll be worth it to keep him on as a distraction against prejudices. I can always go back to the bow, but burning bridges with my meal ticket of a man isn't something I get to take back.

The man at the wall retreated into the village when he saw them coming, leaving Blake and Jaune to stare at the gates as they waited for him to return.

"Is it normally this long?" Jaune asked after about a minute.

Blake nodded, having no idea at all. "Perfectly normal. We'll be fine, Jaune. Just…I'm sure a gentleman like you can be charming, right? If they start staring above my forehead for too long, charm 'em, right?"

"Charm 'em. Got it, ma'am." He gave her a little mock salute.

Eventually, the large twin doors, both embossed with metal flora patterns, opened up to let the juvenile hunters in. Blake and Jaune were greeted by the sight of the watchman standing behind a well-dressed man she assumed was the mayor and a woman that his arm was wrapped around (all humans, naturally). It could have been his wife, or it could have been his secretary for all she knew. Maybe even both.

"Gree…uh." His smile almost immediately faded. "I…are you…aren't you both a little young?"

"Common misconception, sir," Blake bullshitted. "Most huntsmen and huntresses graduate from a four year academy, but there are accelerated tracks that enable those who need to start supporting their families early to complete their classes earlier. These are merely less common but perfectly standard, I assure you. My partner and I are both nineteen."

"Uh, yeah." Jaune nodded. "As my associate described, we are members of these specialized classes. All above board."

How utterly charming. Blake knew she couldn't openly roll her eyes at Jaune's utter dunderheadedness, so she vowed to just subtract his blundering speech from his paycheck when the time came.

"I'm afraid I've never heard of…ah, but it's been such a long time since I've been to the kingdoms, and I can't even recall my last visit to Beacon. Was it the prior Vytal Festival?"

"Three festivals ago, dear," said the woman hanging from his side.

Dear, so that means wife, then. Or mistress.

"Just to be sure, would you both mind showing us your licenses?" said the watchman. "Just to be sure…I'm sure you understand."

Blake didn't really know if it was because she was a Faunus or if it was because their story smelled like bullshit from a mile away, but Jaune evidently took the request as a byproduct of racism and stepped in to earn his keep.

Approaching the mayor and not the watchman for some reason, he placed one arm on the man's shoulder and started walking forward with no clear direction, compelling the man to step in tune with him. "We gladly would, sir, but I'm afraid we're currently waiting for provisional licenses to be mailed to us. You see, the guy in the Beacon Office of the Registrar, he was supposed to send them to us at the end of the last scholastic year, but then there was a screw-up where they double-printed another teams and just sent those to us. And you know what happens when the documentation gets mixed up." Jaune affected an overdramatic roll of his eyes. "It got to the point where we had to submit a 77-T form just to get approved to complete missions, and those take forever, but Blake and me, I mean, the whole reason we did this was to get out into the field and start doing missions as soon as possible."

They were about fifteen feet away from where they started now, and Jaune abrupted turned around to face the people he and the mayor had left behind.

"Blake, you've got the 77-T's, right?"

Blake wasn't really sure what the fuck he meant, but the only thing she had on her was the manila envelope with her own forged application form within, so she nodded. She hadn't wanted to leave the checks back at the airship rental place, so she'd stuffed all of the papers (her own and Jaune's 'borrowed' ones) into her pocket.

"Here, let's show the good…governor? Mayor? Mayor, is it? Blake, why don't you take out the form just so the mayor and our employers can see it."

He'd gone too far. The form was clearly an application and not whatever made up 'T-seventy' forms he was going on about, and it would show. Still, Blake knew that backing out now would only be even more suspicious, so she stepped forward a few paces to catch up and handed Jaune the manila envelope and desperately prayed that he had a plan beyond just showing it to the mayor.

Jaune plucked his own application out of the folder and handed it to the mayor. "As you can see, all of the paperwork is in order for a Young Minds and Hearts Program exemption to begin hunting before the second quarter provisional period wears off. You can check Line 21 on the second page – it's all in order."

"Hmmm, now let me see…Line 21. Can the applicant provide three recommendations…hmm." The mayor looked up from the paper at Jaune.

"The envelope has the official seal of Beacon Academy," Jaune added, unfolding the slightly crumpled white envelope in which the check came.

He'd gone way too far, and he was flubbing it all up. The 77-whatever form hadn't even come in the white envelope; Jaune had visibly taken it out of the much larger manila envelope in front of the mayor. In order words, he'd screwed them over in his panic.

So much for our first mission.

"Well, it all looks in order, young man." The mayor patted Jaune on the shoulder. "Congratulations on your graduation, then."

"Thank you, sir. This is my teammate and my fourth mission, and we're very eager to help out."

How…How did he…HOW?

With the many years of White Fang infiltration and subterfuge behind her, Blake was too well trained to let the astonishment she was feeling register on her face, but that didn't change the fact that she utterly bewildered.

He just waved a paper in front of the man and…is this what it's like to be a human? I was practically spat on when I tried to find a job in Vale.

"Let me show you both to your accommodations first," said the mayor. "Red, would you please be so kind as to escort our huntsmen friends to the hotel? Ms. Sanford should have a room set up for them."

The man nodded his head. "Of course, sir."

"And please provide them with the more detailed briefing of their assignment."

"Of course, sir."

The mayor and his wife departed at that point, apparently only having wished to meet and greet their hired hunters and not actually have to deal with them. That job was left to the watchman who'd seen them coming.

It wasn't the most beautiful hotel Blake had ever seen (that honor went to an Atlesian resort she'd helped the White Fang destroy two years ago), but it was most certainly the fanciest hotel Blake had ever been in without having had to force entry. Real carpeting on the floor, a modest chandelier in the lobby, fresh coats of paint over every visible spot of wood – this was the real deal. Most places outside the walls of the kingdoms didn't tend to have such luxurious accommodations. Most places outside the kingdoms struggled to have running water.

They were led by Red the watchman to the front desk, where a portly lady seemed to recognize who they all were. The two townspeople exchanged a greeting, and the woman typed a code into a vault behind the desk. After pressing a fingerprint to the vault, it opened up, revealing a grid of cubby-like slots where individual keys were placed.

The code was 4-4-1-1-6, but I've no way to replicate the fingerprint without the woman herself. If I really needed to, I guess I could knock her unconscious and drag her –

NO! No, what am I thinking? I left the White Fang because I wanted to avoid getting up to that kind of crap. And it's not like I'm even going to need access to any rooms in this hotel or something. Damn, I guess old habits really do die hard.

The key exchanged hands between the woman and the watchman, and then once again between the watchman and Blake's new partner. Arc was handed a scroll as well.

"Your room is on the first floor in Corridor A. You'll find all of the information you need on there, sir and madame. Thank you for your service."

With that, he left.

The woman remained behind her desk, so Blake followed the signs towards Corridor A as quickly as possible to avoid her human gaze. It wasn't like she was going to see through their fabricated identities by just looking at them or something, but the less time they spent in the public eye, the better.

As soon as the door was locked, Blake turned on Jaune.

"How did you do that?" Blake hissed, taking care to not raise her voice too loud. It would be paranoid to assume the room was bugged when this was just a common hunting assignment, but the eavesdropping owner was only a room away.

"With the mayor guy?" Jaune rubbed the back of his neck in that same unconfident way. "Heh, it wasn't really all that much…"

"Was it because you're a human?" she asked, momentarily losing herself in her curiosity and stepping into his personal space to get a closer look at him. "Is it that easy for you people?"

"You people? Isn't that – y-yeah. But no, it's not…I mean, that might be a part of it, but it's really just people skills, basic logic, and a bit of experience behind my belt."

"Tell me how!" Blake insisted. If she could learn this skill, then there would be no more need to lug the buffoon around with her, which would mean a substantial pay raise for herself when she no longer needed to split the rewards.

"Okay, okay!" In spite of his words making it sound like he should be aggravated by her forceful approach, the boy actually had a slightly flustered smile on his face – he was clearly tickled pink at being the talented one at something. "A lot of it was just me improv-ing, but people want to believe you. That mayor guy and his girlfriend, they don't want us to be…to be…they want us to be a real pair of hunters. It's easier for them, so they'll be more inclined to believe an excuse."

"But you handed him an application to Beacon! It's labeled on the first page."

Jaune nodded. "Which I why I immediately directed him to some random schtick on the second page. And the important part about that wasn't what I actually handed him. It was that it looked official enough that he would trust it at first glance. If it had been a newspaper, he would've seen through it, but it was a legit Beacon form, so I could count on it to look legit.

"The fact that I just handed it to him made it all the more trustworthy too. If you flash a paper in front of someone and tell them to believe you, no one will buy it for a hot minute, but if you give them the paper, that buys a lot of trust. It's not like he wanted to read the full document or something; he just wanted something to prove to him that he didn't need to worry about this. I gave it to him, and he accepted."

It was that easy? No way…Blake had been in the White Fang for years, and she'd competently lied about herself plenty of times, but she'd never just been trusted with a little confidence and a flashy smile. It had to be human-human trust bias.

"You talked about provisional periods," she said, eyeing Jaune cautiously. "What was all that?"

"I just threw out some real-sounding words and hoped he'd buy it. What's the alternative? He either memorizes and privately checks every single little thing, or he humiliates himself in front of his girl and his employee by asking what it means. It's just…easier for him to believe it."

It may have been easier for the mayor to believe it, but it certainly wasn't for Blake. There was no way this guy was such a convincing liar. This was a species thing, no doubt about it.

"You would've made a good conman," Blake said nonetheless, for credit was due to the boy for playing his role perfectly. He'd gotten them out of a tight spot, and recognition for his efforts cost her nothing of value.

He shrugged and stretched his arms above his head. "I've spent four years getting into and out of the usual types of trouble you find in high school, so I've had plenty of time to hone the craft of BS-ing."

Blake's attention immediately jumped to the part of the sentence that didn't fit. "High school…? Don't you mean –"

"N-No!" Arc almost instantaneously shouted, probably loud enough for the hotel clerk to hear them. His voice dropped down when next he spoke. "No, yeah, I mean, I…I…I said the types of trouble you'd find in high school, but just the types of trouble. I didn't go to high school; I went to primary combat school. Signal, specifically."

It might have just been an odd turn of phrase, but the reactionary way he responded, coupled with the fact that he seemed to recognize what his mistake had been before she'd fully called him out on it, painted a slightly different picture. Beacon had kicked this young man out of their school for a forged transcript, and he was implying he'd gone to high school instead of primary combat school.

"Hey, Jaune."

Jaune gulped audibly, a feat Blake hadn't even known was possible before he did it in front of her. "Yes, Blake?"

"How much combat experience do you have beneath your belt, exactly? In terms of years?"

"Um…less than average, let's say."

It was tempting to grin like the smug animal from which her trait was based, but Blake knew better than to let her opponent know when they were at a disadvantage during negotiations.

"Oh, Jaune…that won't be good when we come face to face with the Grimm. I mean, going into battle with hordes of monsters with only partial training? Swarms of Alpha Beowolves, Ursai Major, whatever other sorts of monsters might be out there that we don't even know about yet, all face to face with a young huntsman who's only just begun his journey…that sounds like a recipe for disaster."

Jaune bit his lip in fear as the bleak picture was painted. It felt wrong to torment this boy so (who she knew didn't respond well to stress) in order to secure a favorable deal, but if he agreed to it, it was technically fair, and that was enough to assuage Blake's conscience. It wasn't like she was actually throwing him to the Grimm – just suggesting it.

"Well, I just so happen to be…above average, let's say, when it comes to combat experience." Blake knew she had him when she saw his reaction to that, so she brought it home. "Maybe, when the fighting starts, I should handle more of it. Just to make sure that you're safe. You understand, right?"

Jaune nodded vigorously. "Y-Yeah ."

"I mean, we might want to adjust our paychecks when the mission ends to fit – only because I'll need to reimburse myself for the Dust I use. That sounds fair to you, right? Me doing more of the work and getting a bit more of the pay? Maybe…eighty-five, fifteen?"

There was no resistance. Jaune agreed to Blake's bargain almost instantly.

This time, she really had to turn away from him, because there was no way she could restrain her cattish smile.

Coming Soon: Should I Stay or Should I Go

Into the woods they go, unaware that it's the crucible by which their sturdy team will be wrought.

Chapter Text

Go in, stick to Blake like glue, watch her obliterate the Grimm, learn as much as I can, go out. No problem. Simple. Simple as a pimple.

Jaune was still nervous as he walked alongside his partner into the treeline. Lemuria Settlement was fading into the ocean of green as they strode further and further through the unpaved wilderness.

It's probably normal. My first mission is giving me jitters – I bet every young huntsman gets this feeling every now and again.

Blake had kinda made it sound…rough, though. They hadn't run into any Grimm yet, but he knew they were going to eventually.

She's just worried about me. And after all of the kindness she's shown me, I owe it to her to stick around and do, uh, whatever it is I can to help.

He still hadn't logicked that one out yet. This partnership of theirs, it was moving at light speed, and the pace was almost alarming to Jaune. They'd met up yesterday just out of random chance, having been the two students to be kicked out of Beacon at the same time, and now they were in cahoots? Like, something about that just seemed rushed.

It wasn't like we had a lot in common or something to justify us needing one another; just the whole kicked-out thing. She didn't know me, and I didn't know her, and now we're…are we friends? Are we partners? I still feel like I barely know her. I think I can still count the number of times we've spoken to one another on one hand.

Make no mistake, Jaune was happy to have her. It may have been fast, and it may have honestly seemed a bit like an alliance of necessity rather than a real emotional bond between companions, but he wasn't going to disrupt their apparent harmony by questioning Blake.

There was always the possibility that she was taking him for a ride down the primrose path, but she didn't really seem like the type to do that to a guy, especially not one she was commiserating with. And besides, if she were conning him, what would she even be conning him for? Jaune brought nothing to their relationship.

Blake was already holding onto both of their checks from Ozpin, so it couldn't be the money. More money, from the mission? A free slave to do the work for her? But Blake was the one who'd asked him if she could do all of the hunting! He was getting a free ride and a potential payday at the end of this. Even if it was less than hers, it was more than 0%, which was what he was contributing professionally to their little business arrangement.

If I stepped back and looked at this whole thing objectively, I'm pretty sure that I'm the one conning her. I sit back, do no work, and get free lien for the effort. Hell, I'm even getting to watch a pro-huntress in action, which is probably something little junior trainee kids would pay for the opportunity to do.

Free money, one partner doing all the work while the other slacks off, Blake caring for me like this…is she a simp or something?

The mission they had was a fairly simple one. Fall was coming, meaning that the village was going to be receiving a portion of Vale's economic surge when the annual music festival started up in the form of tourism. Lemuria had some big hot springs or lakehouse resort or something – Jaune had only skimmed the mission briefing since he wasn't going to be working – and they needed to be ready to host people who came their way, hence the need for a couple (or, in truth, single) of hunters to clear out the surrounding forests.

The watchman at the gate reported seeing Beowolves and Ursai nearby, which meant there was a pack or tribe of those two somewhere, so they were also expected to destroy those. There were no secondary objectives, no special Grimm, no nothing – a simple 'find and kill' job. Find as many Grimm as they could, kill them all. Simple as the aforementioned pimple.

Jaune couldn't help but wipe the sweat from his brow. It was partly from the heat of lugging around his Arc family armor and weapon, but nervousness was also an element to it.

"We'll be fine," Jaune breathed to himself.

"Huh? You say something?"

Jaune shook his head. Anxious or not, he wasn't going to be the guy who distracted the professional huntress when she was on the scent.

Even though he had no intention of fighting, he still had Crocea Mors drawn and at the ready…though that was mainly so that the sheath could be transformed into a shield. Jaune's big plan was to hide behind his weaponry, maybe swishing and slashing a Grimm if it got too close, and watching Blake massacre the Grimm.

So much for not being the damsel. Still, I probably can learn a lot from this. I'll study her movements with her sword and then just apply them to myself. It should be easy. By the next mission, I'm sure I'll be just as useful as her.

"Hold." Blake held up a hand behind her.

"What is it?" Jaune asked desperately. "Is it Grimm? Are they near?"

"What do you think?" Blake asked softly.

"U-Uh, p-probably?"

"No, Jaune, that was a rhet– never mind. And voices down, if you don't mind. Grimm aren't really known for stealth, so we'll know when they're nearby. When you see the wave of clawed paws and a mouthful of teeth barreling towards you, that's when you know they're here. Right now, I just think we should pause and take stock of ourselves."

"Uh…sure. Yeah, what's up?" he asked in a softer voice, as per Blake's request. Jaune looked around and saw that the village from which they'd come was long gone. To be fair, they had been walking for a while. "Are we doing a snack break or something?"

"No." Blake's stern look faded after a second. "I mean, I guess you can. But just listen to what I have to say, m'kay?"

Jaune reached into his backpack to fish a water bottle and a sealable baggie of trail mix out, then gave Blake his full and undivided attention.

"I was thinking. About our plan of action, when we get to the Grimm."

Jaune nodded along, flicking a chocolate candy into his mouth.

"It might be best if I were to go on ahead and –"

"Nmho!" Bits of chocolate flew out of Jaune's mouth as he rushed to oppose that suggestion. Swallowing to be polite once he'd realized how gross that was, Jaune repeated himself. "No. I-I don't think that might be best, Blake."

"I can work best alone, Jaune. It's for your own good. We'll keep the same division of paym–"

"Blake, you can have the lien, just let me watch! I'll never become a…the only way I can…look, I just need to watch. I can pull up videos of huntsmen fighting on RemnTube, but it's just not the same thing. If I can just watch, even from a distance…"

Maybe he didn't need to watch a huntress in action, but Jaune certainly felt like it was essential. He'd already lost Beacon, and then he'd lost his chance to actually do stuff during his first mission. If he didn't get to even go on it, it would just be one too many sacrifices. The dream that fueled him, the desperate desire to become a hero, had been gradually slipping away further and further, and Jaune had just been passively letting it up to this point.

Well, no more. It was time for him to be a man and stand his ground!

"Please!" Jaune begged, slapping his hands together and getting down on his knees.

"Jaune, please qui–"

"I'll do anything! You…You can have the full reward, just let me at least go with you!" Crawling forward on his knees, he dragged himself right up to Blake's legs. "Please don't take this last thing away from me, Blake, I'm literally begging you!"

"Jaune, stop speaking so loud!"

"GRRRRRR!"

"Shit," Blake hissed. She pivoted around on one leg and entered a much combat stance that was much lower to the ground. Her sword drawn, he rapidly scanned the trees until her head stopped in one spot.

Jaune followed her line of sight to see a hulking black and white abomination charging their way, knocking aside branches and shrubs as it did. It was also noticeably larger than he'd been expecting, probably the size of a tank. Judging from the way it batted aside entire trees like they were mere sticks, it might have been just as bulky as one.

"Minor! Fuck!"

Blake kicked off the ground and launched onto the side of a tree, from which she kicked off again and sailed towards another. Jaune could only watch in amazement as she agilely leapt from trunk to trunk, never touching the ground as she approached her opponent.

Dodging an overhead swipe from the thick, fluffy-looking paw of the Major thing, Blake run her sword down its back, eliciting an ear-piercing roar.

"GHHHRRROOOORRAAAAHHHHRR!"

Jaune belatedly realized that, if his loud voice had been what alerted this one Grimm to their location, that dying warcry probably was the flare that announced their presence to the entire forest.

And it's not even dead yet! She's still going to town on this big boy!

Blake's sword had somehow transmorphed into a gun and was loading the Grimm full of lead at the legs. She didn't stop when it turned around and tried to dive for her, only jumping up and kicking off another tree to avoid the blow. The sword-turned-gun of hers kept firing at the same spot on the Grimm's leg until something in it tore, and the entire limb flopped off onto the forest floor.

"KKKKRRRYYYYAAAARRRGGG! GRYYAARKK!"

Blake brushed her hair, inspecting her own destruction before curtly nodding and turning back to him. "Jaune, I think it's time you…shit, your six!"

Huntsman or not, Jaune immediately knew that six meant something was behind him and turned around. When the Grimm behind him batted him aside like a whiffleball, Jaune realized it would probably have been better to have ducked rather than turned to face his attacker, but at least he'd protected his body with his already raised shield.

His moment of victory didn't last long, however, as the ground came his way by force of gravity. Jaune slid he landed on his butt, and he was moving so fast that he actually flipped over entirely and ate a mouthful of dirt. The friction hurt the exposed patches of his skin on his face like they'd been dipped in Fire Dust and lit ablaze, and Jaune accidentally bit down on his own tongue as he grunted in agony.

That hurt! Aerrgggh, GODS, that really hurt!

Something yanked on the back of his armor, and before Jaune knew it, he was flying through the air again, but this time away from the Beo-dude that had struck him the first time.

His back collided with something hard, but it was armored and didn't induce the same pain as the initial hit. It still hurt, but the impact was dulled.

I guess that's what good armor is meant for.

"Hold on, Jaune," said Blake's voice. Jaune pivoted his head to see that her weapon, switching into yet another form, had hooked him by the back of his chest plate and reeled him in like a fishing hook and line. She was perched a few meters above him in a super tall redwood tree, and she was reeling him up to safety.

Beneath them both was a small but increasing horde of Grimm, barking and howling and yipping like rabid animals. Jaune had heard about Grimm, and he'd even seen pictures, but he now realized that that was absolutely not enough. Pictures and descriptions were static, and it was the ravenous movements of these monsters that truly instilled the fear of the God of Darkness in him. They tore at the tree, digging their claws into the bark and dragging them down as far as they could into the dirt, screeching raw, primal cries of hatred at the people just above.

"Jaune, take my hand!"

Still staring down at the swarming Grimm gang beneath him, Jaune stuck his arm straight up. Even he couldn't see Blake's hand to take it, he was going to have to trust her to grab his arm, because there was no way he was going to be able to tear his eyes away from those bloodthirsty creatures down at the base of the tree.

"I'm pulling you up, okay? Hold…on…ergh…tight!"

Jaune was hoisted to safety, joining Blake on the branch. It was a sturdy one that she'd chosen, certainly strong enough to hold their combined weight and that of their weapons. Blake stood upright on it, sword in one hand, while Jaune just sat his butt down with his legs dangling down. They were probably forty meters in the air, far away from the hungry monsters that were trying (and fortunately failing) to climb their way up the bark of the redwood.

"I'm okay," Blake said. "I just…you yelled, and I hadn't been expecting them, so I…dammit. I don't think I have enough bullets to shoot them one by one, and there's too much swarm for me to safely go back down."

Jaune had no ideas, but even if he had some, he was too shocked from the whole experience to actually say them. Now that he was out of the immediate line of fire, it was slowly beginning to sink in that he'd nearly been killed just now. If that Beogrimm had swiped just a little bit higher, it would've torn his armor rather than impacting his shield. If it had been a bit higher than that, his head would be lying on the ground next to his decapitated body, to be used by the Grimm as a football.

Blake…Blake saved my life back there.

"Th-Thank you," Jaune managed to stutter. His savior wasn't really paying much attention to him, but he didn't want her to think he wasn't appreciative.

"I…I guess you get to participate in the mission like you wanted," Blake said, staring down. She aimed her gun and started taking shots. Jaune watched her aim with lethal accuracy, sniping some of the smaller Grimm with one bullet to the neck each. "Once I run out of ammo, we're going to have to split them. I'll do what I can, but you'll need to watch my back, okay?"

"I…I…what?! There's no way I can fight those things! They've gotta be twice my size, and there're hundreds of them!"

"Only about forty by my count," Blake said matter-of-factly, exploding the brains of another Beogrimm as its body disappeared.

"Forty…that's still a total of eighty times my size! Probably a hundred since some of the bigger Beogrimms are –"

"Beowolves," Blake corrected. "The bigger ones are…"

Her brow furrowed, and she stopped shooting for a second to shoot Jaune a confused, slightly baffled look.

"Have you never seen a Beowolf before?"

"I…I…no. I told you, I'm not really big on experience. Like…zero, okay?" Jaune buried his head into his hands in shame, too embarrassed to even meet Blake's eyes lest they judge him for his lies. "I have no experience. None at all."

It was embarrassing to admit this to the woman who'd practically carried his sorry butt this far, but she needed to know he was a fraud if she was expecting him to watch his back.

"Jaune, you're bleeding." Blake stepped over, kneeling on the branch in front of him. She reached a hand down and touched the scratch on his neck. Coated in his blood, her fingers rubbed together. "You're…You're bleeding."

"Yeah." Jaune's initial response was more shame, but then he realized that it wasn't some big embarrassing thing to have blood come out when you got cut. "Uh…is that a problem?"

"You don't have…"

"Don't have what, Blake?"

"ROOOOOAAAAAAR!"

The incessant noise of the Grimm below was interrupted by a uniquely loud bellow. Both teenagers looked down from their place of safety to see another Minor thing, the same type Blake had killed first, was down below, but this guy was a lot bigger. Like, the biggest Grimm Jaune had ever seen. Granted, he'd only seen them in person starting today, but this was a solid five meters tall. If the one she killed was a Minor, Jaune would have been willing to bet cold hard lien that this was a Major.

"Fuck me, is that a Major?" Blake said.

Hah, got it in one.

The Major let out another roar, this one loud enough to force Jaune to cover his ears before his eardrums ruptured. That thing can really sing!

Slamming its paws down on the ground, the Major smashed its head into the tree and made the entire redwood creak. Jaune's heart did backflips when the sound of splintering wood came from below as the Major kept headbutting the tree.

"We need to get to another tree, Blake!"

But Blake didn't respond. For some reason, she was a girl transfixed, staring at the blood that coated her fingers. The look on her face wasn't one of fear in spite of the deathly circumstances in which they found themselves; it would have been better described as deep focus.

"If you're coming up with a plan, make it quick!" Jaune pointed to the Grimm. "That thing's gonna take us down if we stay here for another ten seconds!"

With another blaring roar, the Major pummeled its mighty fists into the dirt, then leaned back for a final head-smash against the tree. However, it never came.

Beneath its very feet, the ground around the Grimm simply collapsed. The Grimm itself fell down into the hole as it began to widen in diameter and swallow up everything around it. Dirt, fallen branches, other Grimm – everything came collapsing down as Remnant itself opened up to consume them.

It was almost geometric in the way that a near perfect circle with crisp lines began to form around both Jaune's tree and the Grimm as more and more ground gave way.

Hey, I recognize this. It's a sinkhole, like the one they showed on the news that swallowed up that house in Mistral! The surface layer of rock or soil starts to collapse, and –

Evidently, nothing was safe, for the tree fell into the widening gyrepit before Jaune could even finish the thought.

When the dirt cleared, they were all of them trapped below the surface in a pit that was probably the size of ten to twelve washing machines. The sky was still visible from above at the top of the circular cavern into which they'd been plunged.

A lot of the Grimm had survived and were in the process of unburying themselves from the roots and rocks that covered their body, so Jaune and Blake weren't in the clear yet. Also, it was going to be a bit of a challenge to get out of this place. The tree's base had gone straight down and collided with the bottom of the cylindrical sinkhole (probably crushing a few Grimm on the way if the black stains on its roots were any indicator), but without its root system, there was nothing to keep it upright. Thus, it had tilted until the top hit a side of the sinkhole and got lodged into the wall of the pit. It was probably only four or five meters to the ledge, but the uneven walls didn't look safe enough to climb on.

Jaune himself had taken the tumble without any grace, losing his footing and slamming right into the branch he'd been standing on stomach-first, but Blake was still upright. As he painstakingly pulled himself up and gasped for breath, she looked down at him and then up to the surface again.

"Grrrrrrr…"

"Crap," Jaune cursed. "The Grimm are coming!"

The tree, now angled at roughly 60 degrees off the ground, was no longer unclimbable. The Grimm, digging their claws into the bark, slowly began to ascend it. One by one, in a straight line, they began the painstaking process of inching their way up, snarling the whole time.

Oh, and to make matters worse, the pit was starting to collapse even more! It wasn't as quickly as before, but Jaune could see the soil shifting down below, and the tree was slowly scraping against the wall as freedom and sunlight began to grow further and further away.

"Blake! If you had some great escape idea, now's the time!"

Never before had Jaune been so powerless, but petty feelings like pride abandoned his mind as the Grimm got closer and the forest above got farther. The only thing he could even consider right now was him and his partner getting out of this alive.

"Okay. Okay, I'll…I'll do it, Jaune."

"Blaaaake," Jaune groaned, grabbing a small cluster of leaves and chucking them at the Grimm. "Hurry!"

Abruptly and with no warning, Blake was up in Jaune's face, far too close for comfort. If she leaned forward, she could probably have kissed him.

"For it is in justice that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become paragons of warfare and grandeur to defend all. Liberated from cruelty and champions for the downtrodden, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, oblige thee."

Jaune's body exploded.

Okay, not literally, but it felt like every vein and hair and patch of skin and muscle had always been screaming, but now they were screaming in unison. The effect took a lot out of him, and he would have collapsed if not for the fact that he was already partially seated. At the same time, he could instinctively know that he was…better than before. Not feeling better; he was better.

"W-What…" Jaune slurred woozily.

But when he looked up, Blake was no longer there.

Coming Soon: No B in Team

If you only look out for number one, you may find yourself neck deep in number two.

Quick reference graphic:

Chapter Text

There had been no other way.

That was what Blake was telling herself as she leapt from treetop to treetop back to Lemuria to avoid any remaining Grimm that hadn't yet arrived at the party.

There had been no other way.

If she'd stuck around, they would have both been overrun and slaughtered. If she stayed behind, Arc wouldn't have had the means or training to get himself back to safety. Like, come on! Sneaking into Beacon without even having his own aura unlocked? That took guts, but it was also a fast way to start seeing those guts…strewn out on the floor.

Unlocking his aura…well, it was for the best for both of them once again. For Jaune, he got a fighting chance against the Grimm. Maybe he would somehow work a miracle and fight his way out. That said, Blake wasn't sure if a vengeance-fueled aura-user with a grudge against her would be a good thing

As for Blake, Jaune's aura being unlocked was necessary because…because…

Aura users tend to attract the Grimm, making it easier for me to flee.

It's more so he had a fighting chance, though! It's not the other thing! I had to do it so that at least one of us could survive! What would the point of us both being torn to shreds by waves of…

Torn to shreds.

Blake suppressed a shudder.

As much as she tried to bury it under cold, unfeeling logic, the fact of the matter was that Blake still felt guilt. She was guilty of a great many things, most of that guilt shared with her ex-boyfriend of many years, but this was probably one of the first things which she could truly claim on her own. No bull Faunus was around to have the blame thrown at his feet this time.

It's okay. He'd probably just jump from the tree or stab himself when he starts getting overwhelmed.

Blake paused.

Wow, isn't it so great that I can be comforted by a man's suicide? A man I didn't even try to save?

If she'd tried to bring him with her, it would have been no different. Those Grimm were clawing their way up the tree, and if Blake and Jaune had climbed out the pit together, the horde would chase after them. Jaune's noble sacrifice would buy Blake enough time for that sinkhole thing to cave in the rest of the way and bury the truth along with her Grimm enemies, her temporary partner, and her own shame.

Lemuria's walls came into view and Blake, entirely unscathed, nimbly hopped among the trees south by southeast back towards it. Even though she hadn't been able to save Jaune, she would make sure these villagers at least knew of his sacrifice so that he could be honored properly.

If there had been any way to save them both, Blake would have taken it. That was no lie. But there hadn't been. If she'd pushed Jaune up and stayed behind herself to hold off the Grimm, he wouldn't even be able to find his way out of the forest. Jaune died the second that Minor heard him yelling and came their way.

No. He died to second he decided to be a huntsman without any training, any knowledge, or any aura. I'm sorry, friend, but you made this choice.

N̶o̶.̶ ̶ ̶B̶l̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶d̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶c̶h̶o̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶c̶h̶o̶i̶c̶e̶.̶

When she arrived at the walls, there was a new watchman on this shift, but he presumably had been given a description of her, for he recognized her on sight.

"Ma'am! You're back!"

Blake nodded. "Would you please let me back in?"

"Of course, ma'am! Were you able to clear the area of Grimm? We heard them roaring in the distance."

They were all trapped in a pit that was probably a few minutes away from being inescapable as it sank down further and further, so she nodded. The Grimm might still be alive down there, but there was no way they could pose any problems for the village and its tourist infestation.

More importantly, if they search the forests, they won't bump into any Grimm, which means they'll believe the mission was a success if they aren't sure.

The gate opened up once more, letting Blake in. This time, the mayor wasn't there to greet her.

Blake waited patiently as the gate closed behind her and the man shuffled down the ladder to the ground.

"I'll take you to the mayor, ma'am. Please, foll…uh…w-wasn't there…weren't there supposed to be…"

Blake didn't have to fake her regret on this one.

"Oh. O-Oh my gods, I am SO sorry, ma'am! Oh my gods, oh my…" The poor guy who looked like he was going to cry shuddered. Despite not ever having seen Jaune, he was probably more affected by his death than Blake at this point.

I've seen so much death in the White Fang that I may as well be desensitized to it.

And now she got to see even more. Blake had hoped she could leave that life behind when she abandoned Adam to his side of the train, but here she was, leaving an innocent man, one whose only sin was trusting her, to his death. She had protested so dearly to killing when she'd been a member of the Fang, but here she was, pretending there was some great difference when she killed by inaction.

I doubt the distinction would matter immensely to the people who died.

As she followed the morose watchman along the paved sidewalk of the settlement towards the largest house, Blake found herself on the receiving end of numerous stares from the citizen who were out and about. For almost all of them, their eyes shot to the top of her head, then to the weapon at her hip, then down to their feet as they powerwalked away nervously.

"We're here, ma'am," said the watchman. "I'll wait outside to escort you back to the gate after you've finalized your business."

Blake thanked the guy and knocked on the door.

"What do you mean he's dead?!"

Blake opened her mouth to speak, but the mayor was beside himself and didn't even give her the chance.

"A dead huntsman? In my village? This is going to be horrendous! And I rubberstamped the whole Huntsman Youth program thing…this could ruin us. A barely licensed child of a huntsman…they'll be looking into this. This could ruin me." The man keeled over and clutched his knees like he was about to vomit.

"He…He fell in the line of duty," Blake stuttered out, only to immediately regret drawing attention to herself.

"You…! Do you have any idea how bad this is?" He rose up and prodded a finger into her neckline, completely ignoring any concerns of personal space. "A dead huntsman…and not just any huntsman. Some accelerated program huntsman with half the experience of a normal one has died here! Beacon's going to be sticking their nose into this!"

Blake recognized this kind of behavior before – it was the same type that Adam displayed before he was about to do something reckless, stupid, violent, or all three. This man was moments away from erupting.

I…I can fix this. Remember what Jaune said. It's just people skills and basic logic. This guy wants to believe me, and if I can throw around enough big words to trick him into thinking it's normal, he's not going to risk making a fool of himself by doubting me.

"Sir, I assure you that Beacon won't be getting involved. You see, in addition to the T-77 forms, we also both signed our names on the Release of Liability waver, as per Beacon regulation 3.4-12. According to the Hunter Corp Code Chapter 9, our deaths are the responsibilities of the local coroner, as pertaining to –

The man just stared at her, squinting his eyes. "What the fuck are you talking about? Hunter Corp Code? What the hell is that?"

"It's quite commonly known in –"

"I don't care!" raged the mayor, throwing his hands into the air like he just didn't care. Blake could tell that he did care, however.

"As my partner assured you, our circumstances are unusual but not illegal. And in terms of liability, there's no need to –"

"You honestly think I trust a word out of your mouth right now?" the human asked her angrily, glaring at her face and head.

It was in that moment that Blake realized that she'd been right the first time. All of the tricks he'd explained to her about how to convince people to believe your bullshit were just nonsense. Jaune hadn't been some suave mastermind whose artful manipulations worked like a charm against the hardest nosed buyers.

It really had just been because he was a pretty-faced human that could shield her against racism.

She'd thrown her human shield away, and she needed him back

"I'm calling Beacon," the mayor said, turning away from her. "And a lawyer. Maybe if I can get ahead of this shitstorm and –"

"Dust."

The man glared at her. "What?"

"Dust. I need a Dust cartridge for my gun. Standard build, SDC, any bullet type."

"And why would I –"

"There's a chance I can get him back. But I need ammo."

"A…"

The mayor's eyes widened when he realized what Blake was saying, but she didn't give him time to say anything.

"It'll be a shitstorm for everyone, not just you, if we have to call this in to Beacon. But if I get him back, there's no problem for anyone. No dead huntsmen, no unlicensed youth programs, no need to report anything to Vale."

"You left your own –"

"No," Blake said, pointedly looking at the human. "I came back for more ammo. And I got it, and now I'm going to go back and rescue my teammate, and it'll be business as usual. A normal huntsman mission completed for your village where nothing went wrong."

Blake raised her eyebrows, waiting for the man to challenge her. As much as he might have stared down at her like she was dirt (and in this case, it wasn't because of the Faunus angle), he could probably also reason out that this would go better for him if Blake could retrieve Jaune. At worst, all he was guilty of then was dealing with potentially unlicensed hunters, not sending a teenager to their death.

"And what's to assure me that you won't just run off with a free magazine once you're beyond the gates?" the man asked.

Blake shrugged. "How about the reward money for the mission? In cash, of course."

"The –! You expect to still be paid after all the trouble you've put me through?!"

Folding her arms, Blake shrugged once more. "The way I see it, this was just business, albeit slightly under-the-table. We killed your Grimm, and you paid us. We'll both sign off on this on the hunter mission boards, and all problems go away. No trouble there. But if you don't mark the work as complete and I don't sign off on having completed it, it'll stand out. That's the kind of thing that might get flagged for an audit."

The man bit down on his teeth. "I'll be subtracting the Dust from your pay."

Blake nodded. "Business expense."

"Go outside. Mr. Parientes, the watchman on duty, can take you to a storeroom where you can get your Dust. Now get out of my sight, you disgusting…"

Disgusting animal. He didn't finish, but she knew what word would have come next if he had. It was something that had been said about Blake by so many other humans before, but this use of the term hurt particularly badly, because she'd given him all the proof he needed to justify calling her that.

I just hope Jaune's okay. If he isn't, I don't think I'll be coming back to Lemuria anytime soon. Hell, I don't think I'll even stay in Vale in that case.

Blake followed her own tracks from before back in the direction of the sinkhole, for she hadn't committed its location to memory (she'd had no reason to, at the time). There was no time to stick to the safety of the trees, not when her continued freedom could hinge on getting to Jaune as quickly as possible. In theory, a single moment could make the entire difference if that was the moment where a Beowolf's jaws gnawed off an arma or an Ursa Major's paws snapped his spine.

She had belatedly realized that it might have been a good call for her to bring some medical supplies with her in case Arc was injured, but it was too late to go back, and begging the mayor for more when she'd already pissed him off this bad was pushing her luck.

He has aura – freshly unlocked, full to the brim, in fact. I was only gone for a short time, and he had the high ground against the Grimm. Plus, the more I carry, the slower I get, and the lower our paycheck is

Blake was getting pretty good at retroactively justifying her sins with pragmatism. If only she'd unlocked this skill earlier; she might never have needed to leave the White Fang. Maybe Blake –

No. Not now. Not when I'm about to have to fight off a horde of eighty Grimm on my own. I can't lose my focus.

Hold on tight, Jaune. I'm coming.

In total, Arc was probably only left defenseless for about fifteen minutes – five to flee, eight to speak to the mayor, and two to return.

Blake saw the carnage that the first wave of Grimm had wrought long before she saw any sign of the sinkhole. When they stampeded, Grimm tended to cause major damage to the vegetation of a forest, leaving behind very clear tracks. Unfortunately, they were too chaotic to determine a direction of, and they'd come from nearly every angles, meaning that when they'd congregated on that tree, most of the human and Faunus tracks that would have led to it were covered.

How do I find him?

"JAUNE!" Blake screamed.

Blake waited two seconds.

"HELP!" he screamed.

Blake sprinted off in the direction his voice had come from.

As she got closer and closer, the snarls of the Grimm gradually increased in volume. Blake came upon the sinkhole a short distance away from where she'd lost the trail.

Diving right in without hesitation would have been heroic, but Blake paused at the edge to assess the situation first.

Arc was still alive, and he wasn't bleeding profusely from any essential body part, so that was a plus. However, he was a lot further down, probably a good twenty meters below the forest floor at this point, and he'd climbed to the near top of the tree. Beneath him, the redwood had been stripped of all branches by the Grimm, which were still actively clawing their way towards him.

Had these Grimm been more intelligent elders, they might have realized that they could just break the tree and send Arc tumbling down into their open jaws, but they weren't intelligent, nor did they have concepts like teamwork or strategy. Their only prerogative was ascending as quickly as possible. To that end, it wasn't a graceful process by which they climbed. The Grimm, moving in single file out of necessity with the biggest at the front, hugged their entire body to the tree and dug their claws in on the other side. Inching up just a little bit at a time, their bark was great, but their bite was their only weapon due to their hands being preoccupied with holding themselves up.

Arc was surviving by keeping his shield raised on one side and swinging his sword in frenzied, desperate movements at the paws of the Grimm on the other. He seemed to have figured out that their faces weren't actually their weakest points; limbs were far thinner and less armored, making them severable.

He's bleeding from his leg. Aura must have boosted his strength, but he's not yet talented enough to seal up a wound.

Popping the reloaded ammunition into Gambol Shroud, Blake fired upon the closest one to Jaune first, then worked her way down. With their stomachs to the tree and their arms in use, the Grimm had no means to shield their defenseless necks or move out of the way of danger, making gunning them down easier than shooting fish in a barrel.

BANGBANGBANGBANG!

She'd brought two backup reloads with her, having decided to play it safe this time, so when the first one was emptied, she just switched it out and tossed the spent magazine aside.

The tree was now fully cleared of Grimm, so Blake sprayed machine-gun fire into the base of the pit. These Grimm weren't busy holding climbing, so they could dive for cover (their sense of self-preservation was at least that good), but it sent them scrambling out of the way.

"JAUNE!" Blake loudly screamed. Gambol Shroud converted into its throwable sickle form, and she hurled it towards him.

He didn't even see it before it had bounds off the rocks near his head, let alone catch it.

"Dammit, Jaune! Catch it!"

She threw it again, this time with more force. The longer she waited with her weapon out of gun form, the more time the Grimm had to realize they weren't actively being fired upon and start climbing up again.

This time, Jaune at least had the wherewithal to try and reach for it, but his timing was so shit that the sickle sailed right by him, and he ended up grabbing thin air.

Blake cursed and converted her weapon back into a firearm the second her ribbon had pulled it back fully. The Grimm were already at the base of the tree and had started to resume their attempts to go after the blond boy at the top.

This time, as Blake fired and took out the odd Grimm here and there, she jogged around the edge of the crater and came over to the side that Jaune was on. If he wasn't going to be able to catch Gambol, there was zero point in throwing it.

"Jaune!" Blake yelled over the shrill patter of the gunfire. "I'm going to lower it down to you, so grab it and hold on! Just hold on!"

He nodded. Blake waited until the Grimm were all reset back to the bottom of the sinkhole, then hastily mechshifted her weapon and dropped down the sickle. This time, Jaune didn't waste a second snatching it and tugging twice on the ribbon for some reason, so Blake hoisted him up to safety.

The young man scrambled onto solid ground and immediately put a safe distance between himself and the crater, crawling on all fours. As Blake converted her weapon back into a gun once more, she glanced over her shoulder and saw him trembling like a newborn gerbil.

As much as she wanted to go over and reassure him that he was okay now, the Grimm took precedence. With nothing to distract them, they were now free to start focusing their efforts on making their way out of the pit and up top to the tasty humans.

Blake reloaded Gambol with the final magazine: Fire Dust. It only took a single shot to hit the bark of the tree and…

Wait, why isn't it catching fire?

The Grimm were now barreling up the tree, and Blake started to get panicked. Another shot of Fire Dust took down the closest monster, but the flames didn't even seem to affect the tree.

I don't have enough rounds of all of them, not after I spent my bullets so recklessly trying to push them away from Jaune. My big plan was to ignite the tree and let them all burn in the pit, but it isn't working!

There weren't any branches or leaves left – the Grimm had methodically shredded those apart – leaving Blake with nothing to aim for.

"Just fucking die!" she screamed, shooting down two more Grimm. It was getting harder now that she needed to converse her ammo, and the Grimm were starting to get higher and higher.

I've only got about ten seconds before the closest one reaches the top of the tree, and I don't have enough rounds left to slow them down for long!

"Why isn't it burning?!"

"Burning?" asked Arc. "W-What?"

"I'm shooting the fucking tree, but it's not catching fire!" Blake screamed.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Fear was making her sloppy, and the first and second shots pinged harmlessly off the Minor's bone plating. Blake wasn't going to have any Fire Dust left shortly, and then it was back to Arc's method – stabbing the Grimm one by one as they clamored up top.

I don't like those odds, not when there are still so many Grimm.

"It's redwood!" Jaune screamed.

"I don't fucking care what color the tree is!" Blake screeched back.

"No! Aim for the scratches! The bark, Blake, the bark!"

Blake had no idea what that idiot was going on about, and she really didn't want to waste another bullet on some theory of his, but there were no other options. After popping the nearest Beowolf through the eye, Blake shot the clawmarks that he'd left behind.

To her great surprise, the Fire Dust actually caused a small flame to catch, but it didn't last long when the next Beowolf's paw smothered it in its quest to climb higher and higher.

"Jaune!" Blake switched Gambol Shroud into a sword. "I'll hold them off, but explain!"

"T-T-The bark of the redwood tree, it's e-extremely thick and fire re-re-resistant," Jaune said shakily.

That would explain why it wasn't burning. Blake held her breath, desperately hoping that her own fear wasn't going to make these ravenous beasts any more dangerous as they finished the climb.

"AND?" she screamed.

It was too wasteful to keep using Dust-bullets, so she now had to wait for the Grimm to climb up before she could cut them down one at a time. It wasn't a working strategy for the long term, but if she could just get the missing pieces of the puzzle from Arc, it would last until she made one.

"The tr-tree itself, the lumber, the wood i-inside, that's flammable, but just barely," Jaune said. Blake could hear the terror in his voice, and she could see it correlating to the Grimm's increasing speed. "You won't be able to light it on fire, not enough to burn down the entire tree. Too much bark coverage, and the air can't get in."

"So how do I burn them out?!" Blake asked, swiping the head off of an Ursa Minor but sustaining a rather painful scratch against the aura on her leg. "Because I don't think I'm going to be able to keep cutting them up at this rate!"

"I don't know! It's evolved exterior defenses to survive forest fires, Blake!"

"Exterior?" Blake asked. Grimm were starting to come out faster than she could keep up with. They were all fresh for the fight, and Blake was starting to tire.

Jaune was keeping a sizeable distance away from the pit, no doubt traumatized by the time he'd been trapped in there, but he was close enough to see Blake fending off the Grimm as they scaled the tree and rock face.

"I-If…If…"

They didn't have time for Arc to get tongue-tied, not when they were moment away from being overrun. "Spit it out!"

"I don't know!" Arc said, wrapping his arms around his head. "I don't know what hunters are capable of! But if you can somehow chop the tree in half, you might be able to get it burning."

"How do I chop it in half?

"I just said I don't know!"

Blake was tempted to order Jaune to start on that, given how idle his hands were and how shiny his brand new sword was, but he was her golden goose, and she couldn't risk losing him if she wanted to get back to Lemuria.

My semblance…if I put all my Fire Dust into it and left a duplicate there to explode, I might be able to snap it into splinters and expose the burnable wood. The only problem is that I'd have to jump down there and get back up to leave the shadow clone.

"Oi, Jaune! It's time to make yourself useful!"

"W-What?"

"I'm going to jump down, but –"

"WHAT?!"

"Listen! Stop talking and listen to me, okay?"

Arc wisely clapped his trap closed.

"Okay," Blake said, kicking the face in of a small Beowolf so that it would slam into the one behind it and send them both falling back. "You're going to have to take over here. Just flare up your aura and slash your sword. You don't need to kill them, just keep yourself alive until I'm back up. I'm going to hand you my – argh, get back!"

Jaune took a few steps back, but Blake had actually been talking to the two Beowolves that were advancing closer to her.

I'm going to have to clear out as many as I can before I hand it off to him.

"I'll hand you my sickle, you'll hold it in your offhand, and you'll stay put. Don't let go, don't move an inch, don't do anything but what I tell you, and we'll survive!"

"But how will –"

"I can take care of getting myself back up," Blake said. "Alright, get closer!"

"Blake, I don't know if I –"

"Jaune, please!"

They didn't have time for his underconfident self right now. Blake swore to the Gods, if he did that whole 'blue screen of death' thing like he had at Beacon and let her fall to her death, she was going to come back as a ghost and haunt him to insanity.

"Okay…switch!"

Jaune stumbled forward as Blake fell back, thrusting her sickle into the hand that wasn't flailing the sword about like a madman. Only when she saw his fingers wrap securely around the end did she make the leap.

Her aura was probably at around the red at this point, but the color system that the coddled kiddies of the academies used were just arbitrary points and percentages. Blake still had aura, which meant she was still okay to fight.

Twirling through the air, she tucked in her arms and spun several times on all axes before landing in between two Beowolves around the middle of the tree. There was no time to fight them, and Blake didn't even have a weapon to use; no sooner had her feet touched the tree than Blake immediately kicked right off, putting a Fire Dust shadow clone in her place. It emptied her sword of all remaining Dust, but she was pretty much out of options here beyond going all in.

Gravity had aided her in getting down, but it wouldn't be helping her up, so Blake leapt to the side instead of trying to go back up. Her heart skipped a beat when Arc, surprised by the explosion of the shadow clone coupled with the ribbon pulling from a different angle, lost his footing and slid to the edge of the sinkhole, but he managed to do his part and hold on tight, so Blake wasn't dropped to her doom.

The force of the explosive blast was enough to split the tree into a good five pieces, and they all tumbled down into the cavern. Numerous Grimm were crushed in the process, and the survivors found themselves trapped in a pit full of flaming wood.

For her part, Blake grabbed hold of a rocky outcropping and just stayed put into the tree was gone, her ribbon held an angle. Then, when she was certain that none of the Grimm were out and about, she let go of her rock, swung down until she was directly beneath Jaune, and began to rappel her way back up.

"W-We did it!" Jaune cried out.

Blake was about to correct his misstatement, but when she thought about it for a second, it really had been both of them. Jaune had fended off the Grimm twice despite having zero training, he'd given her the tips about the tree that she'd needed to best utilize her own strength, and he'd held Gambol's ribbon. Hiccups or not, he'd done his part.

"Yeah," Blake managed to say, pulling herself to her feet. "We did do it."

Coming Soon: Their Emerald Forest

Team Job becomes a far realer thing than either of its founding members had initially planned.

Chapter Text

Jaune didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around Blake as soon as he was finished internalizing his terror over the numerous near death experiences he'd just gone through.

"Oh, thank you so much! You saved us both!"

Blake pulled away, and Jaune immediately felt like a jerk for grabbing her.

"S-Sorry, I'm so –"

"It's fine, Jaune."

The sort of salty way she disingenuously said she was sorry did happen to remind Jaune that, in spite of his hero worship of his savior, he still had some questions to ask her. Questions that he really didn't want to ask, because he was sure she would have a good answer and he would feel like even more of a jerk for having brought it up.

"Um…B-Blake…couple o' things."

"Hold on." Blake stepped over to the ledge. "I need to verify all of the Grimm die before we can let our guards down and chat. So is it more important than that?"

Jaune shook his head. The curiosity was storming like a Vacuoan desert sandstorm inside of him, but he could agree that it mattered more that they didn't get their heads chomped off by a Grimm or something.

Just to see what was down, there, Jaune came up alongside Blake and peeked over the ledge. The fires were still steadily crackling, but they weren't burning out of control or something crazy. It honestly reminded Jaune of a campfire.

Still, it seemed to be enough. Controlled or not, the Grimm weren't immune to fire, and there was nowhere for them to run. A few of them were trying to scale the walls of the sinkhole, but most burned to death before they made it a quarter of the way out of there.

Crazily enough, there were no dead bodies, though. Jaune had seen the ones Blake killed just vanishing, but it was a surreal thing to witness the horde of monsters that had threatened to tear him apart mere seconds ago now just…up and gone, like they'd never even been there in the first place. No reminders or traces of them existed after a few minutes of burning.

"Okay," Blake said, sweeping her head from side to side and walking along the rim of the circular pit to get better vantage points. "They're all gone. Keep your eyes peeled, but we can start heading back to Lemuria." Her eyes lowered down to Jaune's leg. "Once your aura heals up that wound, that is."

Jaune had almost entirely forgotten that he'd scratched his leg against the tree…okay, maybe scratched wasn't the best word here. He's nearly slit his skin from kneecap to ankle, but the adrenaline of the fight and whatever…whatever…the whole mystical chant Blake had performed to empower him…it had been enough to push him past the pain.

"You had questions?"

Jaune stopped rubbing the leg wound (ignoring the fact that it seemed to be getting slightly smaller ever time he looked at it) and nodded his head. "Y-Yeah. Um…did you…uh. I really don't know how to ask this. You just left during the middle of the battle…um, where?"

To answer, Blake switched her sword-thingy into a gunnomatic and popped out the presumably empty clip. "Refill. I had no chance of killing all those Grimm without some extra Dust."

Ah. Dust refill. Of course. It actually made a whole lot of sense when he thought about it.

"And you said something to me before you left."

Blake's expression dropped. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to tell you what was happening, but I trusted you to hold them off while I got the ammo. Every second counted, and if I'd given you a detailed explanation…oh, and I couldn't have sent you, since you don't know what kind of magazine Gambol reloads with."

"No, that's…okay, good, good, but that's not what I meant." Jaune found himself getting tongue-tied here. He had no way to describe what she'd said since he had absolutely zero idea what it was supposed to be, and he didn't remember any of the words. "You said some spiritual speech or something to me, and then I felt…empowered, I guess?"

"Oh! I unlocked your aura."

Aura…hadn't she said that before? It was the thing that huntsmen used to gatekeep their private community and keep civilians out, he thought.

"So, final question here. What's aura?"

By the time they found themselves at the gates of Lemuria, Jaune finally understood exactly everything that he'd done wrong when coming to Beacon.

This whole time, I thought it was just a gap in skill. I thought that a huntsman with a sword and a civilian with a sword only differed by the number of hours they put in. They literally have superpowers that make them stand out above the rest of humanity and the Faunus.

And the Grimm, the Grimm are indestructible! If I'd tried to stab them through without super strength from aura, then I wouldn't make it an inch through their hide. Maybe I could have shot them, but they'd mow me down in one punch if I ever let them get close enough. Thank the gods I never actually tried my hand at hunting before…

The guy at the gate seemed really stoked to see him. Jaune assumed that he'd probably seen Blake coming back alone, desperate for ammo, and jumped to some conclusions about Jaune's fate. Still, the concern was appreciated.

"He's back! Oh, thank the Elder Brother!"

Jaune just shot the guy a thumbs up. It wasn't like he wasn't equally stoked at the fact that he'd survived. Blake declined the offer to be escorted over to the mayor's house and instead lead Jaune forward towards their destination.

"Do you need me to, you know, smooth things over?" Jaune asked. Last time they'd spoken, it was only his charming visage that could quell the mayor's disapproval at their age and unlicensed status.

"No, I think it'll be better if I handle this," Blake said. "All that's left is handling payment and both sides approving the mission for completion. The posting boards are essentially a virtual contract, and I'm probably more familiar with how it goes than you."

Jaune was fine with that. Finance and legality wasn't really his area of expertise. Actually, come to think of it, neither was combat or mission planning.

Do I even have an area of expertise? Beyond, you know, tree bark combustion science?

"I'd still like you to be there, though," Blake added in afterwards. "Just in case."

"Of course," Jaune said.

The mayor's house was probably a whole lot bigger than the other people's houses. Jaune had to wonder if it was because the guy was personally richer than the people who'd elected him or if it was a perk offered to whoever got the job. Blake knocked the rather ostentatious lion doorknockers twice and stepped back.

There was the sound of shuffling on the other side, and then the door opened up to reveal the mayor. His eyes roved over the two hunters, and then he threw his head back and let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank the gods. You're alright."

Again, everyone seemed really…

Jaune just shook his head.

"The mission is complete, sir," Blake said, stepping into the man's house. "All that remains is –"

"Yes, yes, I know. I have done this before…" The man mumbled something under his breath that Jaune couldn't quite make out. "Your payment, tendered in lien chips."

He handed them a small rectangular box that looked like it was the kind of thing that would have a disassembled instrument inside like a clarinet or a trumpet. Blake took the box and opened it up, with Jaune glancing over her shoulder.

He had no idea what the reward actually was for completing this mission, as he'd left all that sort of stuff to Blake, but he assumed she would count the cash and make sure everything was in order.

Blake lifted up one of the top lien chips, then she lifted the chip on the layer beneath that up. There were no more chips below, just the padding of the case. She looked back up at the mayor wordlessly.

"As you can see, I removed the price of the Dust from your payment, as per our…agreement," the man said. His lips flattened out as Blake returned the money to the case.

"I understand, sir. I merely forgot that the price of Dust had recently risen. Silly me."

The man smiled. "I'm glad this all worked out. The mission was a resounding success, no casualties were sustained…we can all walk away from this happy as a clam Faunus."

Blake clicked the locks on the briefcase and let it swing down to her side. "As am I. Do you have a datapad for me to sign off on?"

The mayor turned around to a table behind him and picked a tablet off of it. "I've already signed."

Blake took the small screen and began to tap the buttons on it. Jaune looked over her shoulder to see if he could maybe get a glance and familiarize himself with some of the more technical terms, but Blake just shifted to block his view without a word.

"It's been a pleasure doing business with you, sir."

The man took back the datapad without a word. Jaune waited for him to respond in kind, but he never did.

"Mr. Parientes can esc –"

Blake cut him off. "We know the way out."

"I'm sure you do, Miss Bellanna."

"Belladonna," Blake said with a smile that Jaune wasn't 100% sure was genuine. "Have a nice day."

And with that, they left Lemuria behind.

True to his word, the pilot from the cruddy rental place they'd gone to was back in the exact same spot as before. Jaune even believed that he'd touched down with the landing gear in the same place as last time based on the pressed down patches of grass.

"You kids a'ight?" he'd asked from the cockpit when they landed.

Blake nodded. "Yup. We'd like some privacy, if that's okay."

The man pushed a button and the doors between their chambers slid closed. Blake sat down in a seat of the bullhead and gestured for Jaune to take the one opposite her rather than beside her.

That doesn't seem like a good sign…

"Alright," Blake said, putting the case down on her lap and crossing her arms on top of it. "We made less money that we'd expected."

"Because…Dust?"

Blake closed her eyes and nodded. "Because Dust. Now, we'd initially agreed to a division of 85-15, but –"

"You did more of the work. You deserve more of the share."

Blake's lips sucked into her mouth a little bit. "…okay."

"It's only fair," Jaune said.

The case was opened up by the Faunus, and she removed only two of the many lien chips. They were in denominations far larger than Jaune had really ever seen before. Allowances and summer jobs tended to not pay in two-hundred lien increments.

Jaune accepted the money, not really sure where he was supposed to put it. Shoving so much into his pocket just felt like it was asking to have it slip out or be stolen, but he really had no other place to store it.

Blake shut the case.

"We started with six thousand lien, but between the cost of the hotel, our meals so far, and this airship, that figures dropped by two thirds," she explained. "Since we both benefitted from those equally, I think it's fair we both take one thousand lien back."

"'Kay," Jaune said.

Blake had the checks with her, so she reached into her briefcase and handed Jaune five more chips. That brought him up to having exactly one thousand, four hundred lien in total. It was less than he'd started with upon leaving Beacon, and he'd only spent a single night in the city.

There was a silence between the two of them, filled only by the hum of the engines and the whipping of the wind outside. Jaune looked out the small window on the side to see if he could spot Lemuria receding into the distance and maybe snap a photo of his first real mission, but it was already gone by the time he looked. They weren't close to Vale just yet, but the distance between the kingdom and most settlements was enough that much of the flight would just be a long stretch of nothingness and trees.

Currently, they were exiting the redwood forest areas and getting closer to the non-coniferous deciduous trees that made up most of Sanus.

"What the fuck is wrong with me?" Blake said out of the blue, staring down into the briefcase.

"Huh?" Jaune scratched at his ears. "You…what's what?"

Blake opened up the case once more. Clutching a large stack of lien in each hand, she offered them out to Jaune.

"What's this?" he asked. To avoid making an idiot of himself in case it was something obvious, he took the money, but he really didn't know why it had been given in the first place.

"What's wrong with me?" Blake just said once again, her ears bending back behind her head.

It was a lot of lien that she'd given him, far more than they'd agreed upon. Jaune didn't want to count the stacks in front of his partner, but it looked like it was easily twenty or more total. That was a whopping four-thousand lien or maybe even more.

"Are you alright, Blake?" he asked.

The girl didn't even look up, her glazed eyes just staring down at the closed suitcase.

She's really out of it. Was this how I looked when I checked out after Ozpin sent us away?

Blake just clutched the case to her chest like it was a teddy bear or security blanket when they landed. Jaune had to be the one to say their thank you's and goodbyes to the pilot, accepting the punch-card with one hole punched out of it.

"Yer tenth flight with us is free," said the pilot, lighting up a cigarette once they were far away from the airship. "Perks o' cust'mer loyalty."

The two juvenile hunters walked over to the lockers where they'd stored their luggage that they couldn't take on their mission. Jaune occasionally tried to rouse Blake by saying things to her, casual small-talk stuff, but she just ignored him entirely. It wasn't like she was snubbing him or being rude or something; Jaune could recognize that whole 'lost in thought' look on her face.

Jaune considered taking them back to the hotel to discuss their next plans, but he decided against it. There was no real reason to return. Payments were nightly, it had only ever been a stopping point for them, and they hadn't left any stuff back there. Their few possessions were in their hands right now, and on account of Blake's inexplicable generosity, they now had more money than they'd started with…a lot more.

There weren't many hunters using this bullhead agency, so the locker rooms were all theirs. It wasn't like a sports locker but more like a storage rental place where large four sheds were lined up side by side, two on each wall and facing one another.

Blake's one bag was all they'd put inside their locker, leaving the room mostly empty. Jaune, hoping to be optimistic, decided to see it as partially full.

"Hey, can we talk?"

One suitcase in each of her hands, Blake woke up from her trance and nodded. "Yeah. I think we need to."

There weren't seats or anything, but Jaune was no stranger to just sitting on the floor. Propping his back up against the wall, he kicked out his legs and rubbed off some of the dried blood. The wound was now fully healed – aura magic properties, as Blake had explained back in the forest.

"I'm not a huntsman," Jaune finally admitted. He'd used euphemisms before, so Blake already knew that fact, but he felt like he needed to say it aloud to be on the same page as her. "I'm not anything. I snuck into Beacon with no qualifications."

Reaching into her pocket, Blake pulled out Jaune's application form. "I know."

Jaune accepted the paper as his partner also slumped down against a wall. Both of them were bone-tired, but her more so than him.

"But I want to be," Jaune admitted.

Blake didn't sound all that pleased with his goals. "It's not so easy. I grew up with…in a place where you had to fight, or you would die, but everyone starts early. You can't just pick this up late in life."

"Sure you can," Jaune said. "I've already killed Grimm. I have aura. Aside from some training, there's nothing separating me from a hunter."

"Jaune, you can't. It's not my choice."

"Exactly." Jaune tapped his chest. "It's mine."

"You're not getting back into Beacon –"

"Not Beacon." Jaune smiled. "You."

Blake's eyes flicked upwards. "I'm not a teacher."

"Why not? Why in the everloving heck does Beacon have to be the only place where huntsmen can be made? You're practically already a huntress in your own way; I'm sure you could teach me."

Reaching into his hoodie's large tube pocket in front of his belly button, Jaune pulled out much of the money she'd given him (all but two lien chips) and placed it on the ground between them.

"I'll pay you," he said. "Consider it fees for the lesson…the lessons. Train me to be a huntsman, Blake."

"I…no, Jaune. You and I have done our business, and now we're done."

Jaune scoffed at that. "Nah, we're together in this one. You and me, we could start up a company with what we've got here. A pair of freelancers, a team of two, Jaune and Blake's private security. We can call it…ummmm…Arc Corp!"

"Jaune, I said no."

"Nah, you're right. Team Job has a better ring to it. Team Job Security…" Jaune blew a chef's kiss and laughed. "Perfect."

"We're not partners, Jaune. We did a good mission, and it worked out well, but I'm not going to train you to be a huntsman." Blake slid the money back towards him with her foot. "No offense, but I don't want anything to do with you anymore."

Jaune just grinned. "Nah, you do. You need me."

Blake growled slightly.

"Not like that," he clarified. "You need me as a partner. You left me for dead, but then you came back for some reason."

Blake immediately froze like the proverbial deer in the headlights. It was impossible not to grin even wider now that he knew he'd gotten her.

"I'm not mad or anything; I wouldn't be suggesting we partner up if I was. But, Blake, you went through all that effort to drag my sorry butt out of danger, and I'm not buying your BS anymore. It wasn't the kindness of your heart. You saved me for a reason. Lemme guess…my people skills?"

Blake said nothing.

"Well, maybe it's less people skills and more, hate to say it, species? You more or less admitted that people don't do business with Faunus."

"S-Some do," Blake weakly argued.

"But they'd rather not. You need me to be the front, don't you? I think that's why you saved me, your blond-haired, blue-eyed meal ticket. To schmooze the clients while you get the job done, like we did in Lemuria."

"This mission didn't go all that well," Blake said.

"Blake, I have eyes. Everyone was looking at me like I was forged from solid gold. Things only went sideways when you came out of the village alone."

Jaune wasn't stupid. Well, in regards to hunting, he probably was, but he had common sense enough to reason what had happened when he was gone. Blake, the 'youth program' huntress who'd lied her way into getting this job, had come back to the mayor and informed him that she'd had to leave Jaune behind. He'd gotten mad at her for getting a 'huntsman' killed in his village, and she'd reversed course out of necessity.

Maybe he might have bought her story about going back for Dust if she'd said a single word before leaving, but she'd just vanished. She said it was because time was of the essence, but shouting 'I'll be back' as she ran off would have cost zero time at all.

Her and the mayor exchanging coded messages and blaming them being shortchanging on high Dust prices was also phony-baloney. He'd ripped them off, and he'd done it because Blake had known that the mayor could hold Blake's actions against her if he'd chosen.

"Yeah, okay, this mission was kinda the dumps, but we're smarter now," Jaune contended. "We know one another better and what our strengths and weaknesses are. You can kill Grimm better than anyone, and I'm someone people can trust. I look the part of the knight in shining armor. We can make this work."

"Jaune –"

"Eighty-five, fifteen," Jaune said quickly. "Our original agreement. I'll do my part on missions when the time comes, but we'll consider the difference…tuition in exchange for a little on-the-job training. It'll be a nice way to offset the whole Faunus wage gap thingy a little bit."

Jaune wanted this – no, he needed this. Being a huntsman was his dream, and being paid seemed to be Blake's. He was content with lower earnings, and he trusted Blake to have a good enough head to handle their finances. They were talking about working together here, meaning that if she screwed him and left him too penniless to afford food or housing, it would only backfire on her.

Assuming she agrees, Jaune thought, but I think she will.

She was silent again, but he could tell she was just thinking it over. Jaune was willing to make whatever negotiations or concessions he needed to get this to work. Even if Blake wanted to make some sort of legal contract dividing up their jobs and responsibilities, he'd be down.

"A spar," she said at least, meeting Jaune's eyes. "We spar regularly, and the day when you beat me in a spar, we switch to fifty-fifty even. I won't be a monster, here."

"So…you're in?" Jaune couldn't help but smile like a schoolboy. So much had gone wrong recently – losing Beacon, the cruddy first mission, a lower payday than expected. It was just so great for things to finally take a turn for the better for him. "Team Job Security?"

Blake rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yes, Jaune. I'm in."

Mission Complete: Lemuria Settlement

Client Review: All Grimm slain, professionalism satisfactory. ★★★☆☆

Current Holdings (lien): Ⱡ 10,000

Current Holdings (assets): Benson Airship Rental punchcard (one punch)

Current Holdings (realty): none

Employees: 2

Coming Soon: The Birth of an Empire

Blake and Jaune build their nascent company from the ground up.

Chapter Text

Since Jaune was too inexperienced to handle the business side of things (the actual business), Blake took it upon herself to build Team Job Security from the ground up. She wasn't a professional huntress, but living in the real world with no one to depend on for many more years than Jaune had taught her how to find information, prioritize target objectives, and manage funds.

At her request, she'd been kept away from Adam's most violent missions, and that had sort of been all of them by the end, so Blake had mostly handled White Fang logistics. She wasn't necessarily the best at it, but she was good, and she was absolutely better than Arc, and that was all that really mattered. After all, with less than a full ten thousand lien to their name, there was no way they could hire a lawyer or accountant or whatever businesses used.

With the money they'd earned from the Lemuria job, she and Jaune had been able to rent out a slightly cleaner hotel room than the previous place they'd stayed at. The two of them still had only one bed, as there was no need to splurge when they didn't exactly know when their next mission would be, but now they'd taken to alternating who slept on the floor in the bargain brand sleeping bag they'd bought.

Blake had spent the past full week in the library, reading extensively up on everything she could about the ins and outs of managing a small startup-scale company, and then applying those lessons to the real world. A lot of the work had been just applying for a business license (the books had said to do that first, since it could take up to a full month for it to be processed and shipped).

If this was really going to be their careers, they couldn't do with under-the-table missions paid in cash like they were criminals or drug dealers. Jaune had bullshitted them out of having to show licenses the first time, but Blake didn't expect a miracle to happen twice, nor did she believe that they could reasonably expect to keep getting away with the whole 'we're special hunters' excuse forever. Eventually, someone would call it in to Beacon, and that would get their asses thrown in jail for Vale's stolen valor laws. Not to mention, their sentences would be doubled for hacking into Hunter Mission Boards

But…when there was a will, there was a way. Specifically, a way for Blake to cheat her way through the system legally.

You see, huntsmen had to be licensed to work in Vale, but you didn't have to be a huntsman to kill Grimm. No politician in their right mind had ever asked to make it illegal to kill a Grimm, so the laws were centered around falsely claiming to be huntsmen or to have a huntsman license. If Blake could get away with marketing them as a private security firm or as bodyguards or something, and they just happened to bump into a Grimm on a job, they would be in the right to defend themselves.

The problem there was that non-huntsmen weren't allowed to browse the mission boards, and no one really wanted to hire some random kids to kill the Grimm for them and their village, aura or not.

That was where Jaune came in. It was one part busywork and one part pulling his weight, but she'd tasked him with figuring out cost effective ways to advertise, and he'd readily agreed. Arc was probably more in tune with how citizens of the kingdom were marketed to, being one himself, whereas Blake had never really had time for such things. At the moment, he was doing some computering or something to make them a website and post some free ads on message boards – again, Blake had no idea what it was all about, and she didn't really care to learn. Jaune was free to spread his creative wings and fly to the heavens here, provided that he make sure to plaster his face all over it and not hers.

He wanted to be our customer interface. Let him – I've got more important things to worry about.

Clients were going to have to approach them, but that did come with some benefits. Normally, either a village, a kingdom, or an individual placed a reward for a certain mission on a mission board, and the job was accepted by the first taker who met the difficulty ranking. Be it payment for slaying Grimm or a bounty for bringing down some rogue, it was whatever the customer decided to pay.

As for what Blake was designing, they would be an independent business that got to decide what jobs they took and what rates they charged for it. No long nights of frantically swiping down to refresh the mission boards – Blake would just wait for the client to come to them.

Blake and Jaune, that was. Whoring themselves out like this was a team effort.

Their current strategy was to lower their prices (at the moment, it was ten thousand lien per job) to undercut real huntsmen and huntresses for the time being, at least until they could get established and set up a real budget for…whatever budgets were used for. Right now, the sole objectives were to get jobs and make a name for themselves while staying afloat financially. As it was, hunters were usually so highly paid that removing some of the obscene overhead could make them both competitive and still in the green. Things like profit could come later.

Blake had already sent in the request for a business license, as it had taken her less than one day to fully complete. Both of their names were signed as employees, owners, and managers of the company, but Blake had put her own name at the top. The hardest aspect of it was parting with the thousand lien fee, which literally represented 10% of their bank account at this point.

At the moment, money was sort of an awkward situation. Jaune had insisted on paying for his 'huntsman lessons' during the first mission, meaning that Blake had almost all of their lien under her exclusive control, but she was far too uneasy to spend any of it on non-essentials. So far, all she'd done with her 'share' was to invest it back into the company, secure the hotel room for them, and buy food.

She and Jaune were essentially living together so far, but he'd been good about respecting her privacy, even going further than she would have asked in some cases. For instance, Blake didn't really need him to go outside of the room when she changed – turning around would have been enough.

Blake had to wonder if every startup was like this: no idea what to do, no idea how you were supposed to do it, with the only goal being to survive for as long as possible. Oh, and a partner she'd sort of just picked up along the way.

Or maybe I'm his partner, and he's the main character of the story.

Blake had to admit, it was a bit humbling. Her partner was some sort of likeable human that got training and payment for the work she did solely because people would inevitably like him more than they did her. If Sienna could see her now, she'd probably not hesitate to call Blake a housecat. That woman always did know how to rile up the Faunus and convince them that hating humans was what the Gods had put them on Remnant to do.

Having Jaune be so deferential all the time did help soothe her aching Faunus pride. If anyone looked at their dynamic, they would easily be able to tell that he was the housecat of the relationship – not that it was a relationship, mind you – and not her. She gave him orders, and he followed them without question. In the end, it boiled down to huntress and apprentice, not Faunus and human.

He's a nice person, at least. Not cruel, not arrogant, willing to listen and learn when I tell him something. Jaune knows I need him to pull this off. I could have had some slacker who insisted on an even share of profits, but he's agreed to take less than me for less work.

Speaking of which, it's probably time for some training.

Blake had been doing research for nearly the entire day, but she and Jaune had regular training sessions just before night came each day, as per their agreement. Jaune could probably use as much training crammed into his brain before they got their first mission, and Blake herself needed to keep in shape, so it was a good opportunity.

Not to mention the fact that I need to do something after sitting down and reading all day. I like books, but they tend to be less mind-numbing when they're fictional or at least have narratives.

Texting Arc's contact on her scroll to let him know to meet her there, she folded up the books she'd been reading and stretched out her arms. The other patrons of the library were all either taking great care to not make eye contact with her or staring straight at her like she was about to explode. Blake couldn't really tell if it was because of her ears or because they though she was a hobo who'd spent the day in a library because it had no restrictions on who entered.

I don't actually know how prevalent racism is in day-to-day life out in the kingdoms. I used to stay in the manor in Menagerie, and when I was with the White Fang, in all iterations, we only ever went to places where bigotry and discrimination were common. I have no frame of reference for living in the city. Damn, maybe I really do need Jaune's perspective on these things.

A gym membership wasn't an essential expense, and they couldn't exactly launch into an all-out spar in a random patch of grass surrounded by trees in a public park, so Blake just picked up some flat-ish sticks and pretended they were doing kendo. It wasn't perfect training, but it was budget training, and that was what the poor couple needed to stick to right now.

"What we're doing here isn't meant to be a fight you wish to win; it's a learning experience. Winning doesn't even matter, since we're using sticks and not swords. Besides, you'll mostly be fighting Grimm or maybe criminals, not trained Faunus huntresses. The goal here is to get you as familiar with the concept of holding a sword while getting in some PT. Then, we're going to move on to some muscle memory for basic attacks. After that…we'll see what kind of equipment we have and reassess our lesson plans."

As Blake had tried to explain to him, she wasn't a teacher or a trainer, so she was mostly just making this up as she went along.

"Holding a sword?" Jaune asked incredulously. "That's…I mean, I've held Crocea Mors before."

Blake raised her eyebrow. "Have you run with it? Have you leaned away from a strike with it? Have you fallen to the ground and had to pick yourself up with it?"

Jaune bashfully backed down. "Question rescinded."

He actually hadn't asked a question, but Blake nodded. This was what she'd been talking about – Jaune might have been headstrong at worst, but he was at least self-aware enough to listen to reason when he heard it.

"Strike me when you're ready, and try to use that aura, m'kay?" Arc had been having trouble accessing his aura in non-passive ways. He could heal from it with an almost innate ease belying some natural talent, but his strength wasn't yet up to par. For a man his size compared to a Faunus her size, he should have been easily about to out-muscle her now that there was no difference between their levels. Arc was by no means small, but Blake had seen Ilia hit harder.

Jaune's biggest problem was that he didn't think an attack through, nor did he plan ahead. Every swing was a wild, reckless, desperate thing that pulled all the way back and telegraphed itself ten miles ahead. She wasn't expecting him to master moving an opponent about the battlefield, but any good fighter know that gaining and sacrificing ground could be just as important as a chunk of aura. Favorable terrain, a good angle to strike – he needed to start thinking when he fought.

"Don't try and knock the stick out of my hand in every hit, Jaune! Build up to it if you can. The goal is to get you used to how you move in a fight, not to bash head-on in every attack. Some attacks can be leading up to something greater, and some can be followed up by a more important one."

"Got it!"

Jaune's next attack was barely more than a tap, and then he immediately switched to an extremely heavy underhand swing, trying again to knock Blake's stick away. All it succeeded in doing was breaking her stick, while his remained in one piece.

For the gods' sake…

"Um." Jaune looked at his complete stick then down at her fragments of a twig on the ground. "So…y-your stick…s-sorry."

Blake narrowed her eyes.

He wilted under her irate gaze, holding onto his stick with both hands and letting it drop to waist height. "Y-Yeah, don't worry, I get it, though. Breaking it isn't winning or anything, since it's just random sticks we picked up off the ground. I didn't actually beat you, and if you'd had a sword or you'd been a Grimm, I'd be toast. Sorry, Blake."

It was impossible for her not to be angry, but it was equally difficult to be upset with him. He might not have done well in the fight, but at least he hadn't thought this was an accomplishment.

It wasn't proof that he used his aura to augment his strength – all it was is proof that I picked up the weaker stick. We really need to find some sort of space where we can use our weapons for real.

But they couldn't. They fucking couldn't, because they were poor, and they had no one to blame but themselves, each other, and the hundreds of random nobodies walking about the park that Blake had decided to throw the blame onto.

Blake hated this.

"Jaune?"

Blake and Jaune collectively turned around at the sound of his name.

"Ruby?" Jaune asked. "And…uh…"

"Yang," said a blonde woman standing next to a younger child who was presumably 'Ruby.'

"Y-Yang. Right." Jaune cleared his throat. "Hey, how are you guys doing? It's been so long since we saw each other!"

"It's only been, like, a week!" said Ruby. "Jaune, where did you go? You just disappeared before initiation! It was crazy, yo!"

"U-Uh…" Jaune took a step back uncertainly. His eyes darted to Blake.

So much for him being the one to deal with humans.

"The headmaster called us over to speak with us in private," Blake explained. "It turns out that there was a clerical oversight when we'd completed our applications, and we hadn't actually met the qualifications to be let into Beacon. The headmaster was very gracious, but he had to excuse us from the initiation test."

Ruby looked aghast, and Jaune himself didn't seem too happy about how close Blake was dancing with the truth here, but there was no telling how much these kids knew. If they'd seen Ozpin pulling them away or overhead something about applications being rescinded, lying would draw attention to the fact. Jaune clearly didn't want to be exposed as a fraud in front of his five-minute friends from Beacon.

Blake was throwing the academy under the bus here, but Ozpin had admitted that he really had missed aspect of their applications, and he'd felt so at fault that he'd paid them for their losses. Two kids were out in the street because of him, so let him face the consequences of his own actions.

"They what?!" Ruby screamed.

"Indoor voices, sis," said Yang.

"But we're outdoors!"

"Sis, c'mon." She plopped her arm onto Ruby's shoulder. "I don't think these guys want you blabbing their private business to everyone in a five-mile radius."

"Oh yeah. S-Sorry."

"We'd rather not make a big stink about it," Blake said to the other girls…the other huntresses. "It's already happened, and Jaune and I are doing our best to move forward at this point."

"Oooh, I didn't know you guys were together!" Ruby said.

Blake shook her head before the little kid could do something annoying like excitedly jump up and down pointing at them. "We're partners, but not in a romantic sense."

"It's hunting partners," Jaune clarified. "Like you and Yang."

"Not hunting partners," Blake quickly corrected. "We're not hunters. But we have become a private security firm now, using our hunter-adjacent skillsets."

Telling two Beaconites that they were pretending to be hunters was akin to advertising that fact to Ozpin himself, and Blake was not looking forward to having to explain that conversation.

"Oh, Yang and I aren't partners either, actually," Ruby explained, apparently content to move right past Jaune's slip-up without any need for clarification. "We are on the same – oh, I forgot to tell you: I got made leader of my team."

Jaune's smile at receiving that news was warm and bright, making him a good friend who was pleased with his friend's success.

Blake's smile at receiving that news was just as bright, but she had to bite down on her teeth in order to not physically cringe in jealousy.

This little girl, who was definitely not the right age for Beacon, she'd been made leader when someone just as talented had been kicked out for nothing more than a dodgy past? And it wasn't like Blake was some high school drug dealer or vandal – she'd joined an activist organization in order to protect her entire species at the age of twelve, and…

Beacon's full of hunters. I can't go about getting upset that they exist. Just smile and move on.

"That's…great news," Blake said. "We're all very proud of you. But Jaune, I hate to drag you out of this, but we only have an hour more for kendo practice before…we have to submit the business license application."

It was something that Blake had already done, and it was something that Jaune obviously knew Blake had already done. There was no way he wouldn't pick up on the hint she was dropping.

Jaune nodded at her. "Yup. We'll have to catch up later sometime, Ruby. Wanna exchange scroll numbers?"

Blake bit her tongue as the happy duo said their farewells and handed one another their scrolls so as to input each other's numbers. Yang shot her a sympathetic little smiling nod, and Blake nodded back just to acknowledge it. She didn't want to spend another minute around the two privileged girls living the life she'd so desperately wanted for herself, but the pleasantries had to be endured.

Calm down, Blake. They've done nothing wrong. Consider them Jaune's moral support huntresses. His comfort women…wait, no, that sounds wrong.

"Oh, Jaune! S-Sorry, you got a text or something."

"It's fine…here, I'm done putting my number into your scroll. Here ya go."

The two returned their devices to one another, and Jaune opened up his message app.

Blake nodded decisively. "Well, Ruby, it's been nice –"

"Blake," Jaune interrupted.

Blake pursed her lips and tried to keep her temper. "Goodbye, you two. We'll keep in –"

"Blake."

Her smile couldn't have been wider as she turned to Jaune. "Yes, dear partner of mine?"

Jaune himself was also smiling, though.

"We've got a new job."

Coming Soon: Splash

Nothing like a little dip to cool off.

Chapter Text

Jaune supposed that there were benefits to being a legitimate company as opposed to two teenagers who were blatantly lying through their teeth about having huntsman licenses.

The biggest one was that he could walk about without his heart beating nearly out of his chest every second. In Lemuria, he might not have shown it, but he'd nearly been a nervous wreck every time he'd had to lie. It was important to exude confidence even if one didn't actually feel it.

But here, in this new town, he could walk through town square without any risk of his secrets being exposed, because he had none! How cool was that?

We're here as a security firm, and if anyone tells us we're not supposed to be here, we can just shut them the heck up by flashing our licenses. I actually have a real, paying job, and it's…well, I'm not actually a huntsman, but I am one in everything but name. This is freakin' awesome, man.

This wasn't the opulent type of settlement from before, but a far humbler one. The dirt streets were what he expected from a frontier outpost, and the buildings were made of actual wood. He wasn't happy at how poor it was, but it felt like…like he was doing a good thing by helping these folks.

"They contacted us because they can't afford huntsmen," Blake explained. "They have a Grimm they want killed, but this entire village collectively just produces enough money to break even on what they import."

"So they came to us," Jaune reasoned. Again, it just felt right to be here. He and Blake may have set their rates low to draw in as much business as possible, but it didn't change the fact that they would be saving a town from having to choose between destitution and oblivion.

"Exactly," Blake explained. "But Jaune, there an important distinction I have to make. We're not here to kill Grimm."

Jaune was about to blindly agree when he realized that what she'd just said made no sense. "What? We're not?"

"No," Blake said, shaking her head. "We're not. Huntsmen kill Grimm, and we're not huntsmen. We're a private security firm, so our job is just to provide security to the lake until such time as a week ends. Then, we leave."

Ah. That makes much more sense.

"And if any Grimm attack us during our assigned period of security provision, we'd defend ourselves out of necessity."

In spite of her stoic exterior, the Faunus couldn't help but let a little smile slip out. "Precisely."

The town itself was built only a few hundred feet away from a large body of saltwater, and both shared the same name: the Lake of Lost Voles. It was an exceedingly big lake at that, and much of their commerce came from fishing it, collecting seaweed, or other aquaculture. However, they'd recently had a number of people go missing when they'd ventured out into the lake on misty days, and that left them in a tight spot given how much of their economy depended on farming it for resources.

Jaune and Blake had flown out using the same airship rental service (their punch card now had two holes in it) and met with a prominent citizen since this place wasn't big enough to warrant an elected leader. The Grimm that presumably haunted the lake was of an unknown type, but Blake had assured him that it couldn't be something larger than they could handle.

"Grimm have size limitations that prohibit their habitats," she'd explained. "Sea Feilong don't flop about in streams, nor do Leviathans bask in ponds. Aquatic Grimm exclusively take to bodies of water that scale with their own size."

"It's a big lake," Jaune had worried.

"The scaling factor is huge, Jaune. Don't worry; I wouldn't take us on this job if I didn't think we could actually do it."

The townsfolk had wasted no time in explaining the situation to them and pointing them to the direction of the dock. This was their home on the line, so they didn't beat around the bush and give them a tour of the town or other pointless stuff. According to the leader guy, they could only shut down for one week, as the town was bleeding money for every day they remained out of work.

"We'll survey the lake for the rest of the first day, and then we'll go out in a longboat," Blake said as she and Jaune stood out on the shores. "Grimm are attracted to auras, so our presence should be enough bait. If it hasn't gone for us after two days of baiting it, we'll try diving."

Jaune ran his tongue over his teeth. "Uh…"

"I'll try diving."

"…thanks."

Blake's a cat Faunus. I wonder, does she not like water? Or am I racist for thinking that?

The dock itself seemed to go on forever, but Jaune knew that it was just the fog blocking his view. Still, it was a really picturesque shot, the kind of thing that would go really well into a horror film.

They spent the entire first day just walking around the full circumference of the lake. It wasn't nearly circular, and you couldn't see one end from the other due to the mist, but it didn't seem as big once he'd gone around the whole darn thing. Sure, it was bigger than most of the ponds around Ansel, but so were most swimming pools.

If I had to say, this is only about the three to five times the size of Crater Lake, the one at the top of the mountain in Mistral. It's big, and there's probably creepies lurking in the depths, but Blake was right about it not being anything monstrously huge. No primordial abominations hiding at the bottom or anything like that.

The village itself had been built in a clearing, giving it a brief sandy shore where the ground met the water, but the rest of the lake almost immediately turned into forest the second the water ended. It was coniferous trees mostly, and Jaune was tempted to try and come up with a plan utilizing his knowledge of botany like last time, but he knew that it was stupid to even pretend.

It had only come up last time because of random chance, and they were going to be fighting the Grimm at the center of the lake. It was the beast's home turf advantage, but doing anything else would risk drawing it ashore and endangering the townsfolks, so the waterfront was out of question.

This is the kind of mission we were made for. One Grimm hardly justifies flying a full pro-hunter team out or something, but Blake and I can handle it for much lower than they ever would. For a licensed huntsman, the rates we're charging would be chump change, but it means another month…actually, more like another two weeks for Team Job.

Their expenses were going up. The hotel was a fixed price, as was food, but Blake was digging up new costs each and every day. Jaune had known the airships would cost more and more, and sure, licenses had a fee, but then she'd brought up Dust refills, insurance, regular visits to blacksmiths –

We're eventually going to have to raise our prices. But hey, the money stuff, that's Blake's department. I'm just advertising.

He'd learned enough skills in high school to make a functioning website for them to work with, and a few blog posts on prominent SubRemnits and videos on RemnTube to sell their brand had been enough to catch the ear of this kind of place.

All in all, it was working well for now. Maybe it wouldn't work like this forever, but as long as it kept working, he and Blake would milk this for as long as they could.

The next morning, after a long night of slumber in sleeping bags on their guide's kitchen floor and a quick breakfast of fish (Blake seemed really stoked about that for some reason that Jaune dared not ponder), they were off.

And by off, Jaune meant pushing themselves into a rowboat mid-morning when the mists were thinnest as though this were the start of a fishing trip between father and son. They had agreed that since Blake was their resident real combatant, she would hold off on rowing so as to save her strength.

"This is how we're going to catch it?" Jaune asked, one part incredulous and one part thirsty for secret huntress knowledge. "We just wade out and wait?"

Blake nodded as he twisted the oars rhythmically. "As I said, our aura will be enough to draw it out. If this thing has only just started hunting people in the past few weeks, it's probably a smaller Grimm that recently grew big enough to go after humans and Faunus on its own. We'll be tempting prey for the thing, we'll kill it, and we'll finish five days early."

It sounded simple when she explained it.

It had sounded simple when she'd explained things in Lemuria as well.

"So," Jaune went on as he rowed. "Aquatic Grimm. You mentioned Leviathans and Sea Feilongs, right? What else can you tell me about them?"

"Well, I can tell you that most hunters don't care much for Grimm in the water. The ones in the deep seas tend to be too big for our kind to kill with swords or spears, so boats that go out to sea carry their own heavy weaponry. As for inland bodies of water, people other than fisherman usually don't care if the Grimm are there as long as they stay there. This is a saltwater lake, meaning that freshwater Grimm like Garrials, Mahambas, and Sulcatas won't be involved."

Jaune cleared his throat. "Do you mind describing those? Even if they won't be here, they might be on the next mission."

Blake looked over the edge of the boat into the clear waters. "Well –"

"Unless you have something you'd rather talk about."

She looked at him in surprise, and Jaune had to admit that he was rather surprised with himself. He normally didn't raise his voice, certainly when talking with his far more experienced partner, but this his life they were dealing with. He was supposed to be learning how to be a huntsman, not sitting back and letting Blake handle every mission for the both of them. The whole reason she was getting paid more was because he was expecting her to be tutoring him.

And she has been. Things have been great so far. But we're out here, and we've got nothing to do but wait, so we may as well take them time for another lesson.

"O-Okay. So those three I mentioned are the basis of all freshwater Grimm. There are variants of each one, Alpha Sulcates and Flying Garrials and the like, but you won't find anything that doesn't somehow translate into one of 'em unless you're in saltwater, like we are now…"

Five hours later, they were no closer to getting the attention of any saltwater Grimm with their mere presence, but Jaune could probably tell you anything you needed to know about any species of water-dwelling Grimm that existed. Blake was from Menagerie, meaning that she had a lot of unique insights about aquatic monsters that occasionally plagued her island home.

"Should it have shown up by now?" Jaune asked once a full hour had passed following their small lunch. "Is this still according to plan?"

Blake leaned over to face her own ripple-y reflection in the water and splashed a hand to disturb it. "I don't know why it's not here. Hunters attract Grimm. We're…okay, forgetting legal bullshit, we're hunters." She looked back up at Jaune. "You have any clue? Some, I dunno, secret knowledge about lakes and pH that explains this away, Mr. Science Man?"

"Hey, don't…I'm not some nerd or something. I just paid attention in school and am good at remembering what I've been taught. Well, that and I like comic books. And superheroes. And I buy Pumpkin Pete merch. And I guess I was a bit of a huntsman weeb for a while." Jaune leaned over to look at his own reflection. "Woah, I guess I am a nerd."

Sighing in annoyance, Blake placed her hands on the oars and began to row them back to shore. "This isn't working. I'll think of something else, but we're making no progress here."

Jaune reached over to relieve her of the wooden paddles, but she shook her head. "You rowed us out, I'll row us back. Equal work for equal pa–"

She cut off.

"Equal work for equal partners," Jaune offered. "But I should still row. If it's waiting to surprise us when we retreat, we can't have you all tired from rowing."

"Grimm aren't that smart, Jaune. I mean, unless it's an…hmmm." Blake put a hand to her chin. "It could be an elder, I guess. A Grimm so old that it's learned to recognize patterns in human behavior. That could explain why it's only recently started attacking, and why it chose not to attack armed humans."

That was a rather alarming concept, that Grimm could eventually just level up by existing to the point that they gained sentience. Or was it full-on sapience? Did these elder Grimm understand language? Could they talk, or maybe communicate with sign language?

"If it is an elder, how do we get it to come on out?" he inquired, wrestling the oars out of Blake's hands.

She resisted and kept her fingers around the grips as Jaune pushed his onto the shafts. "We do what any normal people do when they're fishing."

Jaune had no choice but to relent on this battle of wills over who got to paddle. Letting go, he asked, "What's that?"

Blake smirked at him. "We use bait."

As Jaune's dingy floated out into the completely misty lake, with his visibility so limited that if he stuck out his tongue, he wouldn't be able to see the end of it, Jaune rescinded all of the nice things he'd ever said or thought about Blake.

Huntress're kind…what a bunch of hooey! Huntresses are…are…they're harridans! She-devils! Complete and utter tarts!

Jaune's gentlemanly offer to row on Blake's behalf had been taken up, but when he'd suggested it, he hadn't intended for his load to be the combined weight of two boats – his own and the second one in which Blake was hiding.

I can't wait to become a huntsman, because then she can be the bait and I can be the, uhhhhh, the hook, I guess, if we're still going for the fishing metaphor.

Her plan was simple; the Grimm needed to suspect Jaune was vulnerable and be attracted to his fear, so Blake had literally done everything she could to make Jaune as afraid as possible.

Nighttime? Check.

Foggy and impossible to see? Check.

Disarmed of Crocea Mors because, and Jaune quoted, 'he could trust her to protect them both?' Checkerino.

Sore and cold from having to row? Also checkity check check.

She got it easy. Blake was lying on the floor of the second rowboat covered by a tarp, nice and snug and cozy-like. According to her, Grimm might be smart enough to recognize threats, but they weren't smart enough to figure out that second boat probably contained a second hunter. Jaune and his immense state of terror due to being alone and exposed in the chilling (in every meaning of the work) night was what would draw it out, and then she would kill it.

Assuming it doesn't kill me first. Like, I get that I can protect myself with aura, but could I not have at least hidden the sword on the floor of the boat? It's an opaque rowboat; the Grimm can't see if I brought it along!

But no, Blake had insisted Jaune be utterly powerless in this situation. He despised nothing more than being the damsel in distress, but that was what she'd decided his role was to be on every mission so far. In Lemuria, she abandoned him at the top of a tree with Grimm pawing at the base, and now he was literally here for no other reason that to be a scream queen.

I hope the Grimm appreciates eating my emotions or whatever it is they do, because what I'm feeling has to be some premium quality fright.

It was times like this that Jaune appreciated the trials his parents had put him through as a kid to teach him how to swim. Despite being a brave huntsman, his father had never learned how to stay afloat in the water, and it was something he never forgave his parents for; thus, the entire Arc brood was thrown into the water as babies and told to sink or swim.

Jaune had once had eight sisters…

Okay, not really, but that would be super metal. We all got swimming lessons with pool noodles and arm floaties and the works. But if I had never learned, capsizing or turtling this boat would literally be the death of me.

The biggest danger was a Grimm dragging him under. Blake, in her one moment of actually acknowledging and not downplaying Jaune's worries, had informed him that aura could do nothing to pump oxygen into his lungs, so drowning was a real concern. He'd raised it pre-emptively to prevent a snapping turtle Grimm's beak or shark Grimm's fangs from yanking off a leg, but Jaune honestly wondered if it might actually be better to lose the limb rather than be pulled down by it.

It was impossible to not be at war with himself over his faith in his partner. Yeah, they'd both bared their souls to one another and knew that they were both flawed people, and yeah, Blake's abandonment of him may have been sort of cancelled out by the fact that she had saved his life when he'd forced his way onto a huntsman job he had no training or business being on, but…

She says that she's training me to be a full huntsman, but so far we've just done low effort spars and gone on missions where she does the heavy lifting. And I get that we don't really have the resources to actually fight in a ring, nor do we have the luxury of picking our missions, and sure, we've only actually had a week of practice to base this off of, but…

You know, when he actually listed all the reasons that made him sound like he was being the high maintenance partner, there were a lot of them. Was he sounding spoiled here? Was Blake doing her best in spite of her impatient, action-hungry partner?

I just don't want to get used to taking the backseat. I'll never become a huntsman if I don't participate in missions, so she can't hide behind the excuse of me not being a huntsman to stop me from participating in missions. It's only a vicious cycle if I let it be one.

Aside from keeping a lookout for saltwater Grimm (and Jaune used the term 'look' loosely in this mist), there wasn't really much for Jaune to do other than reflect on himself and his partnership. In the end, it was too early to start making demands like taking on a great role during missions, but maybe he could set a deadline.

A month…that sounded fair. If Blake hadn't made him an equal partner in their firm by the end of the month in terms of responsibility, he would have a chat with her. Nothing major, no threats of leaving or anything, just a chat between friends.

They were friends, right? Jaune was pretty sure that just because they were business partners and hunter partners, but that didn't mean they couldn't be friends.

…ssssssplish…

The noise was barely even audible. For a second, he wasn't sure he hadn't just imagined it.

Huh? What was that?

Jaune looked over his shoulder to see ripples in the water.

Coming Soon: Bait

Even if you catch the fish, the worm on the hook rarely survives.

Chapter Text

The worst part of being the one to hide under the blanket was that Blake knew for an absolute fact that Jaune was bitching and moaning to himself in the other boat. He got called bait once and saw Blake getting to be covered up in a tarp and immediately jumped to the conclusion that life was a cakewalk for her and a slog for him.

The truth was that Blake was the one who had to lie down, remain perfectly motionless, and not fall asleep in spite of the late hour. If she so much as twitched, whatever fish Grimm was in the lake might detect it, meaning that she had to keep every muscle in her entire body stationary for the entire night And it wasn't like hunting Grimm was some grand honor reserved only for the worthy – she still had no idea why Arc had gotten it into his head that this was a heroic venture and not just a job.

She was beginning to cramp up in her shoulder, but as the trap, she didn't have the right to adjust so as to alleviate her discomfort. No, she just had to bear through the pain and think happy thoughts, because if she got too uncomfortable, the Grimm would sense her and know the trick.

Jaune was probably over in the other boat, lamenting his own boredom but failing to consider how Blake was just as bored.

I swear, if he somehow fucks this up, he won't just be bored; he'll be over-bored.

Still, she doubted he would be making any mistakes on this first legitimate but actually second mission of theirs. Jaune might have had ambitions bigger than reality typically tended to allow the downtrodden, but he seemed to at least recognize that he wasn't there yet. Blake would gladly help him attain his goal of becoming a real huntsman (for her proper price, of course), but she doubted he would get to live out this wish fulfillment lifestyle he seemed to be expecting since coming to and leaving Beacon.

They'd known one another for barely even a full week, so it was hard to call him a friend, but he was certainly a good acquaintance, and she really couldn't complain about being partners with him professionally. Her last partner had been Adam, in every sense of the word, and Blake's one week with Jaune had been smoother than her last two years in Adam's company.

It took effort not to twitch angrily at the mere thought of Adam. Blake would curse his very name for as long as she lived for what he did to her.

It was never physical, and the emotional aspect of his abuse was negligible. Adam truly had loved her, and aside from what she now recognized as some pointed statements to keep her in line, he'd treated her with…not respect, but dignity. No, the reason Blake couldn't stand the thought of Adam was because he'd done his best to show Blake that even the brightest, happiest, most patient soul could eventually be ground away into a jaded beast. Adam's true betrayal was not of Blake but of himself, and having been forced to watch himself fall from the pedestal of an activist to a terrorist was torture.

He'd shown her that any Faunus had it in themselves to become a monster if the world beat it into them for long enough.

T̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶w̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶r̶o̶u̶g̶h̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶a̶g̶e̶.̶ ̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶s̶h̶a̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶e̶r̶i̶e̶n̶c̶e̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶t̶h̶.̶ ̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶l̶i̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶o̶v̶e̶r̶l̶a̶p̶p̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶n̶u̶m̶e̶r̶o̶u̶s̶ ̶w̶a̶y̶s̶.̶ ̶ ̶W̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶?̶

So…back to Arc, then. Y-Yeah.

Unlike Adam, Blake was fairly certain she would be able to resist the masculine wiles of this new partner of hers. For one thing, business and pleasure didn't mix, and for another, she was pretty sure that something like that with Jaune wouldn't be particularly pleasurable for any of them. Plus, she wasn't a racist, but it wasn't like Blake Belladonna was going to be dating a human anytime soon, because…because…

Shit. Maybe I am a bit racist. But I'm still not going to date Arc, so don't even ask.

But…maybe she would start calling him her friend soon.

Speaking her Arc, was he even still there? Blake was waiting for the sound of water splashing and Arc screaming to her for help (or perhaps gurgling and blowing bubbles to her for help in a worst-case scenario).

Wait, how long are we going to do this if the Grimm doesn't show up? We never really set an end date for waiting in the mists at night.

Gods, I feel so stupid – I was so sure the creature would show up during the day, but it didn't. So what's the first thing I do at night? Be sure that it's going to show up!

Well, there was nothing to do about it now. If she peeked at any point, then this while operation would be ruined, and they would lose out.

Except it's been two hours and there hasn't been a sign of Grimm activity. If anything, it's probably even less likely now than when we started because Jaune's fearful heart has had a chance to calm down and acclimate to the surroundings.

"Alright," Blake said, as she discarded the towel covering her. "I'm calling it here. We'll try casting a net or divi–"

Jaune was gone.

Blake's heart stopped beating, and she couldn't feel it restart.

"JAUNE!" she loudly called, looking around in all directions.

There hadn't been any noise, not even an audible splash. How could this have happened? Even if he'd tripped overboard because of clumsiness, there would at least have been a splash!

Did he go back ashore? No, the boat and oars are still there.

"Jaune, get your ass back here right now!" Blake screamed. "If you're trying to prank me, I'll deduct it from your salary and consider your stupid jokes my own hazard pay!"

Nothing. No noise, no sound, nothing around for miles except this accursed mist.

The Grimm…but how? There hadn't been any noise! A boat tipping would make a noise. A struggle with an aura user, even an inexperienced one, would make a noise. There should have been splashing and paddling around and gasping for breath and arms flailing in the water and…

Blake looked at the empty boat in front of her own and the water around it. There was no blood.

Okay. Okay, that's a decent sign. If he'd been torn apart, the Grimm would have just let the body parts float to the surface. Unless it swallowed him whole. Or they floated away. Do body parts even sink?

Oh, this was so bad. It was Lemuria all over again, except instead of Blake fucking Jaune over intentionally, she'd done it by her very own incompetence, and that meant she couldn't sweep in and save him when she chose to grow a spine.

Gods, if you're real, please don't let him die. Please, I swear, I'll pray every day if you just don't kill my poor, hapless, simpleton of a partner.

Blake knew from experience that prayers didn't tend to be answered unless she started taking action to solve them herself. She needed to stop wasting time and start doing something.

It wasn't wasting time. I'm…I'm assessing the situation.

Logic was the best defense against panic. Blake clamped her hands down on the side of the boat so hard her fingernails dug into the wood, giving herself the best grounding she could on this unsteady lake.

Jaune had vanished, but there was no evidence of foul play, so to speak. What could have possibly dragged him off?

I'm being too specific. I don't know what happened.

How could a person disappear from a boat without making a sound?

It couldn't have been the Grimm. If it was big enough and strong enough to drag him under, the sound of it breaching the surface would have alerted her.

A different Grimm? A winged Nevermore swooping down and snatching him out of the sky? That wouldn't be any different than a fish Grimm – she'd have heard it flapping, and Jaune would have screamed in his dying moments.

If Jaune had done his best to remain silent and quietly slipped himself into the water, he might have been able to do so without her noticing, but why would Jaune want that? He knew there was a Grimm in the water, and there was no apparent reason why he would want to keep Blake in the dark about whatever happened.

It wasn't him, it wasn't the Grimm…was it someone else?

They'd eaten food provided to them from the townsfolk. If they'd drugged it, then quietly rowed out and abducted him…

For what, human sacrifices to the lake god? This isn't one of my books.

In the end, it didn't matter, did it? She was going to have to find him.

Stay focused. Stay logical. Don't give in to that panic. Adam may have been a colossal letdown as a boyfriend and a Faunus, but he was a damn fine combat trainer.

Right now, whatever had mysteriously vanished Jaune could just as easily mysteriously vanish Blake. She had no idea what vague force was out there, targeting townsfolk and huntsmen, but this was advantageous terrain for it if it had ignored them during the day and only chosen to go after its prey at night.

The best course of action was to retreat for the night, wait until the mist cleared off and not a moment later, and start diving. If this was a nocturnal Grimm, the daytime might give her an advantage.

It's not like Lemuria, Blake reason as she climbed over into Jaune's boats and began to lift up the oars. This time, I really am tactically retreating. If I die, there's no one to rescue Jaune. In fact, when the mist is gone, I might be able to see deep enough into the water to find him.

She made it three full rotations of the oars before letting go of them. Instead, she stood up and gazed over the edge of the boat. The surface of the water was a perfect crystal clear, reflecting the black of the night sky faded through a pale mist. Gambol at her side, Blake sucked in a deep breath.

Damn it. I really hate getting wet.

The Grimm, assuming that it somehow had done this, was aquatic, not amphibious. That much was obvious from mere deduction. After all, if it could sprout legs and walk onto land, it would have ravaged the village at its first chance. Whatever was in there was stuck in the lake, meaning Blake's one and only priority was finding Jaune's corpse, dragging it to safety ashore, and resuscitating him if needed.

He's already been underwater for two hours, and he's probably dead, but if there's a slim chance he's somehow still breathing, he needs me now, not tomorrow morning. There's no telling if Jaune can make it until then.

It was impossible to see in the waters of the Lake of Lost Voles, but that was more due to the inadequate light than any true murkiness. Blake had an advantage over most humans on Remnant due to her night vision, but even she was having trouble making out anything beyond the swaying of the seaweed and the shadows it cast.

Looking for colors wasn't going to be enough, not when Jaune's blond hair was the only bright spot that wouldn't blend into the background. His pants were blue and his jacket was black, meaning that it would be all but impossible to find them out here. Motion would be the key. Assuming either Jaune was still alive or the Grimm that killed him was, she would need to find their outline when it swam.

I don't like this at all. I can sort of see horizontally, but there are too many plants beneath the surface. If the Grimm submerges, it has more hiding spots than a corn cob has kernels.

This was such a bad idea. Blake needed air, and the water would make it slower to swing Gambol. Curse her stupid self-sacrificing desire to save Jaune.

J̶a̶u̶n̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶i̶t̶u̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶h̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶b̶a̶i̶t̶.̶ ̶ ̶E̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶g̶o̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶e̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶m̶ ̶p̶o̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶n̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶h̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶s̶u̶r̶v̶i̶v̶e̶.̶

Later. Focus on saving him and berate yourself later.

Surfacing for air, Blake kicked her way to the top of the lake and took in a big gulp. Having grown up in Menagerie, the sea was no stranger to her. Even though it may have left her with an unpleasant feeling in her gut, the sting of saltwater on her lips was as familiar as the kiss of an old friend.

Great. Now even water reminds me of Adam.

Letting herself sink down once more, Blake waved her arms to rotate herself in a circular pattern, keeping her eyes peeled wide for any Grimm that could be coming her way in any direction. Her aura was raised, so there wasn't a great risk if something snuck up on her from behind, but the mere thought of an enemy being able to approach from the back, left, right, top, or bottom left her uneasy. Five was too many blind spots.

Avian or burrowing Grimm can only come at me from four, and terrestrial Grimm get three. But in the water, it's a full spherical realm of vulnerability that I need to watch out for.

Blake kicked her legs and started paddling closer to the center of the lake, hoping it might give her the best vantage point. It would be the most dangerous spot to be in if she were attacked, but Blake had already decided that she wasn't going to be throwing Arc to the Beowolves, so self-preservation would have to wait.

It was just large enough lake to genuinely appeal to her instinctual thalassophobia that all Faunus and humans possessed. Blake rose up for air once more.

I…I could splash. It would make noise and draw attention to me, calling out any Grimm circling these waters towards me.

But her goal was no longer the Grimm. It was rescuing a̶ ̶d̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶ her partner.

Sucking in as large of a gulp as she could, Blake braced herself for the cold and dove back down.

This time, she didn't stop just a few feet below the surface to get a look. Instead, Blake dove further and further, letting her own fear intensity as the light of the moon through the mists grew faint. Swimming with one hand full was slightly trickier, but she wasn't going to sheath her weapon for the world.

Blake stopped swimming when she got within reach of the dangling seaweed and aquatic ferns that dotted the lake's floor. Brave as she was, even she knew that having constant tactile disruptions and sensations of tickling would just be a distraction.

Come on, Jaune. I know you're a survivor. Don't leave me hanging here.

All she could do was continue to slowly spin around underwater and keep on the lookout for –

A BUBBLE!

It was no guarantee that it was her partner. It would have been a fish or crab exhaling some air trapped in its gills, or a trapped pocket of gas in the sand that got dislodged by random chance, or even the Grimm itself. But it was the only hope Blake had, and she needed something to believe in right now.

It had come from a rather significant distance away, but the bubble had been large – easily large enough to be a human's exhale. Blake swam to the area of the lake where she'd seen the bubble and stopped, looking closer around here.

The plants were far fewer, likely due to the ground being made of some sort of boulder-like rock rather than the sandy silt that most of the rest of the lake's floor was. Blake looked around frantically for signs of a blond corpse leaking air, but nothing was there.

I'm running out of air…but maybe just a little longer…

No. If it was a Grimm, she would need to be fit to fight it off to rescue Jaune. She'd decided to save him, not kill them both.

Blake surfaced once more, this time taking a moment to catch her breath and steady herself. Whatever she was looking for was in this spot, meaning that this would be where the fight for Team Job's lives took place. Keeping an eye on the water to avoid being ambushed, Blake prepared mentally and physically, then plunged down into the water.

No plants meant there were no visual or tactile distractions, so Blake dove all the way down to the lake floor this time. It was sedimentary rock, dark in color and extremely uneven. Reaching her open hand down, she touched it against the rock and tried to feel for gaps or openings.

If he's somehow trapped beneath the rocks, a bubble might slip through…but how would he not be dead by this point?

…well…h-he might actually be dead.

But if he was, then there was nothing lost by continuing her search. On the other hand, if Jaune was still alive, giving up now would cost Blake everything.

At one point, she placed a hand down onto a particularly dark rock, only to discover that it was actually just a void space in the water. The lack of a solid surface where she'd been expecting it sent a jolt of panic through her, the same kind where one took a step while asleep and found no ground beneath their feet.

Another bubble slowly came out of the hole she'd discovered, brushing past Blake's cheeks as it sought the sky above.

Oh my gods.

He's down there.

And so is the Grimm. It can't be coincidence that bubbles show up whenever I feel a flash of fear. It's sensing my emotions and reacting. It's trying to lure the second hunter into its hidey hole after it captured the first.

Fuck. Whatever was lurking down there was smart enough to use Jaune as bait.

That means it's exactly the same intelligence level as me.

Blake had to continuously reach her arms out and very carefully swim through the tunnel in order to move. It wasn't twisting and turning in random directions or something, but it was slowly curving, and there was absolutely no light to see down here. Faunus night vision wasn't magical sight in the dark; her eyes enhanced the effect of ambient light, but there was none down here.

How am I going to get back out? Blake wondered. And carrying Jaune with me?

The magazine in Gambol's gun had a tiny pocket of air, meaning that she could still use the bullets for light by combusting the Dust, but that would be tricky. Guns weren't meant to be flashlights, and she would only get split seconds of illumination before going back into darkness.

I'm still running on a single breath of air.

Blake really didn't want to die here. She didn't want to die anywhere, but if it had to be somewhere, the water was probably her least favorite option.

Her hands, still flopping about in front of her to feel out the path, collided with something soft, and Blake immediately bashed the fuck out of it with Gambol Shroud as hard as she could. It was tempting to scream at the sudden interruption, but she'd already bitten down on her teeth to prevent losing her precious breaths of air, knowing that a jumpscare was possible.

Unfortunately, her weapon didn't slash whatever it was in half, for this unseen object or creature was stronger than it looked. Something wrapped itself around Blake from both sides, and she found herself moving rapidly.

It's got me! It's pulling me!

Whatever it was that had encompassed Blake had gripped her tight, though, and it was impossibly difficult to move her arms more than budging an inch outward. This thing was strong, whatever it was, possibly even stronger than her when it came to raw power.

But it's not smarter. I'm a huntress, and I'm not out of tricks yet!

Blake knew instinctively how to mech-shift her weapon even without light to shine on the buttons, and she did so. Aiming was impossible, but the light might give her a better idea of what she was dealing with.

It only took one bullet fired to give Blake a snapshot of the scene in front of her (no need to waste ammo). She was being dragged through whatever narrow tunnel she'd entered at breakneck speeds, and the thing grabbing her wasn't a Grimm.

"Jjjjjjggbbhghghbhg!"

This time, the shock was great to not let out some of her precious air by mistake, because why was Jaune Arc pulling her deeper into the water?!

Amazingly, through some unknown manner, Blake found herself breathing air. It was still pitch dark, but she found herself bobbing up and down in the water with her head above it, breathing easily.

"Blake!" shouted Jaune's disembodied voice. "Blake, it's the Grimm!"

He'd seen her, just as she'd seen him, and he was trying to warn her about whatever it was that was going on. Blake didn't let it go to waste.

"AURA UP, ARC!"

She trusted him to follow her commands and fired three successive shots in different directions to give herself three pictures of her surroundings.

They were in some sort of cave with a pocket of air. Blake had known that the tunnel had been curving, but she hadn't realized that Jaune had pulled her along a completely U-shaped pathway. It must have been in the shape of an umbrella or a walking cane, leaving them both at the end where the handle would be.

There was no solid ground, just the pool in which Jaune and Blake were currently wading. Above them was the air, and above that was a mixture of rocky ceiling and a swarming, slithering mass of Grimm something. Blake couldn't quite tell whether it was a squid or an octopus or a million eels all converging together; all she could tell was that it had its tentacles around Jaune, and it was reaching for her.

There was no doubt that Blake was a good shot, but the combination of complete darkness before each and every shot as well as massive, moving target didn't mix well when it came to accuracy. It may have also had something to do with Blake's body succumbing to the numerous stresses it was experiencing and giving her shaky hands, but her shots peppered both the Grimm and the rocky ceiling.

"WHIIIIEEE!"

Blake discovered two things by shooting as she had. First, the high pitched whistling noise sounded like it was coming from only one voice, lending credence to the octopus theory over this being some sort of hive of eels. Second, the U-bend through which they'd swum must have taken them very close to the underside of the lake, for when Blake shot into the roof of this cave, her bullets tore right through and poked holes.

Holes that were causing water to pour in as air flowed out!

…but also letting light pour in to illuminate the room.

Blake now had a much better view of her surroundings, and over the Grimm attacker. It was like the thing had tons of black tentacles that were weaving in between one another, but the all connected to a tube-mouth of some sort at the center. Around the perimeter of these tentacles was some bony white plating that Grimm usually had, but this plating fed into the walls. This Grimm, whatever it was (Blake was now guessing octopus), had literally built itself into this cave, using the rock like a hermit crab's shell.

"WHIIEE! HUUWWWHIIIEEE!"

Now that she had enough light to see with her Faunus eyes, Blake switched back to sword-mode for Gambol to avoid poking any more holes in the ceiling and drenching them with more water. The tentacles reached down for her as the tube mouth widened and contracted.

This Grimm might have been smart, and it might have had an extensive reach (those tentacles had been long enough to dangle Jaune past the bend of the cave to let his air bubbles surface), but the arms themselves were flimsy individually. Blake carved them off one by one like a pirate with a cutlass.

In a straight fight, it's probably physically weaker than a Beowolf or Creep. It must be an ambush predator. It reaches out onto the surface of the water and drags you in before you even know what's hit you, as it did to the villagers and to Jaune.

The fact that it was smart enough to try and turn a huntsman prize into two was alarming, but the Grimm had gotten greedy and stepped too far. The tentacles didn't last long as she hacked them to pieces.

The water level was rising, but not fast enough to truly worry. Now that the Grimm had been disarmed, Blake had time to check on her imperiled partner.

"Jaune!" she called into the semi-darkness. "Are you okay?"

Without night vision, he was probably reduced to seeing only what was directly in line with the thin holes Blake had shot out of the cave, and it showed. Treading around and soaked to the bone, his head was turning in every direction as he tried to find her.

"I'm here, Jaune, I'm here," she called, more to reassure him than to help him locate her position. "Are you hurt? Were you harmed?"

Jaune splashed forward in the tight space and landed right in the path of the water that was feeding down from the main lake. It poured like a faucet's flow onto his head, but being closer to the light probably aided him in making sense of his surroundings.

He's been here, trapped in absolute darkness and nighttime cold for who knows how long. It could have been anywhere from a minute before I noticed he was gone to the full two hours.

"Blake!" he cried out. "I'm…I-I…I'm okay, but…w-where are we?"

"In a cave, I think. The Grimm is neutralized, and we're okay. We need to get out of here."

"How? I can't see a thing!"

"I'll lead," Blake explained. "I'm gonna reach out and take your hand, okay?"

In the time they'd spoken, the water had risen probably a good three feet, and the Grimm's whistling had intensified to a fever pitch.

Blake missed Jaune's arm the first two times she tried to grab it. At this point, she was starting to feel a little water-logged from this whole experience, and treading water with just her feet, as one hand was on her sword and the other was flailing about to grasp Jaune's, was trickier than it sounded.

Once she'd gotten ahold of him, Blake explained their next course of action. "Alright, listen close, Jaune. I'm going to shoot the Grimm. When it dies, the cave will probably collapse around us. Its shell is built into the rocks; that'll make it unsteady when it vanishes, and my bullets will be enough to bring it all down. Keep your aura up so the rocks don't injure you. Y-Your aura is okay, right?"

"Y-Yeah," he breathed, coughing out some water as he struggled to stay afloat. "You whacked me pretty good with Gambol, but I'm okay."

We probably only have four feet of air left before we're fully submerged. Actually, we'll be washed right into the Grimm's gaping maw first. I need to do this, now.

"I'll shoot it, the cave will collapse, and we'll swim up. Get in a good breath when I tell you, 'kay?"

"K-Kay," Jaune said, shivering. "Breath in, aura up, swim straight up. W-Which way is up?"

"I'll lead. I won't let go of you, Jaune."

Blake took aim at the whistling tube that was all that remained of this dangerously clever mollusk creature.

"Suck in that breath, Jaune."

Jaune inhaled and nodded. Blake watched to make sure his lips closed all the way.

One foot of air left – no more time to waste. The Grimm's tube was now beginning to stretch towards them in a desperate attempt to eat them using its last remaining mobile body part before they slew it.

Bracing herself, Blake pulled the trigger and held it down.

PTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAT!

"WHHHHRRRRRIEEEEEYYY!"

THWOOOOOOOSH!

"Next mission," Blake wheezed as she laid down with her belly on the sand. "Next mission, we do on dry land."

Jaune had no response. All he could do at the moment was cough until he vomited up the significant volumes of saltwater he'd ingested. The swim back up to the surface had been taxing on him, and he'd lost his strength on the paddle back to shore. Blake had had to carry him with one arm and swim them both back with the other.

Both of them were soaked to the bone and just as tired. Blake knew that she would need to get them to the village at some point to avoid them succumbing to hypothermia in the chilly forest night air, but that could wait for at least a minute or two or sixty.

Jaune took that time to continue to expel water from his lungs, hunched over on his knees. He was fully conscious, meaning that there was no need to resuscitate him, so Blake just allowed him to let his own body work out the offensive liquid.

"W-Wha…"

"Don't speak," she advised him. "Not until you've coughed up all the liquid. Drinking algae-filled saltwater is nasty, and your stomach is going to regurgitate what it doesn't want to digest."

Arc, stubborn idiot that he was, ignored her sound advice and just powered through it. "Whaddaheck wuzzat?"

"I don't know," Blake honestly admitted. She rolled over onto her back. "Squidy Grimm of some sort?"

"I'd…ohhh, ugh, my tummy. Man, that…ugh." He made a gagging motion, but nothing came up. Blake figured that meant he'd emptied the contents of his stomach. "Did it have tentacles? I really couldn't see what was moving me."

"Yeah, but they weren't really prehensile. They could stretch out and move, but mostly in straight lines or long curves – perfect for the shape of the cave."

"I'd wager nautilus or cuttlefish," Jaune said. He was still on his knees, but his arms up to the elbow were on the ground supporting his upper body from falling. "Tentacles are used like rudders for propulsion, cuz that's all they have the dexterity for."

Blake forced out a laugh, even if it hurt her lungs, which were sore from all the breath holding. "Is there any random bullshit you don't know?"

"Hey, s'not every day you discover a new Grimm."

"Great," Blake said, limply throwing an arm up in the air and letting it fall back down. "We found the thing 'n' killed it. Whoo team."

"We should name it," Jaune suggested. "We found a new species, 'n' that means we got the right to name it. A tentacled, cephalopodic Grimm…hmmmmm. How about Hentacle?"

Blake let her head fall to the side to look at Arc.

"Whaddaya think?"

Blake's only response was to reach down, weakly grasp Gambol Shroud, and fire a bullet at Jaune's leg.

Which went through.

"AAAAARRRGGHHH!"

Blake was immediately sitting up. "Oh my gods! Jaune! Your leg!"

"GRRRAAAH!"

"Y-Your aura!" she tried to protest. "It was…"

It wasn't broken, but this was Arc they were talking about. Though he currently lived the huntsman life, a true huntsman he was not (yet), and that learned aura control that she and her people had was still a lesson he was internalizing.

"I'm so sorry! Oh, by the Grimm, I didn't mean to, Jaune!"

"GGGggghhuuuhhh…"

The wound was healing up, and rather quickly at that. Blake had seen Arc do this before in Lemuria – some sort of innate talent at using aura to heal that Arc possessed – but it still looked painful as all hell.

The blood stopped pouring out, but Jaune's aura broke from the stress he was putting on it before the flesh could flatten out. Blake winced – he would probably be limping on that leg for a few days while his body's naturally healing finished the job his soul had started.

"I'm sorry…"

"S'okay," Jaune replied, his face now a little less pained. "I'm still learning, so…t-try not to…in the future."

Blake swallowed uncomfortably and nodded a few times. It felt rude to lay back down after she'd nearly just maimed her partner, so Blake just stayed seated upright.

"It should heal soon," she said, looking at the wound through the hole in Jaune's jeans. "Your aura will passively go towards healing it rather than regenerating."

Through his pain, Jaune let out a little smirk. "Prolly a good thing…don't chicks dig scars?

"Not this one," Blake said with a roll of her eyes. Then, a grin broke out across her face. "But that does give me an idea…"

Mission Complete: Lake of Lost Voles

Client Review: Can we rate higher than five stars? One of these brave warriors nearly laid down their own life in the defense of our village and sustained a severe leg injury at the hands of a dangerous Grimm but KEPT ON FIGHTING. Heroic! And to top this amazing service off, they went on to slay the monster plaguing our town without even requesting a bonus for their above and beyond level of service (other than some surplus food we were more than happy to give). ★★★★★

Current Holdings (lien): Ⱡ 14,000

Current Holdings (assets): Benson Airship Rental punchcard (two punches), numerous coolers of freshly caught fish

Current Holdings (realty): none

Employees: 2

Coming Soon: And they were Roommates

Oh my god, they were roommates…

Graphic for reference:

Chapter Text

"It's only four thousand lien?" Jaune asked incredulously. "I thought we made so much more!"

Just because he'd agreed to leave the finances up to Blake didn't mean that he wasn't a little appalled by how low their profit margins were. They'd earned eight thousand lien on their first job, and they'd been shortchanged by the greedy mayor there!

"You're not looking at it holistically," Blake said, idly kicking her feet off the edge of her side of the bed (they split it down the middle during the day). "We started that mission with two checks for three thousand lien each, and we came back with ten thousand lien total to our name. It was the same profit margin total."

"But…But…"

"We've been living in Vale for a week, and we've also paid our licenses in full. Don't think of how much it is compared to another job – we're richer overall than when we started, and that's even after our expenses have been paid."

Jaune continued to grumble a little bit about it all. It was just annoying that they could set their own rates at whatever price they wanted, and they were still financially struggling.

Their agreement had been a stilted split of the money 85 to 15 in Blake's favor (fairly, though, since she was training him), but in actuality that was barely meaning anything. When the two of them shared a living space and ate the same meals together (Jaune was currently cooking for them both with the groceries she'd brought home), it just seemed pointless to divide up wages. Also, their next job would need funds for Dust and airship rentals, and they'd not really discussed whose salary that would come from.

When we're well off enough to get separate living spaces, we can probably hash out some sort of payment plan. Maybe we'd take our percentages from one half of the money and use the next to pay our hunter expenses.

At the moment, though, when the entire company could go under at any moment, it feels more important to have the payment go into Team Job Security's bank account rather than either of ours, individually.

That was all figurative, of course. They didn't even have bank accounts – Blake was currently storing all of their lien in the suitcase the Lemuria mayor had given them their payment it.

"I'm sorry it's not as profitable as you'd like, Jaune," Blake said. "We're just trying to get reviews for now. Once we're a little less brand new, maybe we can increase our prices."

He had to remind himself that he hadn't gotten into this career for the money. Jaune's primary goal was to become a hero, not to make bank. That said, a hero needed a roof over his head and a belly full of food.

Which I have. I'm cutting up tomatoes and peppers for tonight's dinner, and we've got enough space for ourselves, which is more than a lot of people can say for themselves.

Blake said she didn't know how to cook, and while Jaune himself found little enjoyment in it personally, he was more than competent enough to read a recipe from the internet. She'd gone to get the groceries, which was a chore in and of itself even without the rainstorm that was keeping all of Vale cooped up indoors.

This hotel was a little bit nicer than the one they'd spent their first night together in, and it was more catered to people who were doing something long term. They'd booked a room with a bed, a small stove and fridge, and free built-in internet, meaning that they could use it to double as their workspace. Blake typically frequented the library during the early days when they'd been getting on their feet and learning how to run a business, but Jaune's website design had been completely done on his personal scroll.

"How long do you think it'll be before we get another mission?" Jaune asked, equally out of curiosity and a desire to gradually move the topic away.

Blake shrugged and fell back down onto the bed. "No clue. I'm not a huntress."

"W-What?!"

"I'm seventeen and was applying to Beacon to learn how to be one," Blake pointed out. "I've got field experience, but it wasn't as a career hunter or something – just practice missions and killing whichever Grimm came too close to…to where I lived."

Jaune couldn't help but hear the hitch in her voice. "Your primary combat school?"

He looked over his shoulder and saw Blake nodding.

He already knew for a fact that she'd somehow lied on her application to Beacon, and unlike him, it wasn't a secret that had been shared between the partners. However, she also had the real, necessary skills to kill the Grimm, a real weapon of her own, and aura, meaning that she wasn't a complete fraud like him.

But there's still something that disqualified her from Beacon, or she'd be there right now…

Jaune really wanted to know, but at the same time, he knew Blake could tell he didn't yet know, and she hadn't chosen to reveal that secret of hers. That meant she wasn't comfortable with him knowing it yet…or she'd forgotten.

Either way, I think I can live with not knowing. Whatever it is isn't hurting me right now, so I'll just let it lie.

But that didn't mean he couldn't chat with her about other stuff. He still barely knew anything about her other than the fact that she hailed from Menagerie and was a Faunus.

"So, what made you want to be a huntress? Jaune asked, hoping that was neutral enough.

When Blake answered, she sounded slightly embarrassed. "It's…It's a selfish reason. It's not some noble thing or romantic vision of saving damsels and swinging swords that you'd expect from a naïve kid."

Naïve…but that's why I –

"Wait, do hunters not save people?" Jaune asked.

"I…no, they do, but I joined Beacon because I'm…I'm running away from home," Blake answered. "I went to a primary combat school in Menagerie – it's a Faunus island in the south seas – and my parents wanted me to go to Mistral and come back home, but I decided I didn't want to live that life. I came to Vale hoping I could find some other work, but you've seen firsthand how good Faunus get treated. Without a real resume, I had nothing other than going back to an academy. Sorry, Jaune, but for me it's just a job."

Had she stopped at the lie, Jaune might have impulsively called it out – Menagerie didn't have primary combat schools – but the long explanation gave him time to think about it. Blake didn't seem to recall that Jaune knew about Menagerie, meaning that she thought he would just buy it like an ignorant human.

It's about her spotty past, then. No matter what I do, I seem to keep accidentally bringing that up.

In any event, it was clearly obvious that asking about her early life and those parents of hers would just make it worse, so Jaune dropped the topic and put the diced vegetables into the boiling pot of broth.

"You big on reading?" he tried next, knowing full well what the answer would be. She'd volunteered to be their resident bookworm when it came to learning about Valean business licensing, and he knew for a fact that the suitcase of hers was filled with her book collection.

"Am I!" Blake squeaked. "I've never met a novel I haven't absolutely loved. Some more than others, of course, especially Ninjas of…of Action, but every story has its own special appeal that I just can't get enough of. It's like, when I'm ten chapters and fifty pages deep into a good book, I'm just in another world entirely."

"I'm a big fan of movies myself, but I do read sometimes," Jaune ventured.

Blake wrinkled her nose. "Nah, not for me. There's just something magical about the way authors of the world can take the same 700,000 words of the language and convert them into their own unique tale that no one else has ever made before." She paused, then backtracked. "Except for the people who take other already existing settings and characters and reshape those into their own stories. Those people are the worst."

Jaune nodded in agreement. "They deserve death."

"So what about you, Jaune Arc? What's your story?"

"Hmmm?"

Jaune finished with the food – all that was left was letting it cook on the stovetop until it was heated through – so he went over to his side of the bed and had a seat.

"You're asking about me, but I wanna know what made a kid with neither experience nor aura decide he was going to sneak his way into Beacon – big dick move, by the way, just faking your shit and walking in."

Jaune smacked his lips and wondered where he was even supposed to begin. "It all started only a few months before this past summer began, actually, but I think you could also say it began four years ago."

Blake raised an eyebrow at his vague words, but he just continued on.

"I was on the verge of filling out an application to Beacon early this year. My grades were good, I did tons of volunteer work, I was fully prepared to ace all of my finals. And then, when I got to the application form, they only had…"

It was impossible not to ball up his fists at the memory.

Even though the application form was blank, it somehow carried with it the message that all of the hard work Jaune had put in would mean nothing.

His classmates were all talking about what colleges they intended to apply to or what careers they intended to pursue, but Jaune had never even considered that. There was no fallback career for the bright-eyed youngster who came from a family of heroes; being a huntsman was all he wanted in life.

But when he'd printed out the copy of Beacon's application form, the first question of thirty was a multiple choice one. Jaune hadn't been expecting a test…but it wasn't a test.

Q1: Please select which accredited primary combat school you attended.

There was a list of thirteen options, and Jaune didn't recognize any of the names. Signal, Pharos, Range Lights, Sanctum, Caisson…his own high school wasn't among them. There wasn't even an 'Other' selection with a blank line to add his own school to.

I…I'm sure I can work this out, he reasoned.

Two hours of research later, Jaune was a much glummer boy. He had intensively investigated every little factoid about 'primary combat schools,' memorized their locations, learned exactly how they got accredited, and (most importantly) he'd learned how they accepted applicants.

You have to be twelve to get in? But…But I'm seventeen! How come I didn't know this?

The other people on online forums asked the same question, but the only answer he came across at every turn was 'It doesn't matter why – you can't apply late.' Primary Combat Schools only accepted young children, those who had just freshly crossed the barrier from tween to teen.

Everyone Jaune knew had gone to high school. He'd never even known of the existence of these primary things when he'd graduated from middle school, meaning he'd never had a chance of becoming a huntsman. No, he'd had a chance, but he'd thrown it away by being careless four years ago.

Except I wasn't careless. I knew I wanted to be a huntsman then, and I did nothing wrong. I always told my family my plans, and I wrote 'Huntsman' in the box when we listed our top job choices on Career Day. This isn't my fault; how could it be? I should have been told.

The application form had so many questions, and as Jaune read down the list, he realized he could pretty much answer all of them satisfactorily except for the first.

I could try just writing my high school in the margins, but they'll never accept it. Maybe I should just give up.

Arcs didn't give up, though. That darn list of schools just stared back at him every time he read it from top to bottom.

Signal…he'd never heard of it, but it was in Vale, and it was at the top of the list.

His pencil moved on its own.

I would have gone to Signal if they hadn't hidden its existence from me. I've done nothing wrong – I'm doing nothing wrong! They should have told me.

Jaune was crying at this point. Guys weren't supposed to cry, but having to relive that moment, now with the added context of knowing that Ozpin had seen right through his lies, made him more emotional than he wanted to be.

Opposite him on the bed, Blake's eyes were very keenly glued to her knees.

"T-The food's ready," Jaune said, his voice wavering as he spoke. Blake had already seen him fail physically, so seeing him fail emotionally meant that she was soon to have no more respect for him whatsoever.

They didn't have a ladle, so Jaune just spooned their dinner into paper bowls multiple times until they were full.

"That's fucked up," Blake said. "That they didn't tell you, that is."

"It doesn't matter now," Jaune lied, because even if he was somehow a huntsman, that didn't change the fact that he'd very nearly had to lose out on the life he'd dreamed of for his entire childhood. All because hunters didn't want to share. "I'm here now, right?"

"They should make information like that more readily available," Blake said. "Why wouldn't they?"

Jaune let out a long sigh. "I looked up a lot of facts to see if I could figure out why it happened, and the only conclusion I could come to…well, it's a bad one. But, according to the statistics, most of the people in primary combat schools are kids of hunters. And it's a highly paid career."

"Ah, now I see," Blake said, her lips curling in anger. "If you don't want someone to join your fancy clubhouse, you make up a rule explaining why they should be excluded and don't tell them until after they've already gone and broken it."

He handed her the flimsy bowl of steaming food, then a plastic spoon.

"Jaune, let me tell ya something." Blake took a sip from the food. "You're…okay, firstly, you're a good cook, but what I was going to say is that you're an honorary Faunus now. Humans have been doing their best to exclude us for generations now."

Jaune shifted uncomfortably at being called out so clearly. When she put it like that, it really did sound petty. He still had so much privilege that many people didn't share, and here he was, wailing and winging that his one dream job was out of reach. Tons of people never got their dreams, and many more had tough lives that could barely even be considered living.

"Sorry," he mumbled as he dug into the bowl. "Didn't mean to downplay your people's troubles."

"What? No, I wasn't –" Blake shook her head and smiled at him. "Jaune, suffering can never be the cure for suffering. Just because the Faunus have it bad doesn't mean you don't deserve your own anger. What I was trying to say is that discrimination like that, whether it's based on species, family status, or any other reason, is always just as stupid."

"Thanks," Jaune whispered. "Thanks, Blake."

"Fucking hunters," she griped bitterly. "Fucking primary school bitches."

Jaune wasn't really sure why she was saying that when she was a hunter who'd gone to a…

Except she said she isn't a hunter, and she lied about going to a primary combat school in Menagerie. And she didn't seem to know much about hunting being a family career or the exclusionary tactics used to keep it like that.

"Blake…um…I don't want to press, but…didn't you…um. So, actually, d-did you –"

"Apprenticed," she cut in before he could ask. "Okay, yeah, you caught me. I never went to one either – that's my application form secret."

"B-But why lie about –"

"I didn't exactly apprentice under a good person. A good teacher, sure, but…not someone I could list as a reference on Beacon's application forms. That's all I'm willing to share for now. Maybe later…but not now."

"I'm okay with that," Jaune said. "If you ever don't want to talk about something, just tell me, and I'll drop it like a hot potato. After all, we're friends, right?"

Blake looked up from her soup at Jaune for a moment, as though she wasn't sure what he'd just said. Then, after a few seconds, she nodded. "Yeah. We are friends."

Coming Soon: Meet the Snakes

On their next mission, Jaune and Blake discover that they may have some competition.

Chapter Text

It was actually only three days after the Lake of Lost Voles that they were hired for their next job. Blake had no idea whether or not it was just chance or if it was because they were actually gaining traction in the 'security' world because of their earlier work, but she tended to believe it was the former.

New companies rarely ever rise up that fast, not when they've only done two jobs – actually, only one job on record.

She'd flow with the same airship rental three times at this point, and the pilot, a human by the name of Benson, actually recognized them when they walked up to his front desk.

"Hey hey hey, it's the kiddie patrol, my most recent reservation. Where're we headed this time?"

"We're going snake hunting," Blake said. "A mining township called Zaherite accidentally dug their way into a nest of King Taijitu and unleashed them into the mines. They called in some pro-hunters to clear out the bunch, but one of them's a bit too slippery to catch."

"So they'ms need the illustrious Team Job Security to handle it," Benson finished, grinning. "Aight. Lemme jus' grab my keys. Meet'cha on the bird."

Blake and Jaune made their own way to the helipad at the top of his building where his bullhead was located and strapped themselves in.

"Alright, Jaune," Blake said as they waited. "Time for a quiz. King Taijitu."

"Snake Grimm," he said instantly. "Two headed, one white and one black. They're said to bring death and destruction if the white head slithers into the village first but fortune and longevity if the black one leads on its way in."

"Stick to the facts, Arc."

After finishing on their cheap advertising and website, Blake had taken him with her to the libraries. While she read up on business management, he was given a journal on Grimm and told to memorize as much of it as he could.

That book wasn't comprehensive, though. I didn't see many of the rarer Grimm that the Fang and I ran into in the index. It's a good starting point for when he has spare time, but I'm going to have to teach him the missing entries if he's ever to become a real huntsm– a real security professional.

"Taijitu are fast, and they have an incredibly strong spring force when they bite. Otherwise, they're physically no stronger than any Grimm their size. The biggest challenge is their two brains. Kill one, and the other can still control the body."

"Good, good. You know your stuff."

Beacon had made a mistake by not letting Jaune in. And Blake, of course, but Jaune…she was starting to wonder if he had some sort of eidetic memory or something. He wasn't perfect at memorization, but when he set his mind to it, he could learn just about anything.

His biggest problem is motivation. I can't count how many times I found him snoozing atop that Grimm journal and had to rouse him. Actually, maybe his biggest problem is sleep deprivation.

"All set!" called Benson from outside, wearing a pair of sunglasses and a coat he hadn't had on before. "You kids got'cher seat belts on?"

Blake gave him a thumbs up, and they were off.

The flight was significantly shorter, as the Zaherite Mines were relatively close to Vale. Unlike other settlements or townships that required imports from their mother city to survive, this little mining village actually exported so much raw copper, aluminum, and nickel that Vale was practically dependent on it for survival. Crops could be grown on almost all of the soil of eastern Sanus, water could be found anywhere along the coast, but only here had the ores and mineral necessary to supply Vale's metalworking needs.

Their pilot bade them goodbye before flying off once again, though this time he would be summoned back by a scroll call rather than returning after a set period of time. There was no telling how long it would take to track down and slay the Taijitu.

According to their contract, they were supposed to meet the mining forewoman, Mrs. Corundum, at her office, and it wasn't difficult to discern where they were supposed to go. The mining town was less a town and more of a camp, with tents replacing buildings in most of the locations. It almost reminded Blake of some of the medium-tier shoddy SDC worksites (though this wasn't anywhere close to the worst she'd seen).

There were only two buildings (other than the outhouse), and one of them was clearly the command center for equipment control, based on the numerous cables snaking into and out of the metal walls. Attached to it was a smaller wooden building with windows, which had to be the office. Blake led Jaune towards it and knocked.

"Enter," came a gruff female voice from within.

Turning the handle, Blake stepped into the small office to find that it was almost full already. She and Jaune had nowhere to stand but the doorway, as five people were already inside.

One of them was an older woman who Blake would have bet dollars to dumplings that this was Mrs. Corundum. Her age in comparison to the rest of the room's occupants, as well as the speckled dirt that dotted her work clothes, set her apart.

As for the other four, Blake immediately recognized what they were from their fanciful outfits and the colorful array of heavy weapons dangling from their hips or resting in their laps.

Huntsmen.

"Hello," she said unsurely. "Team Job Security, reporting as –"

"Ah, they're finally here," said the forewoman.

"Who's here?" asked one of the huntsmen, a roundish boy dressed in enough black to make Blake herself feel bright and flashy. "Who are these two chumps?"

"This is Team Job, a private huntsman agency I've hired for –"

"Security firm," Blake corrected. "Ma'am."

The woman didn't seem phased. "They're the private security firm I've hired to complete this mission, Team LTUC."

"Complete this –?! No, ma'am, you can't! We'll find that fucking last snake, I swear to the Gods. We've almost got it!"

"I'm afraid you've tried my patience for too long, children. I'm leaving this in the hands of the professionals."

"Miss Corundum, please, just give us one more chance," said a huntress on their team, a petit girl wearing a bandana over her scalp. "I know the snake's given us the slip before, but we've got it tied on the end of a leash this time. Umb tagged it with a tracker that will give us its exact –"

"I've made my decision," said Mrs. Corundum, standing up and holding her arms behind her back.

So this is how it is, then. I was right to think that we aren't already famous or something. They literally called us in to motivate the real hunters that are already here to finish their job. We're just a kick in the pants for them – the bland corporate stooges trying to steal the mission away from the real heroes of this story.

Blake had a feeling that the elderly woman was about to be reversing her decision any moment now.

The huntress also rose to her feet. "Ma'am, we've killed every other Grimm in your mines, and Team LTUC never leaves a job unfinished. We'll do this, I swear. Please."

"Beacon won't graduate us if we receive another failing gr –"

"Umberto!" shouted the huntress, her eyes flicking to Team Job as she cut off the goth boy. Once he'd quieted (and turned red), she turned back to Mrs. Corundum. "One last chance, ma'am. That's all I ask. We'll handle this for you, and you can send these stooges home. You don't have to pay us, we're more familiar with the mines – there's every reason to keep us and none to take them on."

Miss Corundum looked down at the hunter team, pretending to be weighing her options as though she hadn't already decided.

"…fine. Here's how this will go. Whoever kills that Taijitu gets the contract. LTUC, I sign off on your Field Assignment Report if you succeed." For the first time since they'd arrived, their employer addressed Team Job directly and not in the third person. "Team Job, you'll get your payment if you kill the Grimm first."

Well wasn't that some bullshit? Blake had already paid handsomely to fly herself and Jaune out here, and unless her partner was secretly a pigeon Faunus incognito, they were going to have to pay for a return ticket home as well. For their client to just freely suggest that she wasn't going to pay them…

"We'll be sure to handle this, ma'am," Jaune said, nodding resolutely.

"I look forward to it," said Mrs. Corundum. Her smile cracked open wide like a snapping turtle's lethal jaws. "I've heard excellent things about you, Team Job. I have no doubts you're exactly what the Zaherite Mines need."

Then, as it to drive the point home, she turned that wicked smile down on the hunter team. Their horrified looks of fear morphed into nods of faked confidence, and they too nodded.

"Dismissed."

"Look, I don't care who you people are," said the bandana girl of Team LTUC (they said it as lettuce, and Blake had to hold in her laughter). "We need to complete this job. Just back off."

"We will, happily," Jaune said, all smiles.

Blake's eyes nearly popped out of her head. She opened her mouth to refute his idiotic offer –

"…provided you pay our mission fee," Jaune said. "Currently, it's ten thousand lien."

"W-What?" said the goth boy. "That's outrageous! It's unfair!"

"It's actually lower than any of the rewards or bounties on huntsman mission boards by a factor of three," Blake pointed out, only to belatedly realize that she wasn't supposed to have access to those.

"No way!"

"Umb," said the girl. "Let me handle this."

He didn't seem all that happy about that.

To Team Job, she said, "We don't have that kind of money on hand. Look, I'm sure you don't want to spend hours and hours hunting the snake only to find it was all wasted when we kill it. Just tap out now and let us do the job. Go and do some other mission and get your fee there."

Jaune shook his head. "It's not an issue of our time. We've invested significant resources into our preparatory measure for this assignment."

Aside from the bullhead, they actually hadn't really, but the bullhead was expensive. What really mattered was getting another mission (and another client review) beneath their belt. If Team Job couldn't get momentum as a faux-huntsman security firm, they would fizzle out and be forgotten. The more assignments they completed, the more their reputation would grow. They needed this job.

"Well, we don't have 10 grand to fork over," said the huntress.

Jaune shrugged. "Then we'll be competing. Simple as."

"You're so cooked!" said the goth boy, Umberto. "We're gonna tie that snake in a knot and shove it up your asses."

"I'm sure," Jaune said politely. "Blake…?"

She nodded, and they turned their backs on the Beacon team.

"Hey, don't you walk away! I'm talking to you!"

Blake felt a hand on her shoulder and was yanked back around to face the team of huntsman.

Jaune immediately was in between them. His sword wasn't raised, nor were his fists, but his height and stature were enough to make Umberto back off slightly.

"Young man, I'd like to ask you not to make unwanted physical advances on my partner. It's quite untoward."

"Advan– oh, fuck you, pal! Like I'd ever shack up with some Faunus thot!"

"Fuck's sake, Umb!" shouted one of the two silent hunters, the ones who'd been content to let their partners speak for them. "Cool it!"

"A-And what this young man thing?" Umberto said, undeterred or ignorant (likely both). "How are you two huntsmen? You look younger than us!"

Jaune kept up that big, wide smile. Unlike the forewoman's, his seemed less predatory and more disarming. Blake was somehow reminded of the Albain brothers' unflinching facades.

"Sir, please calm yourself. My partner and I represent an independent security firm, Team Job Security. While I have nothing but respect for you and your fellow huntsmen and huntress, I'd like to clarify that I am not one – merely a security consultant." Jaune's smile stretched wider. "As is my partner."

The goth boy only seemed to be getting angrier and angrier in the face of Jaune's coolness of temper. "Then you're not a huntsman. You're a fraud."

The eternal Arc smile dipped down ever so slightly. "Sir, I'd advise you avoid perjuring yourself by levying false claims such as that."

"I'll call you –"

"Young man, the terms 'fraud,' 'fraudster,' and 'phony,' when used in the context of a professional capacity related to a licensed professional, can be considered slanderous language or perjury as of the landmark Redwood vs. the Kingdom of Vale municipal court ruling. And, as we're within a perimeter of ten miles beyond the outermost walls of the kingdom…"

Jaune turned his entire body and pointed back in the direction of Vale, which was just visible from here. The huntsman kid, who was still visibly angry but now clenching his teeth, looked over, as did his team.

"…we still find ourselves applicable to civil laws of the kingdom insomuch as they apply to Class C misdemeanors or felonies. I'd hate to have to get our legal team involved in what I'm sure is a misunderstanding."

Umberto gritted his teeth. "Statement withdrawn."

"Excellent." Jaune gave him a curt nod before departing. "I wish you nothing but the best in this upcoming Grimm hunt of ours."

"I swear," Blake said, "you must be the reincarnation of some sort of trickster god or something. The way you talked them down…"

He and Blake were currently at the entrance of the mines, looking down into the hollowed out tunnel. It did resemble an SDC mine a lot, except there were fewer colored veins on the rock walls and fewer Faunus being abused. Other than that, though, it might have been mistaken for one, given that they all had periodic lanterns strung up along the roof of the mine and tracks for automated carts to be loaded up and pushed.

"Let's go," Jaune said. "Time's a-wasting."

"Yeah, but let's –"

Jaune, in an unexpectedly bold move, wrapped his arm around Blake's and started walking forward, taking her with him. It was bold because if it continued for long, he might not keep the arm for long.

"Hands off the merch, buddy – we're friends but not that good friends." She shrugged off the arm but kept walking alongside him to keep up to his rather fast pace. "I was saying that we probably ought to scope out all of the exits of the mine to know where the Grimm can run to if we corner it."

Jaune just nodded.

Blake decided to save her breath; if he wasn't going to listen and he wasn't going to obey her commands, there was little to no use even giving them. For whatever reason, Jaune seemed hellbent on getting them into the bowels of this mine as quickly as possible.

He's usually smarter than this. I know we're racing the other team, but rushing is only going to give them the advantage. One hour of laying the groundwork for a good plan can save us a full day of flushing out the snake.

"We need this mission, right?" he asked, looking over at her in the faint light.

"Yeah," Blake said. "You were right to not back down back there. And that was a good job, by the way, talking them down when things got heated." She giggled slightly. "Thank you for defending my honor, Jaune."

"It wasn't…look. We need this mission, right? We can't do without it?"

Blake nodded again, unsure of why he seemed so bothered by this. "As you said, we're already in the red for this job, not to mention starved for positive reviews on the website. A few good jobs should be enough to make a name for ourselves, maybe even find ourselves some regulars, and then we can think about raising the prices. Right now, our sole objective is getting customers in the door."

"Okay," Jaune sighed, breathier than usual. "I wasn't sure…but if we need this job."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his scroll.

"If you wanna make a call, now's the time," Blake said. "I've got some experience with mines, and I know that the deeper you go, the worse the reception can be."

Of course, that was with Dust veins, which tended to mess up the radio waves on which scrolls operated when Lighting, Gravity, or Hard Light Dust were involved. Blake had no idea how the much plainer looking veins of metallic ores would impact Jaune's signal strength.

"It's not my scroll," Jaune said.

"Okay," Blake said back.

Then, she paused.

"Wait…"

Jaune bit his lip. "That whole thing about the slander or whatever, I kind of drew it out longer than I needed. The punk boy, Umbo, they said he was the one that tagged it with the tracker. I have no idea if it's controlled by his scroll, but I figure that –"

"Wait a second." Blake looked at the device in Jaune's hands. "You stole this from him?"

Jaune gulped and nodded. "Yup. Round the time I pointed out to Vale. Most of my schtick this time was just some justification to point at something and get their eyes off of my hands for a moment."

"You pickpocketed him?" Blake asked incredulously.

"Hey, you said we need this mission!" Jaune reminded her.

She wasn't upset with his actions, as a matter of fact; it was more surprise that this schoolboy would stoop to such things. Blake, with her White Fang past, knew that ethics oftentimes conflicted with one's goals, but for Jaune to go as far as stealing? Absurd!

And yet, so many things clicked into place. He'd walked them right to the entrance of the mine and insisted they go inside. If Team LTUC checked their pockets, they would realize they were missing their essential tracking system, and Jaune had wanted them to be far away from that when it happened.

"You…You really did this," Blake said.

For all that he acted fidgety when nodding, Blake noticed that Jaune wasn't as ashamed as she'd been expecting.

"For Team Job," he confirmed. He opened up the scroll and swiped through the apps that the last user had left open, revealing a radar-like tracking system on the screen. "Now, I believe we have a snake to track?"

Coming Soon: Meet the Snek

Which will be harder for Team Job – killing the Grimm or dealing with the aftermath?

Chapter Text

"We're getting closer, Blake!" Jaune exclaimed through his scroll. "Over!"

He knew Blake was a little bit bothered by the radio terminology like some exuberant little kid, but since he'd more than delivered on swiping Umberto's scroll and ensuring they succeeded at this mission, he'd bought enough leeway to be allowed.

"I hear you. Waiting at the exit."

Once they'd got the tracker that told them where they were going, the mission was pretty much a cakewalk. Blake's hunting plan was working like a charm.

She'd figured out that this Grimm, for whatever reason, was a runner and not a fighter. Perhaps it had only survived that long because of this trait when all of its kin had been killed by the Beacon team, Team LTUC, but whatever or whyever, the King Taijitu preferred flight over fight. Thus, when Jaune had found it slithering about in the mine's tunnels, it hadn't hesitated to flee his pursuit.

The two of them had walked about the tunnels for nearly the full day before so that Jaune could get a good mental map of it. Blake had instructed him to memorize the twists and turns and plot out a course that led him to one particular exit (the one that he was currently herding the flighty Grimm towards).

It was working really well, actually. The Taijitu's big advantage was that it could see in the dark and move faster than a human, but Jaune knew where it was at all times and could take shortcuts he'd memorized to cut it off in advance and limit its movements to the certain preset pathways that led it closer and closer to Blake. Whenever it moved away from her, he slipped through a narrow passageway and pushed it back.

The snake had actually reared up and tried to fight him on two separate occasions, but a couple of haphazard swings by Crocea Mors had sent it running. Grimm might have been tough, but one average huntsman could defend himself against one average Grimm until its instincts to tuck its tail face between its legs other face and run slither took over.

He wasn't hurting it enough to kill it, just to fend it off towards Blake. They'd mutually decided that while Jaune was capable, he wouldn't be able to land the killing blow – and that choice had been proven right, for the Grimm was far to evasive for him to keep attacking it whenever it gave up on him.

But when we pin it between the two of us, it'll have nowhere to run. Each head will have a huntsman to face, and we'll turn this snake into a snaked.

As he dashed through the tunnels, blocking the snake from taking an exit hole that could have taken it back into the main labyrinth of mining tunnels, Jaune had to break into a smile. This was the first mission where he was getting some real action, and it was a wonderful and terrifying rush. According to Blake, he was better at memorization than her, but whatever the reason, Jaune was just glad that he got to be the one to move around this time.

She came through for me on the last two missions and saved my life, but only because her own plans endangered it. This time, though, it's both of us up against a single Grimm with no secrets or tricks up its sleeve. I could probably kill it myself if I cornered it.

He wasn't some master huntsman yet – Jaune had severely overestimated how fast one picked up swordsmanship when training – but he had enough aura that he could comfortably take more blows than he exchanged and still win. According to Blake, he was also special at that.

Maybe it's the old Arc lineage rearing up its head? I have no idea if aura or good memory are genetic traits, but it would explain how my kin became such great huntsmen.

But at the same time, it sort of cheapened it. Natural talents? That just seemed so unfair, that Jaune and the Arcs got to be special because of something they were born with. Touting that as his secret weapon would be like being proud of being human and rubbing the advantages his species gave him in Blake's face.

Still, I'm starting at a disadvantage compared to every other huntsman or security specialist or whatever it is out there, so I think I'll need every special power I can get. Blake's says that most hunters have found out their own semblance by my age, and that's a power you're born with, so I guess it's fair…

"Coming your way! Over!" Jaune called into the scroll he'd clipped to his hip. It was his own for the call, as Umberto's was in his hands, busy tracking the Grimm.

"Get ready, Jaune," Blake's staticky voice said back to him. In the bowels of the mine, he'd gotten little more than a faint whisper compared to all of the interference and noise that polluted the call, but out here it was about the same quality as a dollar brand walkie-talkie.

Ahead of him and the snake, Jaune saw rays of sunlight peaking from around the corner, meaning that Blake was just beyond the bend with Gambol at the ready.

And that means that the snake will have nowhere to go, and I'll need to handle my head.

The turn would hopefully give them an advantage, as it would be forcing the snake to bend at an odd angle. It wasn't enough to make or break the fight, but Jaune had a good feeling about this one.

As the white head breached the corner and went out of view, Jaune heard a loud hiss. He'd already gotten Crocea Mors up and ready, and his shield was raised to defend him.

Now that it's preferred option of running was gone, the King Taijitu's black head barreled forward and headbutted the shield, knocking Jaune down to his feet. It cost him aura to not break a bone, but the head of the snake shook in pain from the impact.

Even though it's so much bigger, we're both just about as durable. Time to end this.

Jaune threw down the shield, hoping that would entice the Grimm to come at him faster and more recklessly. People said Grimm were mindless, but Jaune always assumed that was hyperbole, and they were referring to how Grimm were unintelligent or at the same level as the animals they frequently resembled.

Fangs bared, the snake hissed and lashed out at the huntsman who'd stuck his sword straight out. Its single-minded devotion to the goal of painfully ending a human being was its undoing, as the Grimm impaled itself right on the blade. Jaune himself took a rather sharp bite, but he had the aura to tank it, and it wasn't as though he were saving it for something else after the mission.

As long as I survive, self-destructive moves are on the table. Maybe when I'm good with my sword, I can chop the head off at no risk to myself, but this is the safest option right now. Trying something stupid like grandstanding or swordfighting a snake would probably get me killed faster.

The Grimm dropped dead and swirled away into a vortex of cinders, meaning that Blake had already taken care of her own side.

"You still alive, Arc?" she called from beyond the bend.

Instead of answering, Jaune just popped his head from around the corner and waved at her.

"Alright, let's get going," Blake said. "We've got a reward to claim."

They left Umberto's scroll on the ground in the area around the office space and command center, right around the spot where Jaune stole it, hopefully providing enough credibility if they tried to pretend it had just been dropped by accident. Blake had wiped it clean of any fingerprints and done some sort of technological thing to erase records of usage, thereby deleting any evidence of it being in their possession…and also piquing Jaune's interest as to how she had these skills.

She always says that Faunus have it harder, and I don't think she had a job before hunting. Was she forced into a life of crime out of a lack of other options? If so, I'm in no position to judge, not after forging my own application to Beacon or doing what I did today.

Speaking of Beacon, they might be trouble. Jaune would still have made the same choices he made if he could go back, but that didn't mean he couldn't regret the four hunters who'd gotten caught in the crossfire.

I cheated, sure, but Team Job was cheated in the very way they called us here. Mrs. Corundum didn't actually expect us to kill the last Taijitu – she just wanted to use us as a scare tactic to whip the Beaconites into shape. I wonder if she'll even pay us.

He really hoped she would, but they'd completed their mission one way or another. It was the business they needed, not just the money.

Jaune knocked on the door to her office, as schmoozing with the clients was his area of expertise. Blake remained behind him, slightly in his shadow, but he knew that that was where she was the most comfortable.

"Enter," said Mrs. Corundum.

The pair came in and found her sitting behind her desk, typing on a computer.

"Ma'am," Jaune said politely, tipping his head.

"How may I assist you two?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the screen. "Did you kill the Grimm?"

"Yes, ma'am," Jaune said.

"Then go get it done," she said, waving them away. "And don't bother me until you have."

Jaune did his best to keep up his happy face in spite of the complete lack of attention she was paying. "Ma'am, we –"

"For the Gods' sake, just do the job I'm paying you to!" the woman almost shouted, throwing her head back in disgust.

"We have, ma'am. The Grimm is dead."

It seemed that she was listening properly that time, for she looked up at him in surprise. "Y-You did?"

Jaune nodded. "It's dead. You can resume work with no risk of Grimm activity for your miners."

"But…t-the…"

Blake poked something into Jaune's back in a way that Mrs. Corundum couldn't see it. Taking the hint, Jaune cleared his throat.

"Blake, do you have the…ah, excellent."

He faked turning around and collected her scroll, which had been opened up to the Team Job Security website.

"Would you please sign here to note the completion of our mission?" Jaune asked, handing the scroll to Mrs. Corundum. "We're more than happy to take our payment in cash, but we also accept Scrollopay or Deb-Mo if you'd prefer."

Jaune had been adding more features to their website since their last mission, as it had been awkward to explain to the people of the Lake of Lost Voles that he couldn't accept a bank transfer. Blake insisted that in order to appear professional, Team Job needed to exude an air of professionality, and the first step was to start pretending that they were a real business.

I mean, we are in a legal sense now that we're licensed, but Blake and I are just kids making do.

"How did you…"

Jaune waited to make sure she wasn't going to continue, as interrupting was rude, then answered. "We're Team Job Security, ma'am. As promised, we ensured the security of your mines and defended ourselves from any Grimm within. It was our pleasure."

"But Team LTUC spent over a week tracking it down. They were struggling like incompetents, and they're actual hunters!"

It took a lot of willpower to not show any reaction at the mention of their names. Jaune just shrugged. "I can't speak to the efforts of another entity's talents or shortcomings. All I can promise is a job well done from Team Job."

Oh, that was good. Jaune would have to write that down. Every good company had a catchphrase, right?

Mrs. Corundum silently logged into her account on the Team Job website and electronically signed it. As she filled out the review, Jaune turned around to check on Blake and make sure he hadn't missed anything. She gave him an invisible nod, and he retuned it before turning back to Mrs. Corundum.

"Very well. I must say, I wasn't expecting such fast results. It barely took you a single day…not that I'm not pleased with this. Those Beacon incompetents were slowing down operations here at Zaherite with ever day they lingered." She snorted disdainfully. "They can expect a review of their own when I contact the school to inform them of their incompetence."

Jaune bit his lip. If he recalled correctly (and he did), Team LTUC was apparently at risk of not graduating if they failed this assignment. As much as he might resent them solely for their behavior yesterday and the fact that they hailed from Beacon, he couldn't help but admit that they would probably have been the ones to complete the mission had Team Job not interfered. They'd had the tracker lined up to kill the King Taijitu that had been giving them so much trouble.

It's my job to be the customer relations department. I think that what I'm about to do next also falls within that purview.

Blake reached over to accept the case of lien chips (apparently Jaune's many hours of programming had been rendered useless) and was halfway to the door when Jaune cleared his throat.

"Not to contradict you, ma'am, but am I correct when I say that Team LTUC killed all but the last of the nest of Taijitu?"

Blake obviously had no clue why Jaune was bringing them up, but she seemed to recognize that he was working in their interests and let him cook.

"They did," said Mrs. Corundum cautiously. "But they failed to finish their assignment. Any failure is failure, young man."

"I understand that. But it was through the groundwork they laid that we were able to freely move about in the mines to hunt down the last Grimm. That must be worthy of some recognition."

The older woman looked at Jaune as though he were threatening her. "What exactly are you implying, sir?"

"Only that their effort might merit some reward," Jaune said.

She rolled her eyes. "If you feel so strongly about them, you're welcome to pay them with the money you're holding."

With that, she turned back to her computer and resumed her work.

Again, Blake tried to step out the door, but Jaune remained unmoved.

"Blake, would you please open the case? This should only take a moment."

Eyes wide, she shook her head at him, clearly uncomfortable with doing anything other than taking the money and running, but Jaune was her 'boss,' at least in front of the customers. She'd given him that power, and he was going to use it to protect them both, even if he couldn't explain how or why to her just yet.

Mrs. Corundum was now eyeing them as they dawdled in her doorframe, so Blake obeyed and revealed the lien to Jaune.

"Thank you." He reached over and began to count through the chips one by one. "Two hundred, four, six, eight…there we go. An even thousand."

Taking them out, he pivoted around and stretched out his arm, offering the money back to the forewoman.

"For a positive review. Of Team LTUC, that is, not us."

She opened her mouth. "Why do you care about tho–"

"Ma'am, I don't. But neither do you, right? Your mine is back up and running no matter what grade they receive, so you lose nothing by telling Beacon they completed their assignment. And you stand to get back ten percent of your fee if you do."

She stared at the money, clearly wary of some sort of trap, but when her head lifted slightly upwards, Jaune could tell that she was on the same page as him.

"I see." A smile broke out across her face. "Very well…I do suppose that, looking back objectively, their work in slaying the vast majority of the snake nest was exemplary. I'll be sure to inform Beacon."

Jaune smiled back as well. "It's a pleasure doing business with you."

They second they exited her office, Blake opened her mouth to berate Jaune, but Team LTUC, who was walking up to them, beat her to it.

Oh, crap.

"You!" Umberto screamed. "You son of a bitch! I don't care what your lawyers say, I'm –"

Jaune, quenching his fear, kept walking past him, taking Blake by the hand and leading her forward. "You passed your mission. Congrats."

That shut him up, and Jaune kept walking. Now that they'd resolved this situation, he didn't want to spend a minute longer here, especially given how low his aura was and how short the tempers of the hunters were.

"W-What?" said bandana girl.

"You passed," Jaune said, not stopping for a minute. He wasn't even going anywhere in particular, just heading towards a random patch of trees in the forest to get away from here. "Handle it with Mrs. Corundum. Go in there, get your papers signed, and don't F-word it up by flying off the handle."

Blake started to look back at them, but Jaune squeezed her wrist, and her head snapped forward.

"Let's head right to the airship, Miss Belladonna," he said to her, even though the airship would have to be called for pickup before they could head anywhere. "We're done here."

Jaune led them deep enough into the forest that they couldn't see the mining camp anymore, then let out a long sigh.

That was stressful. Four pissed off pro-hunters who I'd swindled…it's a recipe for a butt-whooping if I've ever heard one. I might have managed to get them a passing grade, but they didn't know that when they were waltzing up to me with clench fists and murderous looks on their faces.

"Okay," Blake said. "I think I get it now. You were getting Beacon off our asses."

Jaune nodded up and down a few times as he waited for his heartrate to re-enter the double digits. "You said we don't need the money as much, so I figured a vengeful, failed team of hunters wasn't worth the thousand."

Placing a hand onto a tree for support, Jaune leaned over and groaned. He hadn't been expecting to run into Team LTUC at the end, and he'd just ad-libbed his lines to say whatever would get him out of trouble.

"I'll call the bullhead," Blake said, taking out her scroll. Before she started the call, she looked up at Jaune. "You did a good thing, Jaune."

She was wrong. A good thing would have been to never steal Umberto's scroll in the first place. Jaune had taken a calculated risk, and it had paid off for everyone, but it could have just as easily gone sideways. If Mrs. Corundum didn't play ball, Jaune could have just ruined the lives of four innocents and gained himself a couple of nemeses.

Blake kept trying to calm Jaune down as they flew back to Vale, but none of it got through to him. All he could feel was the guilt at what he'd done.

Am I bad for hoping that I can get over this? I don't want to feel like a scumbag, even if I probably deserve to.

He tried to remind himself that everyone involved had won – Team Job got their payday and positive review, Team LTUC passed their test or whatever it was, Mrs. Corundum got her mine back at a discounted price – but something about it just felt wrong.

The aura of malaise followed Jaune as he disembarked from the bullhead and thanked Benson.

It followed Jaune as he let Blake lead them to their hotel, too out of it to make his way without her help.

It followed Jaune as he cooked their dinner mechanically, distracting him so much that he added twice the spice and nearly burned his tongue off.

It followed Jaune when he went to sleep, plaguing him like an illness.

It followed Jaune when he woke up to the sound of knocking at their room's door.

It followed Jaune when he opened it up and came face to face with Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon.

Mission Complete: Zaherite Mines

Client Review: The Grimm was slain in an expedient manner. Team Job Security's performance was most pleasing. The team they sent contained a Faunus, but overall I would recommend. ★★★★☆

Current Holdings (lien): Ⱡ 18,800

Current Holdings (assets): Benson Airship Rental punchcard (three punches)

Current Holdings (realty): none

Employees: 2

Coming Soon: Stand Your Ground

Team Job Security's very existence is challenged by the man who inadvertently created it.

Chapter Text

"May I come in?" the headmaster asked, standing in the doorway of Jaune and Blake's apartment.

Blake's immediate instinct was to say no, to have nothing to do with this man who represented the cause of her worst moment in recent memory. However, he was also the only person in the city who was somehow aware of her past with the White Fang, meaning she couldn't turn him away and risk offending his delicate sensibilities.

Instead of saying anything, she just nodded. Speaking risked the loss of her temper, and Ozpin had shown a snappish side when she'd sassed him back at Beacon.

The elderly man hobbled into their apartment, cane in one hand and handkerchief in the other. Ozpin coughed a few times into the rag, then shoved it into his pocket.

"I'm pleased to see that you were able to find your feet after leaving Beacon."

Leaving Beacon – that was an interesting way of putting it. Blake hadn't so much left as she'd been blackmailed out of the school, and knowing what she knew about Jaune's history, he'd never even had a chance to go there in the first place.

Still, she refrained from speaking. If Ozpin wanted to compliment their accommodations, he could do so to his heart's content. Blake had a feeling that the most important huntsman in the city hadn't just come out here for pleasantries, though, not when Team Job Security had so recently shown up his own students.

When he tried to glance at the titles of the library books Blake had checked out and left strewn about on her chair, she decided it was too far and cleared her throat.

"May we help you?" she asked, doing her best to not sound argumentative.

"Yes, just a quick thing. I was – *cough* – I was hoping to – *cough cough* – to in…"

He fell into a fit of coughing and began to paw at his pocket, likely reaching for the handkerchief he kept in there. To spare the old man his dignity as he struggled to pull out the cloth, Blake quickly stepped into the bathroom, retrieved a hand towel, and gave it to Ozpin, taking care to avoid making direct eye contact.

"T-Tha– *cough* – tha…"

Blake just nodded.

Ozpin's wheezing eventually ran its course, and he looked down at the towel, then up to Blake.

"Just leave it in the sink," she said. "They have a cleaner who handles laundry."

Nodding, he dropped the soiled cloth and placed the back of his fist to his lips. "Now then. Where were we…? Ah, of course. My business with your 'enterprise.'"

Blake wasn't sure she liked the dismissive way he used the word 'enterprise.' It wasn't an insulting term, but the tone in which Ozpin said it made it sound like one, as thought their 'enterprise' was something of a joke thought up by a toddler or infant, one that was humored but never seriously considered.

"If possible, I would like to see your credentials."

Blake had known this was coming for a long time. Ever since their first mission using a hacked mission board, she'd been keenly aware of how severe the penalty for fraudulently claiming to be a hunter could be.

It was for that reason that Team Job Security had never advertised itself as hunters. They were a security firm who sent security consultants to ensure the security of a client's village, lake, mine, or other space. There was nothing illegal or fraudulent about that.

She'd covered her ass preemptively, in this case. The business licenses were in a file folder she kept under their shared bed, but she didn't exactly trust Ozpin with a set of documents that had cost her 1,000 lien, so she showed him some photocopies that were in the hotel's dresser drawer by the bed. She'd made them for this express purpose – when law enforcement of some sort came knocking and asking for proof of legitimacy.

Ozpin accepted the pages, clearing his throat as he did. For a moment, Blake wondered if he was going to be going through another hacking fit, but he got it under control. As he read the pages over, she glanced at Jaune to see how he was faring.

Damn it. He's just sitting there on the edge of his bed with that same glassy-eyed look from when we were forced to leave Beacon. I guess I'm handling this one solo.

"Thank you, Miss Belladonna," Ozpin said, returning the photocopies to her. "But I'm afraid that is a business license, not a professional hunting license."

Blake nodded. "That is correct. However, as Jaune and I are not hunters, I fail to see what that has to do with our 'enterprise.'"

"I think you know what it means," Ozpin said. He moved his cane right in front of his legs and leaned on it with both hands.

"I'm afraid I don't, sir." Blake kept her arms down at her sides, resisting the temptation to fold them. If and when this came to a confrontation, she didn't want Ozpin to have any proof behind his claims that she was an instigator, even if it was solely through body language. "Would you please explain it to me?"

"It is illegally to falsely claim to be a huntsman or, in your case, huntress."

"I don't believe I claimed to be a huntress, Professor."

"You've certainly been acting in that capacity, from what I've heard."

"You must be mistaken. Mr. Arc and I are security consultants. We've been hired to assist villages with issues of private security, but that's covered by the scope of our business licenses."

"You killed Grimm."

Blake nodded. "When we were attacked."

"So you admit to presenting yourselves as hunters?"

"No, sir. We never did anything of the sort."

"Miss Belladonna, I know this may seem like a victimless crime to you, but there are very real consequences to actions such as yours. Huntsmen and huntresses are not only responsible for their own lives but the lives of those they protect. That is the reason we have such stringent requirements for who is allowed to become one."

"And are you, in your capacity as a huntsman, arresting us?" Blake asked. She knew from experience that huntsmen had power equivalent to police officers, and that they could and would wield it with far less oversight.

"As I was the person who removed you from Beacon, I feel that it is my responsibility to –"

"No, sir," Blake cut in. "We aren't your responsibility. Unless you're here as a huntsman to arrest Jaune and me, I'm afraid we have no further business."

"I'm trying to work through this without getting two callow youths thrown into prison, Miss Belladonna. Just as I sheltered you when you forged your applications to Beacon, I'm trying to shelter you now. If you shut down this phony company of yours, I will consider the matter closed and not go to the police."

Out of the corner of her eye, Blake saw Jaune move. He hadn't really been reacting so far, so she'd taken the duty of handling Ozpin on, but now that was apparently about to change.

Blake and Ozpin watched Jaune reach into his pocket and pull out his scroll. Opening it up and unlocking it, he typed in three numbers onto the call-keypad.

It rang only twice before being answered, but Jaune didn't speak into the device.

"I've called the police," Jaune said. "Their emergency line."

"Mr. Arc, there's no need –"

Jaune, still seated on the bed, held the scroll out to Ozpin. "Please report us, sir."

Okay, was this the second or third time Jaune had done his best to send Blake into a state of cardiac arrest? Because this was starting to become something of a theme at this point.

But he handled Team LTUC well enough, and I didn't understand that until he was through with his plan. I at least can trust him to have something up his sleeve here as well.

"I don't follow," Ozpin said.

"You said we committed a crime. I invite you to share your findings with the police, headmaster. After all, if we have done something illegal, it's your duty as a huntsman, a headmaster, and a concerned citizen of the kingdom to report it. So please, take my scroll and tell them how we broke the law."

The voice on the other side of the call, presumably the police (assuming Jaune hadn't actually faked them out by calling a random number or something) continued making faint noises that sounded a lot like questions. Ozpin just stared at the scroll that was being offered to him, making no motion to take it from Jaune's hands.

Jaune pulled it back and hung up the call. "I think that's that, then."

"Mr. Arc, just because I lack the evidence to prove that you have committed a crime does not mean you should continue to endanger yourself and others. The entire kingdom as a whole can feel the impact of a false huntsman's misdeeds. When you lie about your skill level and inevitably fail to complete the work asked of you, you erode the public's faith in hunting as a whole. Lives are at risk, young man. I would have thought an Arc, of all people, would understand the importance of sacrifice."

Jaune spoke the second Ozpin finished, suggesting that he had been waiting for the old man to finish. "How would you react if Beacon blew up, sir?"

"W-What?" Ozpin had to pull up his shirt as he began to cough. "Are you –"

"I'm not suggesting anything. I'm merely asking how you would react in such a situation. The entire school exploded, I mean."

Ozpin paused, frowning at Jaune. Jaune was certainly toeing the line of what was acceptable here, having technically wasted police time and indirectly threatened an academy, but Blake was pretty sure now that he knew what he was doing.

"I think I would –"

"You would do whatever it takes to save your school, as would be expected of you," Jaune finished before the gray-haired man could even begin. He stood up from the bed, now towering over Ozpin. "Well, sir, that's how Blake and I feel about Team Job Security. To you, we probably seem like some sort of minor nuisance. An annoyance to be quashed with vague threats and unfounded accusations, which immediately get withdrawn the second they're put to the test. But I can assure you, sir, this is our life now. This company, this team we've made, it's all we have left in this world that's unwilling to give us anything, and we're prepared to go down swinging to protect it.

"So go ahead. Take us to court if you think you'll be successful. But I ask you this before you do – how far are you prepared to go to ruin us? How much are you willing to invest to stop Team Job? Because I can promise you from the bottom of my heart that no matter how important this is to you, my partner and I care about Team Job Security a lot more."

By this point, the grandfatherly act Ozpin had been pulling was now dropped, and he had an equal mixture of stoic calm and subtle disapproval on his face. He coughed a few more times, covering them up with his shirt again, as Jaune stared him down.

"I see that my efforts to save you from yourselves will not be appreciated here," Ozpin said, wiping some spit from his lip and stepping out the front door that he'd left open. "I bid you both a good day, and I advise you to seriously consider the choices you make. If you continue along this course, expect no further aid from Beacon. You shall most likely find yourself receiving the opposite."

Unlike every other time Jaune had tried his hand at bullshit, he didn't let out some pained sigh of relief the second the mark was out of sight. This time, he just watched the door shut with a mild glare and seethed.

I guess he's gotten over the whole catatonic at the first sign of Beacon thing, then.

"Sorry about that, but we had to stand our ground at some point," Jaune said, keeping his face to the door. "I figured it'd be better now, so that Ozpin might get the message and back off."

"I agree, Jaune, but maybe cool it a little bit on risking our entire futures every time something goes a little off the plan?" Blake bit her lip. "You sounded like you were threatening Beacon for a second there."

"I didn't mean to. I just…I just…he was just another huntsman in that moment. Just like the ones who keep the primary combat schools as an inside secret. They have more power than us normal folks, and they do everything they can to lord it over us. He was trying to bully us into quitting by making it sound like he was about to turn us over to the police, but he had nothing. I know you, and I know you're smarter than leaving us in hot water like that, so I knew he had nothing, and…"

Jaune balled up a fist and made to punch it into the wall but stopped just short. Instead, he rapped it against the wall a few times instead, clenching his teeth.

"It felt really good. Maybe I was just being vindictive, but calling him out and showing him that his scare tactics had no power over us…it felt good."

That wasn't entirely true. Ozpin might not have been able to arrest them or have them arrested without cause, but he was a powerful man in his own right. Life could become very difficult for them if they pissed him off.

Jaune was right; they were only a minor nuisance, probably one of the many that he had to deal with at any given time. If they rose above that, Beacon might get more and more involved. Regardless of whether or not they did anything illegal, a small company of two people wouldn't stand a chance against the kind of pressure the strongest academy in the world could exert.

"We probably ought to take a non-Grimm related job next," Blake stated. "To take a little heat off and disprove Ozpin's allegations. Something where we're actually security."

Jaune nodded.

"We don't exactly choose what jobs we get, but is there any way you can advertise selectively to get us a mission like that?" Blake asked. "I get if you can't, but otherwise we'll have to start turning down jobs."

"I'll see what I can do," Jaune said with a grimace.

Even though it felt like Ozpin's arrival and departure had been the climax of their day, it was actually only early morning, and they had the whole day ahead of them.

While Jaune prepared some breakfast (mostly just heating up leftovers from last night in a pot on the stove), Blake did a quick sweep of their apartment for bugs. She didn't think Ozpin was going to venture to such extremes, not when he was an upstanding citizen with a reputation to uphold.

Still, the risk was too great. Checking the towel that he'd coughed into first, as it was the most obvious place, she continued to move along the walls and the furniture, taking particular care in the cracks, undersides, and tight spaces in which one could conceivably plant a listening device with no one coming across it. This was nothing new to her; she'd found plenty of bugs in the White Fang, and Blake wasn't referring to beetle Faunus.

She'd taken those precautions against nosy nobodies, licensing them up as a business and not a huntsman team, but she hadn't truly been expecting them to come into play so soon. Beacon having their eye on Team Job was not a good thing. Jaune had pointed out that they had more to lose here and were thus willing to put in far more of their effort, but it was still just the effort of two people maximum. If Beacon decided they wanted Team Job shut down, there would be little they could do.

Honestly, with how much money we have, it wouldn't be some huge surprise if we just went bankrupt eventually. Ozpin could just wait a few months and see if his problem takes care of itself.

Describing herself as a problem for Ozpin was wrong, though. This past mission to the Zaherite Mines was a fluke – Team Job had no intention of competing with real hunters. Blake would happily stay out of their way and only take the small, cheap missions that flew under their radar if it would keep them flying under the radar.

Ozpin was wrong about this being a crime, and he was the one who needs to learn about his actions not being victimless. If he shuts us down in order to keep up appearances, Jaune and I don't get to eat. He has so little to lose here besides a little pride, and we've got our entire careers on the line.

Without warning, Blake came to Jaune from the side and gave him a little hug. It felt awkward for her, and she imagined he was a little uncomfortable from the sudden display of affection, but she felt like she needed to let him know that his efforts were not unappreciated. He wasn't the only one to defend Team Job today, but he had been the one to frighten off Ozpin and keep their little company alive for one more day. Blake hadn't realized how proud she'd become of the life she'd built, but the fact of the matter was that it was hers. Not Adam's, not Ozpin's, not even Jaune's…hers.

"Thank you, Jaune. I'm glad we're partners. I'm glad we're…friends."

Jaune just returned the hug with one arm and went back to cooking. "Watch the stove, Blake. Don't want to get burned."

Blake just rolled her eyes at her silly pupil. Wiggling the fingers on one hand, she placed them directly on the burner and watched Arc's eyes widen.

"Did you forget you're a…ahem, security consultant, Jaune?"

"I…I…"

Taking her aura-protected and completely unburnt digits back, Blake nudged Jaune out of the way. "Leave the cooking to me for once. How about you get started on the new advertisements?"

"Will do, boss."

Her eyes flicked to the door.

Screw you, Ozpin. You might have gotten to take Beacon away from this Faunus, but in doing so you threw away any true power you had over her.

Coming Soon: To Consult and Protect

Jaune and Blake discover the dark side of not being able to hand pick their own missions when a new client solicits their services.

Chapter Text

Jaune couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Blake this angry. Come to think of it, he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her angry, period.

The scary part was that whenever she snapped, he couldn't tell if it was because she was truly angry with him for changing the website to advertise specifically for non-Grimm missions or if he was just close enough to be the lightning rod that attracted her misdirected anger.

"We, um, we don't have to take the job," he offered, doing his best to melt into the seat on the airship. "D-Do we?"

"It could be considered discrimination if we don't," Blake hissed, her ears behaving more catlike than Jaune wanted to acknowledge. "So yes, Arc, we do have to take the mission."

"K-Kay. Sorry for asking."

If Blake heard his apology, she certainly didn't react to it.

It was truly tempting to just stay out of the way, but if Blake was like this when they got to their client…

It's my job to liaise with our customers, because they're more likely to respond positively to a human face than a Faunus one. And knowing what I've heard about the SDC, that's truer now than ever.

That meant that it fell within Jaune's range of responsibilities to calm Blake down, or at least somehow guarantee she didn't bite the heads off of the SDC workers when they got there.

"Blake, uh…"

She turned away. Every inch of her body language was screaming 'not in the mood for it, Arc.'

"Um…look, I know now's not a good time, but…well, I…alright, honesty is the best policy. I want to make sure you're okay with doing this missi– poor phrasing! Poor phrasing, I'm sorry, please don't look at me like that!" Jaune felt himself sweat profusely. "I know you're not okay. B-But, are you so un-okay that you'd rather I do it solo? I mean, I can if you want me to."

"It wouldn't change a thing," Blake said. "The SDC would still get their mission done and their bandits stopped, regardless of if you or I do it."

"Well, th-the fewer bandits there are, the b–"

"Actually, never mind what I said before. If I leave it to just you, the mission might not get done after all."

Ouch. Jaune was fairly certain his aura had measurably dropped from that one.

She said we need to do a mission that's actually security related. Well, we waited nearly two full weeks with nothing coming in, and the SDC was the only person to reach out to us. We're not yet developed enough to have the luxury of picking and choosing which clients we take. I know Blake's upset about having to work for the SDC, given how they're known to treat their Faunus employees, but I have a voice in this company too.

The problem was that she hadn't actually asked to not do the mission. He could just imagine, though, that she would lose her mind in rage when they actually got to their SDC contact if this was how angry just thinking about them made her.

"I'll be the one to talk with them," Jaune half-said, half-demanded.

It got no response from Blake, and Jaune desperately hoped that signaled an implicit agreement with his terms.

It was an extremely long and extremely unpleasant airship ride for the rest of the way, spent entirely in an uncomfortable silence for Jaune and a barely concealed rage for Blake.

The reason it took so long was because they needed to go the full way around the snowcapped peaks of the Big Rock Sugar Mountain Range. Their client, an SDC mining village on the other side of the mountains, was located there due to it being one of Sanus' largest discovered Dust deposits. According to the information they'd been given so far, the mountain range's intensely cold temperatures caused airships' engines to stall, meaning that there was no other way for them to get there other than flying the full 4 hours around to the edge of the range, making a wide U-turn around it, and then flying all the way back. As the crow flew, it was only about fifty miles to the SDC village, but their airship traversed a distance of nearly four hundred miles from start to finish.

"This is gunna cost you kids extra," said Benson, the pilot. "M'real sorry, kiddos, but I can't fly for nigh a full day for the same cost of a quick ol' jaunt."

"We understand," Jaune said. This mission was less about the money and more about making sure that Ozpin had no grounds on which to sue them, so extra costs wouldn't be a problem.

"I'll give ya double punches on yer card," he said back. "Seems only fair."

It's just one mission. Blake doesn't like it, but she's grinning and bearing it…you know, minus the grinning part. I'm sure I can accept it as well, especially when the alternative is bankruptcy at best and jail time for fraud at worst.

When they actually arrived at the walls of the village, there was a 30-something year old man in an SDC branded long-sleeved zip-up jacket and jeans waiting outside to greet them. He had on a baseball cap with that world-famous snowflake on top, and there was a binder in his hands. Shifting to hold it with one hand, he stretched out the other towards the two kids.

"Ah, you're here. Team Job Security, correct?"

Blake's tongue was probably at risk of being crushed into paste from how tightly she was holding it, so Jaune stepped forward and shook the man's hand. "Yes, that's us. I believe you've been having some trouble with bandits?"

The man nodded and opened up his binder. "Quite so. Please, walk with me; I'll explain as we head to the stagecoach."

Making sure to place himself between Blake and the dude (who, in spite of working for a scummy company, was probably the most polite and professional client they'd had yet) as they walked through the snow alongside him along the walls towards the rear of the village.

"As you know, airships cannot fly through the mountain range due to icing issues causing their engines to stall unless they enter extremely high-altitude flight paths, which tend to require specialized equipment whose cost rarely justifies the benefit."

Jaune nodded and checked his scroll, which said 1:30pm. "We left at 9am this morning."

The man's eyes stayed on his binder as he nodded. "Now, in order to operate our mining village, we've set up a stagecoach to transport Dust into the city and ferry resources back our way. It's –"

"Hold on a second. A stagecoach?"

Jaune had seen those mountains as they'd flown overhead. There was no way some sort of rickety wagon was going to be making its way over that climb. It was probably a sheer 50 degree incline at points, and the ground was made of solid ice at others.

The man smiled and shook his head. "Not an actual stagecoach. We merely use the term due to its connotation. Our vehicle is actually a six-legged automated drone with spiked toes that can traverse harsh terrains and endure inclement weather – think of a spider droid, but in place of a turret, it's got a vault on top where either Dust or living supplies are stored, depending on the direction of travel. You'll see it in just a moment.

"Our problem is…rather perplexing. The stagecoach has consistently made it to Vale without incident, with the Dust shipment unmolested, but on the return journey, it's been robbed. However, not completely robbed. The lien is missing, but other materials like food, medicine, rope, treated lumber, paper products, and clothing are untouched."

"White Fang?" Blake asked abruptly.

"We don't believe so," said the man. "We considered the possi…ahem. We considered the possibility but discounted it."

Jaune couldn't help but notice that the man had stuttered only when he'd looked up and noticed Blake's appearance.

"How so?" she asked. "If they wanted to hurt the SDC without impacting the mining community, taking the profits while leaving the food would be a way to do so. You'd lose money, but the Faunus would still get to eat."

The SDC guy, who was a human, seemed about as uncomfortable as Jaune was right about now. "Yes, but the Dust we exported wasn't stolen. The White Fang is well known to…to…to utilize Dust, and this robbery has transpired consistently during the past five stagecoach round trips. That implies that the perpetrators have means of tracking it and thereby have intentionally chosen to take exclusively the lien."

"Meaning it's someone motivated by money and nothing more," Jaune intuited. "Bandits."

It couldn't be Grimm, since there were no people involved and no reason for them to be attracted. That left pretty much the only other big threat that plagued Remnant.

"Presumably," said the SDC man. "Furthermore, no mask was left on the crime scene to claim credit, as is typically done. We have no conclusive evidence, but banditry is our prevailing theory. I should also point out that, during inventories, it was noticed that in addition to the lien that was missing, the stagecoach's supply of nails was also missing. We don't know what to make of that. Do…?"

"It means nothing to us either," answered Jaune. "But we'll keep it in mind. Thank you for bringing it up."

The village was a big rectangle shape, and as they rounded their second corner, they came upon what Jaune assumed was the stagecoach and several people working on it. As the man had implied, this was no wagon.

When the guy had said spider droid, Jaune imagined eight spindly daddy-longlegs poles sticking into the ground and moving around awkwardly. The actual stagecoach had only six legs, but each of them was probably about the full height of Jaune before the joint and just as wide. They were reinforced with thick plates or armor, and the joints that connected the lower leg to the upper leg were ball joints. At the center was a large body of machinery that Jaune assumed was the engine, as well as a large, clear chamber that the cargo would be stored in. The work crews were doing something to the bottom, and there was a large metal box a few meters away from them. The whole thing was a good twenty feet tall, enough to make an Ursa Major feel shrimpy.

"We'd like to have you ride along with it during the next round-trip journey," explained the man. "If and when the stagecoach is attack, as it consistently has been up to this point, you'll find the perpetrators and…stop them, as you see fit."

"Stop them?" Jaune asked.

"As you see fit," the man said, looking away.

"Why didn't you just have us load onto the thing in Vale?" Jaune asked. "We flew all the way out here, but you said it's most likely to be attacked on the way back, right?"

"The SDC will comp you for your flight," the dude said, as though that was an explanation, and then he just went on. "The stagecoach doesn't exactly have proper seats since it's not meant to be a vehicle for personnel transport. To resolve this, we're outfitting a climate-controlled sub-chamber that can be attached to the engine's underside. It has a series of omnidirectional viewports with one-way, bulletproof glass, internal lighting, and a simple release mechanism to let you exit when you need to intervene. We can have it ready within the half-hour."

"Sure. My partner and I will await your indication that it's ready." Jaune nodded in the direction away from the village. "Miss Belladonna, I'd like a word."

Blake's scowl grew at that, but she had the wherewithal to look away and not let the SDC guy see her. While he and his people began to finalize their work on making the stagecoach rideable, Jaune and Blake moved over to the edge of the wilderness to have their conversation in private.

"Okay," Jaune said. "You're pissed."

"Yeah, no shit! Jaune, do you not get what they're asking us to do? Can you not comprehend that the SDC is asking us to kill people?"

"No, I get that. But we can just capture them and hand them over to the police when we arrived in Vale."

It sounded like it might be difficult, but if they were able to overpower and restrain the bandits, they could drop them off in Vale and be done with it.

Actually, we'd most likely encounter them on the way back from Vale, but we can still make it work. We'll tie them up, throw them in the vault, and fly them back on the airship as prisoners. Assuming there aren't hundreds of them, we can just stow them in the extra seats or even lying down on the floor. We can make this work.

"That's not the point!" Blake snarled at Jaune. "That man doesn't care what we do! He'd be just as happy if we ended whoever's doing this."

"What do you want me to do, Blake? You said we can't turn down the job."

Blake growled and kicked her foot into the snow. "I was wondering why they hired us and not licensed hunters. It's the SDC; they certainly can afford it, given their mountains of blood money. They didn't want us to start from the kingdoms because they want to minimize witnesses, Jaune, we aren't hitmen. This is wrong."

"No, Blake, it's not wrong, because we won't kill them." Jaune looked back at the SDC workers, who were in the process of welding the box to the bottom of the walker. "What could we do to stop this guy and his buddies? Turn them in for hiring us to stop bandits? Arrest them ourselves? They were out here before, probably being unethical corporate bastards for years now, and they'll be out here no matter what we do."

"Oh." Blake threw her hands down in mock satisfaction. "Oh, you're right. How stupid have I been? We can't stop all of the evil in the world, so we may as well give up and profit from it. That's a very human attitude, though I guess I'm not surprised to find it coming from a human like you." Her lip curled in disgust as she looked at Jaune with the same look she gave the SDC people from before.

"Well, what the heck do you want me to do?" Jaune begged wearily, exasperation getting the better of him. "We can quit, but they'll just hire someone else who'll actually use lethal force. And even if they don't, the only net change we'd make is keeping a few more bandits out in the world as opposed to behind bars where they belong."

"The SDC is worse than bandits, Jaune. I know you don't care about the Faunus, but I do."

"Blake, I don't bury my head under a rock or something. I know people die in the mines, but we don't have the –"

"Die?" Blake shook her head. "Some die, but that's not the worst part. The worst part is that people have to live in those tunnels. Good men and women, innocent Faunus who've done nothing wrong, they have to spend their entire lives suffering in the darkness and swallowing the Dust fumes and breaking their backs for the kind of money you spend on…on…on snacks! It's borderline slavery, and I refuse to have anything to do with it!"

Rubbing his forehead, Jaune turned away from her for a second. It was starting to take its toll on him to be so thoroughly abused by someone who he saw as a friend, even if he knew she was right.

"…okay," he said, turning back to her. "Then…Th-Then I'll go tell the guy we won't take the job."

That only seemed to make Blake angrier, and she forcefully pushed him away from her. "Fuck you, Jaune. You know as well as I do that we don't have any other options, so fuck you for offering that when you know we can't just 'not take the job,' and fuck you for making me be the one to say it."

At this point, Jaune really didn't know what he was supposed to say or do to calm Blake down. She seemed hellbent on being angry at him no matter what side Jaune took.

He wanted to snap back at her and remind her that this wasn't exactly his choice to be in this situation, but Jaune didn't have that luxury. Blake was the real huntress, and she was his teacher. Though he played the boss in public, she was the one who knew the industry and called the shots, and he just went along for the ride.

There was nothing else for him to say, so he just sighed, turned back around, and left her. Blake stayed behind to pout in solitude while Jaune watched the SDC crew modify the stagecoach for the next few minutes.

When they finished adding the undercarriage, the man waved at Jaune, even though he was only a few feet away.

"It's ready when you are, sir. Simply enter through the door and close it behind you."

Jaune stuck his head inside and looked around. As promised, there were several windows on all of the walls. The ceiling was lit, and it was rather warm inside in spite of them being in the snow outside. Aside from the rather low hanging ceiling, it actually looked rather comfortable in there.

"How do we open it once we're in?" Jaune asked, popping back out.

The man swung the door over and tapped a large handle on it. "The backside of the door has a switch. Simply lift the lever up and the door will open of its own accord. It's spring-compressed and may require two hands to operate."

Everything seemed in order. All that was left was the hard part.

"Blake," Jaune called. "Ready when you are."

Stomping over, Blake brushed past Jaune, bumping right into him with her shoulder as she crawled into the small space. Jaune uncomfortably followed in after her.

I really hope she's not going to be this mad at me when we're both crammed together in such a claustrophobic space for the next few hours.

"Excellent," said the SDC operative. He placed one hand on the rim of the door. "The stagecoach is loaded with Dust and will be leaving immediately. I wish you both a successful hunt."

The door shut.

Coming Soon: Saboteuse

The trip from the SDC back to Vale might be through cold, snow-capped mountains, but that doesn't stop tempers from burning out of control.

Chapter Text

It was disappointing to see how easily Jaune Arc folded. All it took was a few fellow humans offering him a nice contract, and he was content to side with the SDC over his own partner.

This accursed mission of theirs, he just couldn't wrap his head around the concept that it wasn't some minor thing. If they helped the SDC, they were contributing to evil. Perhaps it was in a minor way, and perhaps it was in an unavoidable way, but Jaune and Blake were siding with the tormentors of her people.

This isn't what huntresses do. This isn't what I made Team Job to do.

Jaune clearly thought he was innocent simply because he said he didn't like it, but Blake knew better. It was so common for humans to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that they had no choice.

Ohhh, I need Dust, and I can't spare a few lien to buy a better brand, so SDC it is! After all, it's not like my minor contribution to slavery is really going to matter for a multi-trillion lien company.

And when millions of people say that, the numbers add up. The same people who criticize the SDC on social media with their hashtags and their likes are the ones that keep it running.

Jaune liked to hide behind his little safety blanket, but he was their advertiser. He had complete control over who they presented themselves to, and the SDC had somehow seen his website and thought that they were the perfect people for a few covert murders. All it would have taken it a few sentences about their ethics, and it would have turned them away, but Jaune couldn't be bothered. Humans rarely ever thought to add the term 'Faunus friendly' when they were marketing.

I thought he was better than this. Now, we're stuck working for these sacks of shit. What if we do a good job and they want to hire us again? Am I going to become Blake Belladonna, hitwoman and financial slave to the Schnees?

No. It didn't matter how, but Blake wasn't going to let that happen. She may have left the White Fang because of Adam, but the White Fang had never left her.

"W-What if we're seen?" Arc asked, trembling like a toddler.

"I just need some air," Blake said. "It's cramped in there, no? I'll be out and back in a few minutes."

"B-But –"

"Jaune, they said that the stagecoach is never attacked on the way in. Until we get to Vale, we basically don't have a job beyond sitting around with our thumbs planted up our asses. We're not yet in the thickest part of the mountains where there's ice and snow, so I can safely walk alongside the stagecoach for a few minutes, then come back in."

Jaune's eyes fell on the lever that let them in or out.

"I'll knock six times, three slow then three fast." Blake nodded at him. "That way you know its me. Just stay inside, or we'll get locked out and have to walk the whole way, okay?"

He clearly wasn't happy about it, but when they weren't in front of a customer, Jaune really had no power to tell her what to do. Blake hopped out and shut the door behind her.

She knew Jaune would be keeping his eyes glued to the viewports outside to see where she was, so she made sure to keep herself close enough to the stagecoach that she remained in its blind spots. It turned out that the SDC fuckface who built it took omnidirectional to mean omnidirectional when at a distance. To be fair, it was effectively the same in the event of an attack unless the enemy could teleport up close instantly, but it was the SDC, so Blake didn't need to be fair here.

When she was sure she was out of Jaune's sight, she hopped up and landed on top of the big box of Dust. It was as though the SDC had done their best to set her up with a perfect opportunity to screw them over. Here Blake was, sitting atop a giant case of explosives that was known to be regularly burgled. Blake wasn't a master of improvising explosive devices, but she knew enough of the basics to at least create a timer using her scroll. Any evidence of it would immediately be destroyed in the blast, and Blake could blame it on the –

"Blake, what are you doing?"

She looked down to see Jaune Arc, shuffling alongside the stagecoach to keep up with it as her looked up at her on the roof of it. The door had a pinecone from off the snowy ground wedge into it to keep it ajar.

"Nothing," she said, slipping off the roof and landing next to him.

"Were you stealing Dust?"

"No, Jaune. Just go back inside."

He looked back up at the see-through Dust vault. "You were breaking the locks on it. I saw you."

"Jaune, I swear to the Brothers, just drop it."

Jaune sucked in a breath. "You were sabotaging it, weren't you?"

Well, she'd actually been planning on destroying it (and probably part of the mining village if there were a way to ensure it was evacuated when the bomb went off), but it was easier to let Jaune think she was just trying to break the stagecoach, so she just nodded.

"Blake, what the heck?! After everything we've gone through, you're –"

"Stop being such a goody-two-shoes, Arc," she snapped. "You've done bad things too, so don't get made at me for the same thing."

"No it's not!" Jaune screamed. Now that they were alone in the forest, there was no need to lower their voices, so he was apparently willing to let out some of the anger that he'd pent up.

That was good; Blake needed to let out some of her bottled up rage too, and if Jaune gave her a free outlet to do so, no one would catch her complaining.

"You don't get to criticize me when you stole that Beacon kid's scroll just two weeks ago, Jaune."

Jaune's eyes flashed in rage, and he bent over and grabbed some snow from the floor. Pressing it up into a ball, he threw it directly into Blake's shirt. Even without her aura raised, Blake barely even felt it hit.

Blake raised an eyebrow. "That's your –"

"Shut up!" Jaune screamed. "Shut up! You don't get to be the hero, Blake! Not now!"

The hero? Does this child think we're in some storybook where the world is black and white?

"Lives are on the line here!" Blake shouted.

"Whose lives?!" Arc looked to his left, then to his right, as though he expected to see someone else in the pine trees around them. "Tell me! Tell me what breaking this stagecoach will actually accomplish, Blake!"

She didn't really have an answer to that – the SDC did cost people their lives, but Blake wasn't so naïve to believe that one sabotaged piece of equipment (or work village) would truly make a difference.

"It's not about the lives!" Blake said, unwilling to back down. "It's about the message! It's the right thing to do!"

"Was it the right thing to do when I stole that scroll from those people at Beacon and risked failing them from graduating?" Jaune yelled. "Was that right? No, but you praised me for it! How come I have to sacrifice my morality every time because we need to do it to survive, but the second you have an opinion, you just have to be the good guy? Er, gal?"

"This is about more than us and our stupid company!"

"It wasn't about more than us when I stole that scroll. It wasn't about more than us when we lied to the people of Lemuria for a job. It wasn't about more than us when we snuck into Beacon. Why is it only your opinion that matters? Why don't you have to sacrifice for the partnership?"

He was…oh, Blake had had it with this human. A spoiled child who thought he was owed a free seat at Beacon without ever having to earn it deciding to lecture her on sacrifice? Blake didn't think so.

Scooping up some snow and crunching it down to a sphere within her hands, Blake hurled it right into Jaune's face. She could sort of see why he did it; there was no risk or danger, but it felt pretty damn good to just let some of that anger out.

"Don't talk to me like you know anything! You keep saying that you're aware of how bad the SDC is, but are you? Do you truly actually know anything aside from 'snowflake bad,' or is it just lip service?"

Jaune opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out. Just like she'd thought, he said he was a good person, but he couldn't be bothered to actually put in any effort into doing anything good. She wasn't going to say that the White Fang was a charity or something, but at least they'd taken action to change the world. Horrible actions, no doubt, but action when no one else was willing.

Because we…because they knew that the world would never change unless someone changed it. It doesn't matter to them how far they sink, because life is so bad for some Faunus that there's no way it could get worse.

"Let me tell you, then," Blake said, seething with rage in spite of her calm tone. Arc now had fear in his eyes, and they kept daring down to Blake's waist for some reason, but she was too incensed to care about his ogling. "The SDC and the Schnees see the Faunus as cheap, disposable labor. I mean that in every way – to them, us Faunus are slaves that get a meager paycheck to make it technically legal, even though that paycheck is significantly below minimum wage. Humans are well paid in that damn Dust company, but Faunus get barely anything for their work, and the SDC gets away with it because they know that the Faunus have no alternative. Well, they have one alternative, which is to give up on the only job they can get and become destitute and homeless.

"People always say it's payment for the quality of their work, but if that were so, those poor Faunus should be getting compensated like kings. The human managers risk nothing and sit in their fancy chairs in their fancy offices, typing all day, but the Faunus who work the mines and operate the equipment have the worst jobs in their company…in the world! They're regularly asked to risk their lives on a whim, and the humans who do it do it on a whim, like they wouldn't even be bothered if their Faunus slaves actually died – and they wouldn't! Because unlike slavery, they can just open a job posting and get some other poor schmuck off the street with no prospects to fill the role. It's demeaning, and it's insulting, and it's downright vile! The Faunus aren't cared about; their species is all that matters to their bosses because it makes them replaceable. The humans, when they hold even the tiniest amount of power over the Faunus, they immediately see them as no more than objects, objects to be squeezed dry and…and…"

It took saying it out loud for Blake to actually hear it.

Fuck. I just handed Arc an easy win. If he wants to shut me down, he doesn't even have to work for it.

But Jaune didn't capitalize on Blake's mistake. Instead, he just froze up and stared at her like he was a deer Faunus in the headlights.

"I…I…"

Blake forced herself to pull the hand she hadn't even realized was on Gambol Shroud off of it. Brushing some falling flakes of snow out of her hair, she just stood there in the snow among the pine trees. They were on the verge of what truly constituted the mountains now, and the stagecoach had gotten significantly ahead of them when they'd stopped walking to have their little spat.

"Let's just finish this job and go home," Blake said. "We don't want to lose our ride."

Neither of them really felt like being around the other, certainly not in that tiny, cramped space that had been built for them, so Blake sat on top of the stagecoach while Jaune trudged through the snow alongside it, loud crunches coming from beneath his shoes. She'd offered for them to switch spots, a perfunctory gesture as best, but he'd lacked the nimbleness to climb up, and he'd fallen off the second the machine reached some rocky terrain, so it was back to the ground for him.

When they reached the part of the journey where walking would be too difficult and sitting atop the stagecoach would be too dangerous, they'd had no choice but to retreat into their tiny little cabin once again. Doing anything else would be unsafe.

Neither of them could meet the other's eyes for the entire rest of the journey to Vale. When the walls of the city came into view, promising surefire safety from a bandit ambush, the two fake hunters exited their enclosure and watched the proceedings.

The stagecoach reached some sort of train-station-like area at the edge of the city where an automated crane that was perched on the walls reached down, removed the valuable Dust payload (that Blake left untainted), and replaced it with a preloaded box of food and other such supplies. Blake could make out several recognizable items – boxes of foods to augment the SDC's onsite farms, manufactured goods like rope, nails, and metal sheets that couldn't be produced at the village, and a bright shiny stack of lien chips at the top of the pile.

It was in thousand lien denominations, so the entire stack was probably no bigger than a desktop computer laid down on its side. So much trouble over something so small…it was almost bizarre to think about.

But wasn't that how the whole world worked? Money made the world go round. It was because of tiny chips of lien that the SDC chose to enslave Blake's people, and it was because of lien that the Faunus ever had anything to do with a company that despised the very ground they walked on. So much of human and Faunus culture was engraved in economics and finances that it seemed all but impossible to imagine a life without it. Money was a sin and a vice according to some, but it was money that gave you food, shelter, and other necessities.

And it was because of money that Blake had become the SDC.

I'm not being fair here. It wasn't just money. It was money, ego, and power.

Jacques Schnee and his company paid the Faunus as little as they could. They lorded their power over them and made them perform demeaning, sometimes life-threatening work for a barely livable wage, and when the Faunus ever tried to speak up for themselves, their opinions were categorically ignored, dismissed, or discredited.

Blake desperately tried to find an aspect of her interactions with Jaune where she hadn't done the exact same thing, but she utterly failed to.

I took advantage of him when he was vulnerable after being kicked out of Beacon all because he had a check in his hand that I wanted. I left him to die outside Lemuria, and I only went back to save him because I needed to. And then, to make it worse, I tried my best to keep the reward for myself and keep the truth away from Arc as long as possible. I would have had him believe I was his savior forever if he hadn't figured it out for himself.

And I just kept doing it. I made him the advertiser because I was better suited for being in control, but I can't help but admit it was kind of a rush to be the one in charge. I had to learn business, and I could have let Arc do it alongside me, but I felt like it was my turn to be in charge. Then, when we went to the Lake of Lost Voles, I humiliated him by treating him as live bait, and I endangered his life in doing so. Fuck, I even shot him!

She hadn't ever meant to hurt her big lug of a partner, but she wondered if the average SDC foreman or upper echelon manager ever truly meant for a cave-in to kill their wage-slaves. No one truly meant for anything bad to happen, but negligence wasn't an excuse. Both parties had knowingly put their employees in a position where they could be in danger, and both tried their very best to act surprised when they actually did get harmed.

Jaune hadn't done anything wrong on this mission, but she'd made up some bullshit about his website advertising to the SDC (even though she'd been the one to order him to change it for a non-Grimm job) and found a reason to be upset with him.

Plus, as much as it was just a word, she often called him human, both verbally and in her head. There was nothing strictly wrong with that, as he was a human, and no one in their right minds would think that 'human' could be considered a slur.

But why had she called him that?

Why had she reduced him to his species when he was a person with so much more to his existence than 'human?'

Blake didn't hate humans. She knew this for a fact, and that wasn't some desperate self-denial. No, the reason she knew it was true was because admitting the actual reason behind her language was even more damning. The reason she'd done it was because she'd gotten a taste of being the dominant force in a power dynamic, and she milked it for everything it had. She was the huntress and Arc was the apprentice, and she knew he needed her, so she could get away with saying whatever she wanted.

Fuck me. I didn't just become the SDC.

I almost became Adam.

Coming Soon: An Eye for Riches

Blake and Jaune discover who's been robbing the SDC stagecoach, but what are they to do with that knowledge?

Chapter Text

Jaune had never realized just how much a stupid kid he was until Blake had laid it out in front of him. For so long, he'd truly believed that no one in the world had it worse than him. Kicked out of his dream school, forced to work for a living – absolutely unheard of!

Gods, I'm not even that special. Tons of people have sob stories like me. It's not even a sob story; it just the normal life of a man with a job!

Jaune had spent about a month with this startup company, and that had been enough to make it more valuable to him than the Faunus he had pretended to be caring about. Sure, they weren't going to die if this stagecoach made it over the Big Rock Sugar Mountain Range, but it was spitting on the memory of those who died by helping. He was choosing to aid the SDC in a direct way, while still claiming to sympathize with their victims. If someone had packed a sandwich for General Lagune and claimed to be on the right side of the Faunus Rights Revolution, they would be a hypocrite just as much as Jaune was right now.

Blake was right; they couldn't just complete this mission and wash their hands of it when they finished. They needed to do something. It was a chance to act against corruption and crime, not to aid it.

But I wasn't wrong in what I said before. Blake and I are two kids with barely a full hunter's worth of training between us both. How do we stop this, all while preferably avoiding jail?

Failing the mission sounded like a decent starting point, but that would just have the SDC hiring another team of bandit hunters. They could lie, but that would be revealed when the next stagecoach showed up with its lien payload missing.

Blake was going to steal the Dust from them, but that airship has flown away. The Dust is in Vale, and if we raid or destroy these supplies, it only means that the people in that village lose out. We'd be hurting the ones we're trying to protect.

Maybe it would be best if we stop whoever is bandit-ing the money first and then figure out what to do. Maybe with them in custody, we might have more or better options. Blake is smart; she can think of something.

Unfortunately, Blake seemed just as wrapped up in her own thoughts as Jaune had been for most of the ride. For some unknown reason, she was a bit jarred by their argument.

I hope we're still partners at the end of this. Even if we both said some things we might regret, I don't want to lose my best friend.

Well, the best way to keep her trust was to do right by her ideals. That meant stopping the SDC…somehow. Jaune would do his best to think of something.

They both kept their eyes peeled on the windows, carefully watching for bandits to swarm in from any angle, which made it all the more confusing when the lock of the cargo hold was broken and the lien was all gone.

Blake had wanted to stretch her legs again – for real this time, not to sabotage the stagecoach – and she'd been the one to notice it.

"The lock's been torn right off," Blake said as she inspected the crime scene. "The entire mechanism's missing, like someone with aura just ripped it off. You see the way the metal twists? It was brute strength, not a key or bolt cutters."

Well, crap. Now we've really got nothing to show for this.

"We were watching the entire time," Jaune said. "Did you see anything?"

Blake shook her head.

"Then how did they get to the cargo container?"

Jaune stepped back to get a more holistic look at the situation in front of him. The stagecoach continued to merrily trod along, undamaged. The undercarriage compartment in which they'd been hiding looked like it was a part of the engine, meaning that no one outside should have known that Jaune and Blake were hidden in there.

It's not impossible to think that someone could have slipped by us. If they jumped through the trees, they could stay out of sight. The two questions that remain are how they knew we were looking and how they did all that stuff without us noticing. I might not be super observant or anything, but I'm fairly certain I would've heard a troop of bandits landing on the stagecoach from above and rummaging around in it.

"I'm stumped," Blake said when Jaune looked at her.

Hmmmm. They only took the lien…

Maybe this wasn't something to be solved by looking at it from afar. Maybe he needed to get in closer.

"Blake," Jaune called over to her. "Could you check the nails?"

"Huh? Oh, right." Blake flipped open the hatch and slipped into the box. After a few minutes of rummaging around and checking the containers of materials and supplies, she eventually opened up a box that contained an assortment of hand tools (mostly screwdrivers and hex wrenches), several wound up brown and tan rope piles, and countless unopened cartons of steel nails.

"They didn't take them?" Jaune asked, coming closer to the stagecoach so he could speak to Blake without shouting. "But why not?"

"No clue." Blake's lips curled upwards into a smile. "But if they always take the lien and the nails…"

"…then they might come back," Jaune finished for her. "Good idea, partner!"

"We couldn't see the from the undercarriage," Blake pointed out. "Unless we want a rerun of earlier today, we're going to need to get a better vantage point. If we hide out in the forests and watch the stagecoach from afar…"

Jaune nodded. "Let's do it."

For some reason, Blake looked a little squirrely at that. "Um…what…what do you want to do?"

"What?" Jaune asked. "You just said we need to put some distance and watch it from –"

"Y-Yeah, but…do you agree?"

"I…sure? Yes?"

Was she testing him? She'd done it on missions before, but this was a bit of a weird test. Blake had already described the best choice they had. Did she maybe want him to add something of his own to prove he could think independently and come up with ideas?

"Maybe, just in case, we get one person to stay in the stagecoach," Jaune offered. "We have two pairs of eyes, and we can optimize them with two vantage points…I guess?"

"Sure, then. We'll do it. Where do you want to be?"

"Well, I'd prefer to be outside and in the thick of the action, but strategically you're probably better suited to –"

"I'll take the carriage, then." Blake hopped off the stagecoach and started to crawl into the small space beneath it. "Keep your eyes peeled, Jaune."

Okay, it was officially weird. Blake was the better huntress of the two of them. Jaune may have wanted to be the one in the cool spot, outside and fending off bandits, but logically it made more sense for her to be out there and for him to be in there.

Maybe she knows something I don't? I don't like making this many assumptions about Blake's reasoning, though.

It was too late now. She'd sealed herself in, and he needed to get into position. There was no telling when the bandits would return, and Jaune didn't want to risk being seen and frightening them off.

"CA-HAW! CA-HAW! CA-HAW!"

Before Jaune could even abscond into the woods, a bird flapped out of the skies and flew right through the still open roof of the stagecoach that Blake had just come out of.

"What?"

The bird hopped once to angle itself towards him, and Jaune realized it was no bird.

"CA-HAW!"

Its beak and face were covered in bone.

"Blake!" Jaune rapidly rapped his knuckles against the undercarriage. Leaning down, he stuck his face in front of one of the one-way windows and waved violently. "Blake, get out here!"

"CA-HAW!"

The Grimm bird, a rather large Nevermore that wasn't quite big enough to shake off the title of Juvenile, dug its beak through the open box of and shook it violently. The tools were strewn about the cargo box, and several loops of rope wrapped around the Nevermore's body as it threw them randomly, fishing about for whatever it sought.

When one of the boxes of the shiny steel nails spilled open, the Nevermore didn't hesitate to scoop them up in its beak.

"CWA-HWAH!" it screeched at Jaune once more, this time with a mouth full of nails, then began to fly away.

The door of the undercarriage space was just opening up when Jaune realized that their 'bandit' was about to get away.

He didn't want to abandon Blake, but she was a veteran huntress who could chase after him. Losing their only lead would be disastrous. Jaune ran after the bird.

There's no way I can chase something that flies! What do I do?

The rope…it was still wrapped around the bird! Putting all of his speed into a quick sprint, Jaune raced forward and dove ahead to catch the rope that was dangling from the Nevermore's body.

He caught it in one hand and grabbed hold of a nearby tree to stabilize himself in the other. Overhead, the Nevermore began to screech like a maniac and flap about wildly, but that only seemed to tangle its body up more in the coiled rope.

"Jaune!" Blake cried. She'd finally gotten out of the box and was racing over to join him. "What's the pro…wait, is that a Grimm?"

"Help!"

Blake flicked her weapon off her wrist and aimed it at the Nevermore's body. Jaune anxiously waited for her to pull the trigger as it flailed about and dragged him around from the sky, but the bullet never came.

"How did you catch a Grimm?"

"It flew into the thing to steal the dudes!"

"The…The nails? It stole them?"

Jaune nodded. "Shoot it!"

Blake continued to finger her weapon's trigger, but she held off.

"Jaune, I think we should follow it!"

"What? Are you crazy?!"

Blake shook her head. "If it stole the nails, it probably stole the lien as well! We can get it back! Magpies have been known to hoard shiny objects that catch their fancy back at their nests. The Nevermore is probably doing the same."

"It's not a magpie! What if it tries to kill me?!"

"I've got Gambol aimed at it, and you have your…your…o-okay. We'll kill it."

The sudden change in Blake's stance caught Jaune by surprise. "What?"

"If you think we should kill it, then I'll shoot it."

The bird jerked over to the side, and Jaune was nearly thrown off his feet. Blake raised her gun once more and took aim.

"N-No! Wait! Why are you…what's going on?"

"You're a valued member of Team Job, Jaune," Blake said, one eye closed as she tried to line up a good shot. "I need to listen to you more."

"No! Don't listen to me! Blake, why are you suddenly all subservient every time I say something dumb?"

Blake took her eyes off the Nevermore and looked directly at Jaune as he was pulled about on the end of the rope. "I don't want to keep treating you poorly, Jaune! You're my friend, and I've been treating you like a diversion or bait or a…a…a human shield! I won't make you humiliate yourself by being tossed about by a Grimm on a rope if you don't want to!"

Well, Jaune didn't want to, but Blake had actually been right about following the Nevermore back to its nest. Grimm weren't animals, but they did have animalistic traits – fish Grimm swam, Beowolves packed up and obeyed the Alphas, so it logically followed that a thieving magpie of a Nevermore might have a treasure trove of precious objects stored up somewhere. Plus, they literally had it on the ropes here. Blake could shoot it at her leisure if anything went wrong.

"I've changed my mind! Let's have it lead us to the stash!"

"Jaune, you don't have to –"

"Blake, we can talk our stuff out later, when I'm not on the end of a rope being yanked around by a flapping featherhead! Let's just…we'll chase it first, okay?"

Blake swallowed and nodded at Jaune. "Okay."

Jaune let go of the branch he'd been holding onto for support, and he was immediately pulled off his feet and thrown to the ground. The Nevermore kept flying, dragging a tag-along Jaune with it, but the extra weight slowed it down enough that Blake could keep up. Her gun was out, but she was no longer pointing it at the Grimm.

After two minutes of his aura being shredded against the twigs and pine needles of the forest floor (they weren't yet at the snowy part), the Nevermore stopped flying forward and started trying to fly upwards.

"Jaune!" Blake called, catching up mere seconds later. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Jaune said, rising up in the air. The Nevermore was flying upwards to furiously that he was actually being picked up off his feet.

"Take my hand!"

Jaune grabbed hold of Blake, and she anchored him down by grabbing the nearest tree. This nearby tree also happened to have a rather sizeable hole up near the top of it, Jaune just so happened to notice. A sizeable hole with a glint of light coming from within…

"I think we found the nest," he grunted, straining to hold himself down. "If you're ready, you can take the shot…"

Blake had to let go of Jaune's hand to go over and grab her gun from where she'd dropped it to save him from being lifted away, but he nodded to let her know he approved. She dove for the gun, and he slowly began to rise off the ground, about three inches per second.

Blake sniped the Nevermore with two shots, and Jaune dropped out of the sky by about a foot. It was still enough of a fall to make him lose his footing and drop to the ground in a silly heap.

"Jaune!"

"I'm okay, I'm okay."

"S-Sorry."

Looking himself over, Jaune couldn't see exactly what she was so sorry about. His aura was still pretty high, and aside from a nice coating of sticks and leaves, he was otherwise unharmed.

"Sorry about letting you be dragged about," Blake said.

We did agree to talk it out when the Grimm was dead and the danger passed. I guess that's now.

Jaune decided to put and end to this, whatever it was. "Blake, I agreed to it."

"Yes, but it wasn't pleasant. I know you want to be a huntsman, but every mission, it seems like I treat you like a sidekick when I slay the Grimm. I don't want you to feel humiliated or emasculated."

Truth be told, he wasn't feeling like that. He'd actually felt pretty proud of himself for the success he'd had in the past few missions, though he could at least see where she was coming from.

What was truly humiliating was what he had to admit to Blake next. "Blake, the truth is, I am a sidekick."

"Jaune, I'm so –"

"But that's okay. I'm training to be a real huntsman. I used to think that it would be easy – I was gonna watch you on our first mission and just do the same movements, and that would be all there was too it – but I've been in the field enough times now to know that I kinda suck. And, yeah, I want to be a hero, but that's why we're training, right?"

"R-Right. But I haven't been treating you right. And that's going to change. I promise, Jaune."

Blake really looked beat up about this. Jaune had no clue what brought on this sudden change in her personality, especially since she'd been fiery and irate about how poorly he'd handled the SDC earlier in the afternoon.

"Blake, we had an agreement. I would be the face, you would be the business. I would take the training, you would take the money."

"An unfair agreement!" Blake spat out. "You're being swindled, Jaune, and I'm ashamed at how long I let it happen."

"Do you not know what agreements are? It's where we agree! Blake, I like things the way they are. I'm getting better every day, and Team Job Security is getting more and more missions because we've both specialized in our respective fields. We had a deal – when I beat you in a spar, we equalize our payments. To me, it's completely fair."

Blake didn't seem all that convinced, kicking at her heels as she was. "I just want you to feel like you're a member of the team. Not just…not a…not a human."

"I am a human," Jaune said dumbly, before realizing what Blake meant. It wasn't particularly clear out of context, but taking into account how she'd been ranting about the way the SDC treated her own species, it made perfect sense what she truly meant.

"Okay," he said. "Just…treat me like an equal, and I'll do the same, okay? You don't need to let me call the shots when I'm making poor choices, nor should you censor yourself so I can speak first." She'd nearly cost them the mission by letting Jaune decide who stayed outside of the stagecoach to compensate for her own authority over him, and it benefitted neither of them to have that kind of mindset on the team. "We're student and teacher, but we're also partners, right?"

Blake thought it over for a second, then nodded. "Partners."

"Now, then. Partner." Jaune looked up to the top of the tree that the Nevermore had been trying to escape into. "I think we have a nest to loot."

Blake had crawled up to the top of the tree and thrown stuff down to Jaune, resulting in them accumulating a rather sizeable pile at the base of the tree. The missing lien was there, but there was also a lot more than lien.

When Jaune finished tallying up the spoils, there was 820,000 lien, enough nails to build a house, several shellfish shells (specifically those of the abalone), two ball bearings, a single earring, eighteen obsolete arcade tokens, and a long strand of holiday tinsel. The mystery of the SDC's missing money was solved, as well as a lot of other things that their thieving Nevermore must have stolen from elsewhere.

"I feel like I might go blind just looking upon this many shiny things," Blake said.

"It is quite bright," Jaune concurred.

"I guess we'd better bring this stuff to the stagecoach," Blake said, gazing out at the money. "Might take a few trips."

Jaune shook his head, quite forlornly. "Unfortunately, no, we can't. The stagecoach was destroyed by the bandits."

Blake nodded in agreement, then paused and furrowed her brow. "Eh? P-Pardon…?"

"Fortunately, we took care of them, as instructed. I don't think that ruthless gang of, shall we say, fifteen heavily armed bandits, will be plaguing the next stagecoach the SDC builds, will it? Hope it's not too expensive."

Blake looked at Jaune, then back down at the money. "O-Oh. OOOOOH. Oh, okay. I think I follow."

Again, Jaune just shook his head. "I don't think you do. It's not our money, Blake, but it's not the SDC's either. I'm sure you must know some Faunus charity. We can fly back around on Benson's airship and collect it without the SDC ever knowing."

Jaune had been right. There was no way two children could stop a multi-trillion lien corporation in any significant way.

Blake had also been right. The SDC couldn't be allowed to just win here, not when they were so vile to their workers.

But that didn't mean they couldn't find some way to make the SDC writhe from within the restrictions of their abilities. Over 800,000 lien was going back into the hands of the people who deserved it, and while that might not have meant much to the shareholders of the SDC compared to their total profits, it might make a world of difference for the Faunus who needed it.

Just for laughs and giggles, Jaune was also going to tell the SDC that the price of their airship rental was double what it actually was, since they'd offered to comp them for it. It was just another way to bleed those bastards dry.

We can't stop them, but that doesn't mean we can't screw them over as much as we want. They'll never know the difference and will think this was a job well done.

Plus, I think Blake's gonna enjoy getting to trash their stagecoach.

Mission Complete: SDC/Big Rock Sugar Mountain Range

Client Review: <we kindly ask that you please leave a review for Team Job Security, thanks! > ★★★★★

Current Holdings (lien): Ⱡ 23,600

Current Holdings (assets): Benson Airship Rental punchcard (five punches)

Current Holdings (realty): none

Employees: 2

Coming Soon: New Blood

Is it possible to slide a new letter in between the J and B in Team JB?

Chapter Text

It was still impossible for Team Job to spar using their hunter weapons, but Blake expected they would soon be able to afford a more regular subscription to a huntsman gym. Should that fail, they could easily just reserve a wide-open space or even just exit the walls of the kingdoms and duel in the woods outside.

They had another mission on deck – standard Grimm clearing for some tiny village that was being plagued by them, but Benson's airship was having its tires rotated (Blake had no idea how or why), so they were going to have to wait two days until it finished with all of its inspections. The town in question had agreed to wait, as their local militia was able to scare off the Grimm with their handmade pikes, and Team Job were the only folks they could afford.

Having an SDC recommendation, as bland as it was, was going to be what they needed to draw in more and more business. People might not care about what the fishing village of the Lake of Lost Voles had to say about an up-and-coming team of security consultants, but when the biggest company in the world hired them, that would mean something to some…to a lot, actually. Blake despised using that damnable company for clout as they had, but at least she'd managed to get two or three fast ones over them when they had.

However, until those jobs came pouring in, they were still paupers with just under 30,000 lien to their name, so it was sparring in the public park once again. Since swords would draw too much attention, Blake was just showing Jaune some martial arts and hand-to-hand combat.

"Arms up!" she said, kicking at him from the side. "You're too big to out-speed me. Use your advantages."

Her leg collided with his arms and sent him tumbling backwards. "Yeah, but what exactly are those?"

"It's up to you to find those out!"

He had actually just used them, but Blake wasn't going to tell him that. That bulky aura of his, it made kicking him the equivalent of kicking an extra strength plank of wood rather than soft squishy flesh, and he could probably keep it up all day. On top of that, he was physically bigger than most, meaning that he could tank hits like she'd just inflicted without going down instantly. A higher center of mass was costly, but Arc made up with it by having probably forty pounds on her, and even more when he wore his full armor.

Jaune made the mistake of trying to go on the offensive and received a nasty punch to the gut for his efforts, but the gentle giant of a man just shrugged it off and tried again. This time, though, he saw that she was too slippery to be swiped by a single, easily avoided fist and went instead for a bear hug.

So he can learn from his mistakes. That's a good sign.

It felt unfair to drop a shadow clone to get out of Arc's grab, and Blake's pride would never recover if she could only win against this boy by using her semblance when he didn't have his, so she instead thrust out her forearms and shoved them into Arc's own wrists at perpendicular angles. His strength was equivalent to hers, but his entire attention span was on to tops of their bodies, leaving him vulnerable at the bottom.

Blake didn't kick him as much as she slid his right foot further right with her shoe. The sudden change to his base made him lose even more balance as he instinctively tried to lift up his foot and correct his posture, only surrendering even more footing in the movement.

His arms fell away as his brain ceased to be aware of their existence in favor of his legs, and Blake could easily push them back. A single thrusted palm to his forehead sent him flying backwards.

"Yaaaaaah!" Jaune screamed, spinning through the air.

"Woah!" said the civilian towards whom he was sailing.

Crap!

Blake reached for Gambol to throw it and catch him, but they hadn't brought their weapons, meaning there was nothing she could do as Jaune crashed right into the random parkgoer.

Shit! A couple of unlicensed aura users breaking some girl's legs – we'll drown in lawsuits!

Oh, and also it's bad if people get hurt!

But the expected impact never came. Jaune, in spite of easily being a head taller than the girl (aside from the long hat she was wearing), landed right in her outstretched arms.

"Gaaah!" he shrieked, his arms still flailing.

"Wohohoah, down boy." Jaune was unceremoniously dropped to the ground by the girl, though his aura prevented any serious damage. "You alright?"

"W-Whuh? Where…what happened?"

The girl…no, the Faunus girl, for it wasn't a hat on her head but a tall pair of rabbit ears, looked over at Blake. "Seems like your partner sniped you. Lucky thing I was there to catch'ya, eh?"

"Yeah, I guess. Ma'am, are you okay? Blake threw me pretty hard."

Something…Something about this rubbed Blake the wrong way. Apart from the fact that this girl had just casually caught a flying boy out of midair without so much as a flinch, the way she just instantly referred to him as 'partner' wasn't exactly normal.

I mean, it could have been normal, but partner is also a term with a different meaning in huntsman culture.

She was a Faunus…Blake didn't want to let that color her judgment of this teenaged girl, lest she be no different than the racist humans she'd spent most of her life trying to stop, but any agent the White Fang sent to silence Blake would be a Faunus…

"Me? I'm fine, thanks for asking." The girl gave a silly little mock salute at the two of them, then reached a hand down to Jaune. "Her ya go, big guy."

When he took it, she lifted him right back up like he weight no more than a sack of apples. The ease with which she displayed her strength wasn't that of a civilian. It was far too early to do something stupid like attack her, but Blake's guard was raised.

"Thank you for catching him," she called over to the duo. "Now let's continue our spar, Jaune."

"S-So…not trying to sound creepy, but you're Jaune Arc?" asked the rabbit Faunus girl. "Is that you, mister?"

Another point against her favor – if the White Fang had truly tracked down Blake, they would know who she kept company with. The fact that it was a human might have enraged Adam to the point that he would send an assassin.

"Jaune, come over here," Blake said authoritatively, as though she were his mother. It felt wrong to sound so condescending, but he was unaware of the potential danger this rabbit posed. His aura might not have even been up.

Jaune quickly crossed the divide between the two Faunus and came closer to Blake, almost hiding behind her. "H-How do you know my name?!"

"Aura up, Jaune." Blake balled up her fists. "Stay close to me."

"No, no, no!" The girl raised both hands in surrender. "I'm sorry! I'm not trying to be creepy, I swear! I just heard from Ruby that you two liked to train here and the website didn't say where your office was! Please, I'm really sorry!"

Ruby? Wasn't that the girl who Jaune befriended at Beacon or something? And did she say website?

"Are you a client?" Blake asked.

"Are you Team Job Security?" the girl asked back.

"Yes, but we normally do our business electronically," Blake said. The books said that a paper trail, even a digital one, was preferrable to any sort of verbal or handshake agreement that could be reneged on with no proof of it even having existed in the first place.

"I'm not a client, but I do have business I'd like to discuss. Can we talk somewhere?"

Blake looked the girl over. She was wearing cargo pants and a camo-colored T-shirt beneath a gray hoodie that screamed 'trying not to stand out.' Atop her head of long, chestnut hair was a pair of rabbit ears, a Faunus trait so apparent that it would never have been hidden, even if she tried to cover them with the hoodie. She didn't look like much, but neither did Blake.

Assuming she's some timid rabbit because of her trait could be the death of me, of us both.

"Our office is currently being renovated," Jaune said to her. "If you'd like to chat somewhere indoors, we can –"

"Oh, out here is fine. Better, actually. The park has picnic tables. Do you guys wanna talk over some lunch?"

Jaune and Blake shared a glance.

"Sure," Blake said. "We can grab some fast food."

"Oh, I brought some," said the rabbit girl. Turning around, she reached into a cooler that was placed on the ground and pulled out some sandwiches wrapped in plastic. "You guys like egg salad?"

Blake could only cringe as Jaune tucked into that sandwich of his with no regard for the poisons or toxins that it could have been laced with. Not even a lethal concoction – drugging them until they were susceptible to kidnapping would be enough.

Naturally, she didn't touch her own. Velvet, which was either her name or her White Fang pseudonym, was also scarfing down the food she'd brought, which was a good sign, but she could have administered the antidote or only poisoned one sandwich.

Or it's possible I'm being paranoid. Let's see what she has to say.

"So, you mentioned Ruby?" Blake asked. That was the only reason she'd even agreed to hear out this Faunus. White Fang hitwomen tended to not know the names of old chums from their target's single night at Beacon.

"Yeah. I'd heard about you guys, and word got around that she personally knew you, so I just asked if she might know where I could find you."

"And…you were just waiting for us? In the park?"

Velvet nodded. "Only since this morning. If I couldn't find you that way, I would've tried elsewhere, but it all worked out."

"Dhwaang," Jaune said, wiping some egg salad from his cheek. He swallowed before speaking. "You must really wanna hire us."

"Ehhhnnnhhh." Velvet took another bit from her sandwich after emanating that uncomfortable sound. "Not…Not quite. You see, I'm…well, obviously, I'm from Beacon."

This was starting to sound less and less like a White Fang assassination attempt, but the danger wasn't passed just yet. "Did Ozpin send you?" Blake asked, finally feeling comfortable enough to accept the free lunch.

"The headmaster?" Velvet really seemed surprised to have been asked. "No, I've never even met that guy aside from speeches and one award ceremony. It's just, word gets around. Team LTUC might be a bunch of blowhards, but they're a year above…above my old team, and I heard on the grapevine that they said you guys were good about hiring Faunus."

There was a lot to unpack there.

Firstly, the fact that they were apparently a common name in Beacon made Blake a little uneasy. She knew Ozpin was aware of Team Job, but she'd never intended to become sort of pariah among the real hunters.

Second, the way this girl talk about her 'old' team at Beacon was a little concerning. She said that Team LTUC, who Blake believed were fourth years about to graduate, were a year ahead of her, meaning that Velvet was a third year. That wasn't the age of someone who was about to leave Beacon the normal way, which was graduation.

Thirdly…

"Hiring? You want a job?" Jaune asked incredulously. "With us?"

Velvet nodded vigorously. "I brought a resume. It's mostly empty, but I do have two and a half complete years of Beacon under my belt as a member of Team Coffee. Quite decorated, I might add."

She bent over into the cooler and pulled out a stack of papers. Taking two from the top, she handed them to Jaune and Blake each.

Blake didn't even read the resume. Jaune seemed to be poring over it like he was…well, like he was Blake with a fictional book, but it didn't matter what qualifications Velvet could boast.

"We're not hiring at the moment. And I think you might have made a mistake – we aren't hunters."

"No, I know that, ma'am. You're…You're security consultants." Velvet seemed to be unsure of exactly how to phrase her words properly. "You aren't…but you do…but it's okay, because…I'm…I'm not licensed."

"If you don't mind me asking," Jaune said with a curious glance between the resume and the girl, "why not?"

Blake did mind him asking, because they didn't need to ask Velvet any questions when they didn't need to hire her in the first place, but she allowed her to answer if only to satisfy Jaune's curiosity.

"I'm…I'm a dropout, sir. It's not because of poor schoolwork or troublemaking; I just couldn't stay in school any longer."

"…why not?" Jaune asked. "I mean, I'd like to respect your privacy, Velvet, but I think we need to know if we're going to consider hiring you."

Okay, that was far enough. Blake tapped Jaune on the shoulder, forcing herself to smile. "A word…boss?"

That was essentially their codeword to communicate to one another that whatever they had to say wasn't something that present company could hear.

"We'll just be a moment," Jaune said as he sat up from the picnic table. "Excellent sandwiches, by the way."

"Oh, uh, thanks. I bought them myself." Velvet tapped the edges of her stack of resumes to the table to even them out. "Please, take all the time you need. Er…I'll just stay here, sir."

Blake led Jaune five picnic tables over, a suitable distance to ensure that Velvet couldn't hear them. As soon as she was sure they were able to converse freely, she shook her head.

"Jaune, I don't care how good the sandwiches were. We aren't hiring. We barely break even on every job, and her salary would come out of our pay."

Jaune glanced back at the rabbit girl. "We talked about raising our rates. You were the one who said that we were probably more likely to get jobs now that the SDC's gone and hired us. This would be a good justification for why we can bump up our prices. Three hun…three security consultants instead of two. A 50% increase in our staff, so we hike the prices by 50%."

"Or, and I know this might sound crazy, but we could not hire her, hike the prices by 50% anyways, take that money for ourselves, and not live out of a hotel."

"We're making money," Jaune said. "It's slow, but we are. Honestly, at this point, we can probably afford to start renting an apartment if we stayed as roommates. I feel like we're only still in the hotel because we weren't sure, but with the SDC recommendation –"

"We don't need a third wheel, Jaune." Blake was irate that she even needed to explain this to Jaune. "You and I have completed every mission that's come our way without her."

Jaune raised his eyebrows with an uppity look that Blake couldn't say she approved of. "Really?"

"I mean, yeah! Were you not there? We were fine!"

"Was I fine, Blake? Was it fine when I got dragged by a squid Grimm into an undersea cave with no light and almost no air? Was it fine when I had to stay behind at the top of a tree in a sinkhole because you needed to get more 'ammo?' Because I didn't feel fine."

He did have her there, but it wasn't like she hadn't gotten him out of those scenarios. "You…You survived."

"I did, but wouldn't it have been better for us to have someone watching our back? She's a real huntress, assuming her resume isn't B.S." Jaune sighed and put a hand on Blake's shoulder. "I'm not trying to guilt trip you…well, I am a little. Blake, you know you'll be fine, but I only have you to rely on. If you trip when running to save me or get sick on a mission or fumble your sword or whatever, I die. A safety net couldn't hurt."

Blake wasn't sure she agreed, but she had just wrestled with the poor way she'd been treating him back on their last mission two days ago, and his only request was to have his opinion treated seriously as long as it wasn't asinine. Well, he actually had a point here.

"But we can do better than some Beacon dropout."

"Blake, we are Beacon dropouts. Who else do you think would apply to our loophole of a company? A real, licensed hunter?" Jaune clicked his tongue. "That would actually probably be worse, since Ozpin could say we're trying to act as hunters and not security consultants. And don't you have some sort of pity boner for poor Faunus?"

Blake scowled at Jaune. She cared about her people, but there was a difference between doing her best to help them and risking her own wellbeing for a half-huntress who could probably get a better job elsewhere. Not to mentioning, phrasing it as a pity boner for the Faunus was kind of rude.

"Look." Jaune held out his hands. "We take her on for a few days. No, wait, let's do it for the next mission. If we don't like her performance, we say it's not working. Why not give her a chance?"

Both of them looked over at Velvet, who was doing her best to watch them without looking like she was being overly nosy.

"She's a Beacon dropout," Jaune said, pursing his lips. "You and I both know that's not an easy place to be."

Jaune was more or less admitting he was doing this with sympathy on the mind by saying that, which was never a good way to run a company, but she could find no way to refute his argument that a second trained hunter would improve his life expectancy.

And I do know personally how hard it is for a Faunus to find a job in the city. Velvet's only qualification is her time in Beacon, meaning her only option is to hunt Grimm for a living, but she can't without a license. We might be her only choice.

Loathe as Blake was to admit it, she was starting to truly want to hire this kid. Her heart was saying to show some basic compassion for a fellow Faunus, even if her brain was telling her to think of the finances and just how poorly this could go.

In the end, her heart won out. Blake hadn't devoted ten years of her life to fixing the state of Faunus oppression, the last four as a terrorist agent, if she listened to her brain first and foremost.

"We'll hear her out, but both of us have to agree to hire her, and both of us can say we want to fire her if the next mission doesn't go well."

Jaune just laughed in a jolly manner at that. "Don't worry, Blake. Velvet's cute rabbit ears will never displace the spot your kitty ears have won in my heart. You'll always be my favorite Faunus."

"Shut your sandwich-hole, you idiot," Blake commanded. "Let's just go back and interview our first candidate."

Coming Soon: Dropouts

Velvet Scarlatina is interviewed for the opening that Team Job didn't even know it had.

Chapter Text

"Alright, Velvet," Jaune said. "We've discussed things a little bit, and we'd like to give you a shot, but you're going to need to impress us."

The girl nodded up and down. "Of course, sir. Ma'am."

It felt weird. Here he was, a fraud of only seventeen years, but he was interviewing a real huntress who was not only older than him but much more experienced.

He picked up the resume again from where he'd left it on the picnic table. It was short in terms of actual career experience, but this girl was only nineteen and had only just 'left' her academy of study, so it made sense that she would still be underdone in that category. What was impressive already, though, was how big each of the other sections were. According to this, Velvet had been something of a volunteer work queen, and she also had a lot of accolades in the academics section.

"You've had a 4.0 GPA for two years, you're the twelfth highest ranked huntress-in-training in Beacon, you're…you're a semifinalist in last year's Vytal Festival Tournament?"

Velvet kept nodding along with each of them, but she stopped at the last one. "My team made it to the semifinals. I tapped out at the doubles round."

Jaune couldn't help but notice that she sounded a little odd when it came to discussing the Vytal Festival.

"This team of yours. Would you tell us about them?"

"Team Coffee," Velvet said proudly. "Coco Adel, Yatsuha…u-uh…um, if you're looking to contact them as references, I'm afraid that might not be possible."

Jaune hadn't, but the fact that she brought it up was noteworthy.

He wasn't the only one who noticed, for Blake's eyes were narrowed. "Why not?"

"Well, I just sort of up and ran away from Beacon, ma'am. I mean, I submitted the proper forms for voluntary resignation, but I didn't tell the guys or anything and just sort of…left, uh, the very second it had been processed." Velvet's head retreated into her shoulders a little. "I left a note, but I don't really want to face them again. Not until I'm ready. If you need references, my professors would be better."

"Why did you leave Beacon?" Jaune asked. "I think we never actually got around to discussing it before. Was it because of an argument with your team?"

She shook her head. "No. They're great people, and I still love them dearly, but I just…I couldn't stay at Beacon. There was an inevitable issue with my personal life that would make scheduling classes, taking tests, going on missions, all of it, virtually impossible."

Jaune had no idea how much he was legally allowed to pry without it becoming a case of an interviewer overstepping. He decided to be vague and just let her fill in the details whenever she could. "This inevitable issue…"

"It won't be a problem, sir. It's something that I wouldn't be able to fit into Beacon's schedule only because they have such rigid time commitments. Basically, all I would need is a few hours a week where I can go into Vale for personal stuff. In Beacon, that means getting on a flight, going out into the city, and flying all the way back in time for classes. As an employee of Team Job Security, I'm sure I could make it work. I mean, I'd be living in Vale."

Jaune couldn't say he was pleased with the way she was refusing to admit to whatever her problem was, but if she was confident she would be able to handle it…

I need to remember that we're the bosses here. If Velvet fails to perform her duties as a member of Team Job Security, then we can censure or even fire her if it comes to that. But if it's only a few hours a week…

But why would Beacon not be able to accommodate that?

Before Jaune could even wrestle with the choice of asking her to elaborate, Blake took that decision away from him by beating him to it. "Would you please tell us what this 'problem' is?"

Velvet wilted even further, and Jaune felt his heart shattered into pieces from raw pity.

"Please, ma'am, I'd rather not. It's a personal problem, and I swear on my grandmother's grave that it won't impact my work."

The more of this Jaune heard, the worse it was getting. If she didn't want to tell him, then that meant she thought it would be something that would prevent her from being hired, and if it was something that would influence whether or not they hired her, Jaune wanted to know all the more.

But she clearly wasn't going to budge, and Jaune really did want to hire her if he could. Not only was she a kindred spirit, but she was also a real huntress. That meant two people who could kill Grimm, two people who could train him, two people who could reach out their hand and pull him from the gnashing jaws of a Beowolf when he got pulled in.

We're not exactly drowning in applicants, either. She's the only person who's even reached out to us, meaning she's motivated. Team Job is a unique sweet spot when it comes to hiring folks…or I suppose I should call it a sour spot. We won't attract real huntsmen and huntresses, as it'll be easier for them to simply take missions from the mission boards, and our work is too dangerous for civilians.

Also, as much as he didn't want it to be a deciding factor, Jaune had been in the position of being utterly screwed by the huntsman community just a few months prior. He'd been prepared to apply to Beacon with a bogus application, so Velvet, whatever drawbacks she carried with her, was already truer than he had ever been.

Maybe it's a mistake, but I think we should let this 'problem' slide.

"So, Velvet," he went on, hoping to just move past the problem and then discuss it with Blake at a later date. "Or would you be more comfortable with Miss Scarlatina?"

"Oh, Velvet's just fine. Back on the team, we'd go by first names, sir."

Jaune chuckled. "If you're Velvet, then I'm Jaune."

A beat passed before the other Faunus at the table spoke. "And I'm Blake."

"Now, Velvet. What weapon do you use?"

Velvet nodded, clearly stoked to be back on track with the interview. "Anesidora, si– Jaune. It's a camera that utilizes Hard Light to create a virtual copy of any weapon I've photographed. In conjunction with my semblance, which allows me to flawlessly impersonate other fighter's styles that I've seen, I can essentially become fight on par with any huntress or huntsman in the world."

Wow. That sounded pretty impressive, though Jaune had no idea if every real huntress could do something that cool. Blake and her shadow clone powers were already amazing, so it could be.

"Hard Light…you use Dust?" Blake asked.

Velvet nodded. "Just the one type. Each weapon's durability is proportional with how much Dust is utilized, though there is a hard cap based on time for how long it lasts. To offset the costs of Dust, I typically fight with my body until I need to employ Anesidora." Her eyes moved to the side, and she bit her lip. "And, uh…w-well, when Beacon hosted their martial arts tournament, which was basically Vytal but without weapons and only for one school, I won the whole thing."

Again, Jaune found himself amazed by the claims she was making, but he still had no idea if it was because Velvet was actually really cool or if it was just because he was too naïve about hunting to actually know how to interpret her claims.

I'll leave it to Blake. She can be the one to discern Velvet's worthiness from a technical standpoint.

He swiveled around in his seat and leaned away from Velvet, then gestured for Blake to lean in.

"Should you spar with her?" he whispered.

"Sure," Blake said at regular volume. "What's with the cloak and dagger shit, Jaune? Sparring's a normal thing. You and I were just doing it."

"I'd be happy to spar!" Velvet said. "I-If you'd want me to."

Jaune stood up and lifted his legs out from the picnic table's bench. "We'll have you spar with Blake, then. She doesn't have her weapon on her, so it'll be hand to hand. Is that okay?"

The look on Velvet's face told Jaune that it was more than okay.

It was actually weird for Jaune to see Blake, his mentor who'd taught him everything about hunting that he knew, get thrown onto her butt and pulled into a headlock by this unassuming rabbit Faunus. Seeing it happen eight times in a row was even weirder.

"Another!" Blake demanded after tapping out and being released by Velvet. "I'll beat you this time! I've figured out your tricks, and there's no way you can win now!"

Velvet nodded. "If you'd like, Blake."

"It's ma'am! It's ma'am, you fucking cuniculture slag!"

Jaune couldn't resist laughing at that. Here Blake was, desperate to be shown her due respect as she belittled their newest employee with name-calling.

And Velvet would be their newest employee. That much was assured, because Jaune wasn't willing to pass up this opportunity that fate had thrown his way.

Every huntress seems amazing to a normie like me, but Velvet's the real deal. I've seen Blake in action, and if she can crunch her so effortlessly that she doesn't even break a sweat after eight consecutive bouts, I think we need to hire her. Er, make that nine consecutive bouts.

Blake was to Velvet as Jaune was to Blake. It wasn't like the weaker person couldn't get a hit in edgewise, it was just exceedingly difficult for them to do so when their opponent could read their movements like a book and possessed the dexterity and strength to respond.

Jaune wasn't some fight connoisseur by any means, but he was at least literate enough after all of Blake's training to know what he was seeing. Blake's fighting centered around her kicks mainly, as she typically fought with her hands being occupied with a sword, but Velvet was quick enough to avoid the kicks by leaning away that Blake had to be the one to chase her. The fights between them weren't overwhelming punchfests or boxing matches; it was a gradual wearing down where Blake tired herself out by attacking too much, and Velvet waited until just the right moment to pick up Blake and completely immobilize her.

I know firsthand that in spite of her size, Blake's one tough cookie. For Velvet to be able to pin her down, one hand pressing her face into the grass and the other holding down the arm that Velvet's legs aren't pinching, she has to be just as strong.

Blake was starting to look rather agitated, so Jaune decided it was his time to step in before she developed a deep-seated hatred of their new teammate or something. "Maybe we'll stop at Round Nine, you guys. I think I'm going to declare myself the referee and give the win to Velvet."

"FUCKER!" Blake screamed, her cheek held down to the grass. "I'LL CUT OFF YOUR DICK AND FEED IT TO THE GRIMM!"

"B-Blake, please. We're in the park. There are children nearby."

"Does this mean I've got the job?" Velvet asked sweetly.

"IF THE GRIMM ARE STILL HUNGRY AFTER JAUNE'S COCK, I'M SURE THEY'LL BE SATISFIED WITH YOUR WHORE ASS WHEN I CUT IT OFF AND FEED IT T–"

"We'll talk it over and let you know," Jaune said through the raunchy threats. "Thank you for your application, Velvet."

When Velvet was long gone, presumably back to whatever lodging she'd taken up since leaving Beacon, Jaune had offered for Blake to resume their spar that had gotten interrupted. This time, it wasn't for him to learn but for Blake to work through some of her unstoppable rage.

I'm glad I have a lot of aura, because otherwise being twisted into a pretzel might hurt!

"Side with the fucking rabbit, will ya?" Jaune's arm twisted further into his back, his own face now down in the same spot of dirt Blake's had been in moments prior. "I'll show you what happens when you piss off a huntress, buddy boy!"

He would eventually have to convince her that Velvet was a good investment – she was literally asking them to hire her, not the other way around – but right now, she needed to calm down a bit and reclaim some of her lost pride.

She continued to beat around on him for a little bit, and he let her. It wasn't like he would be able to stop her even if he willed it, but Jaune wouldn't have even if he could.

My job is to make things easier when conflict pops up between Blake and the clients. Well, I'm gonna assume that also extends to Blake and the newbies.

Newbies…

As Blake plowed him like a field of dirt, Jaune began to wonder about the future. So much of Team Job Security had been focused on the now – surviving now, completing the mission now, fixing the problem now – that he hadn't really ever pondered what happened next. It was a company, and companies typically either grew to fill the void or were snuffed out by rivals and competitors, which would be huntsmen and huntresses in this case.

Are we going to hire more people someday? A whole crew of Beacon dropouts and runaways to do the missions that real hunters can't be bothered to pick up?

Jaune found himself actually not liking that idea. Team Job, as it was now, was a team. It was him and Blake, something they'd created together and owned jointly. Adding in Velvet inevitably changed that, but it was still a cozy group of three. Maybe four, maybe even five, but after a certain point, it would stop being a team and start being a workforce.

Jaune liked the thought of being a close friend of each and every person they hired, of interviewing them personally, of asking if they were comfortably being on a first name basis and sharing his own first name with them.

I don't know if we'll ever actually get that big, but I just would prefer it if the entire team went on a mission as opposed to sending squad A, squad B, or squad Z. The thought of Team Job becoming some soulless corporation where you only know your immediate circle of coworkers…that reminds me too much of the SDC.

Blake snapped his arm a little bit further, and Jaune decided that he ought to say something before she actually injured him.

"So."

"So how about I introduce your nose to your –"

"Blake."

The pressure on his limbs was removed, and Jaune felt himself released. It hurt to stand a little bit, mostly just due to the fact that his body was so sore, but he picked himself up, stretched, and then immediately sat back down.

"I think we should hire her," Blake said.

"I know you're going to say that, but…w-wait –"

"Yeah." Blake shrugged and puffed out her cheeks. "I'm pissed, but I've also never seen that good a fighter. She could've given my mentor a run for his money, and that was without a weapon."

"I thought you were…you know."

Blake shook her head at him. "No one likes to lose."

That kinda didn't follow, since Jaune himself hadn't threatened to feed Blake's genitalia to the Grimm the moment she beat him (as she had many times), but maybe he'd gotten accustomed to failure at this point.

I mean, my entire life was pretty much just one gigantic lump of failure before I came to Blake and made Team Job with her.

"What do you think her secret is?" Jaune asked. He doubted Blake would just know, but maybe she saw some clue that he'd missed and could piece it together.

It might be a Faunus thing. I don't wanna be racist, but it could.

Blake shrugged and turned her back to him, staring off at the empty fields of the park. "Maybe it's that she faked her academic record because she didn't know what primary combat schools are."

"Ouch," Jaune laughed. "Point taken. I won't pry."

"Or maybe she's ex-White Fang."

Jaune found himself frowning at that. Blake was a Faunus herself, but accusing Velvet of that solely based on her species was a pretty crappy thing to do. "Hey, let's not –"

"Jaune."

"Blake, I don't think that's a joking matter."

"I wasn't joking. Jaune."

"Then it's even more unbelievable. How would that even make sense for why she left Beacon? You think she was secretly a terrorist in between classes or something?"

"No, Jaune, I don't."

"Then why'd you…"

Wait. She said MY thing, and then she…

Wait.

Is she trying to say that…?

She's White Fang?! But they're criminals! Terrorists! They kill humans without provocation!

Jaune suddenly found himself feeling uncomfortable with how alone they were in the park, just a single defenseless human and the Faunus who he knew could demolish him in a fight.

But this is Blake we're talking about! She'd never hurt me! Maybe leave me for dead, sure, and maybe use me to lure out Grimm, but she's my best friend!

It was always possible he was misreading this. Jaune shot Blake a look and opened his mouth to speak.

Blake shook her head. "No, Jaune, you aren't."

It was also possible she was reading his mind.

"I'm not. But it's obvious what you're thinking." Blake turned back around to face him. Her arms were folded in front of her, and Jaune wasn't sure if it made her look confident and self-assured or like she was hugging herself for comfort. "I've known the truth about you for a while, so you deserve to know the full truth about me."

"W-Why?" was all he could ask.

"I was born into it," Blake said. "It didn't start violently. We were just protestors at the beginning."

It took a second for Jaune to fully process that this was real, that he wasn't just hallucinating this from being hit a few too many times on the head by Blake. It was like one of those feelings where Jaune remembered something absurd and tried to recollect when it had happened, only to realize it was just the byproduct of a dream during a night he'd eaten too many salty foods.

Except this wasn't a dream. This was happening, right now.

"Did you ever…"

He couldn't finish the sentence.

Blake frowned. "There's a lot of lines I could have crossed, Jaune. If you want to know, you'll need to specify. But I wouldn't blame you if you decide you prefer to not know."

Jaune took a second to consider that. It certainly would be easier to never know, but the lack of knowledge would eat him alive. Even if it were bad, it couldn't be worse than whatever horror stories his stray thoughts could concoct. Blake wasn't a monster – there was no way – but Jaune's imagination would make her one if he let this go.

It was obvious what he wanted to know, if he had the blank check to ask.

"Any...innocent lives?"

Blake smiled and shook her head. "No, and no lives at all. But I stayed with them when they started turning humans into corpses. I didn't choose to leave until it was asked of me personally."

That was better than he'd been expecting. Jaune had been prepared for Blake to admit to killing people in self-defense (he wouldn't have even blamed her for that), but he wasn't sure if their friendship could excuse outright terror tactics. But to learn that's she'd just been –

"Oh, is that how you're so good at business things?" he asked, the neurons finally activating in his brain. "Because you didn't want to do violent missions?"

"Basically," Blake said. "Jaune, there's one thing that I want you to know, even if you don't ask. It's about…my mentor."

The bad person. Jaune remembered her being particularly tight about details on him or her last time they'd spoken about her past.

"He killed every day, innocent or not. There were times that I looked into his eye for a trace of the young boy who said he wanted to fix the world and couldn't find him." Blake put a hand to her forehead and choked out a harsh sob. "I loved him for so long. H-He's still out there. That's why…it was because of him that I…"

Blake was struggling to speak now, but Jaune knew that she would tell him at her own pace. He just continued to sit there patiently, ready for her to explain it to him when she was.

"The first mission, the one where I was ready to leave you behind…it wasn't out of greed. I just felt like I needed money to stay in Vale. It's one of the few places he can't reach me, the only place he can't hurt me. I don't show my emotions, but I still feel them, and the thought of him ever finding me and making me pay for leaving him…it terrifies me."

Jaune didn't say anything. He didn't have anything to say, because how could he, with his privileged little life as a human and a man and a person with every advantage, possibly relate to something so tragic?

A lady with a pet pug in a stroller passed by the pair on a nearby walking path. Blake and Jaune watched her come and go in silence. Neither could meet the other's eyes, so they just focused on the nearest distraction until it was no more.

"Why now?" Jaune decided upon. "You didn't tell me before."

"I didn't think about it, but they could…he could send someone to hurt me."

The White Fang…ah. Blake saw Velvet approach us and jumped to conclusions at first.

"You…You could be in danger, just by being around me," Blake choked out.

"Ah, fuck off."

"If you want to–"

"And I told you," Jaune said. "Fuck off with that."

He didn't care much for cursing, but the idea that he was just going to abandon Blake out of fear…never.

"The reason I wanted to hire Velvet, aside from not dying to the next Grimm, was because she's a fellow Beacon dropout," Jaune explained, rising to his feet and standing next to Blake to stare off into the distance with her. "She's got that kinship with us that comes from being screwed over by the same people. But you and me? We're brothers. Er, sisters. Siblings. No one else in the entire world will ever understand me as well as you do, because no one else shared that moment where our lives turned upside down and we found out we had to rely on each other to survive. You said a bunch of stuff to me the day we met, stuff about us being in the same boat, peas in a pod."

"J-Jaune." He couldn't look at her, but he could tell from her voice that she was on the verge of crying. "I-I…I only said that because –"

"Who cares?" he assertively declared. "It was all true. If you were scamming me, I forgive you. Doesn't really matter how many employees we take on; no one will ever truly understand because no one will ever have been there in that moment but you, Blake. We're Team Job, Blake, forever."

Coming Soon: The Truth is Cheaper

Velvet's finally accepted into Team Job Security, the vast business enterprise she's heard so much about from rumors…surely nothing will go wrong.

Chapter Text

Author's Notes

A RatCrimes first: we've got cover art! That's right, we've got a lovely depiction of the now complete Team Job Security, commissioned from the wonderful KushiroJin. An excellent job by an excellent artist. I held off on using it before, since Velvet wasn't fully introduced, but as of this chapter, she's a full-fledged security consultant, so we can finally drop our cast's profile pics.

I've also added it to the first chapter, as well as a Neon Sign (no relation).

Happy rats, and don't do crime!

"Oh my gods," Velvet exclaimed the next day when they met her at the same park. "Oh, this is so exciting! It's my first day!"

Jaune and Blake nodded at her and gave thumbs-ups.

"I mean, I know I did missions before back in Beacon, but…this is the real deal! I'm officially a member of Team Job Security!"

She was dressed in a flashier outfit than her casual clothing yesterday. Blake chose not to wear armor, always preferring the speed that normal cloth gave over the defense that metal came with, but Velvet seemed to have discovered a nice balance of the two of them. Only select parts of her body, mostly joints around her limbs, were covered with some sort of bronze-like alloy, preventing the actual parts that moved from being weight down. Otherwise, it was plain black all over her body covered up by a short brown vest and pair of jeans. The camera, Anesidora, was hanging from a strap on her shoulder like a handbag.

"So, we have a mission, but our go-to airship rental company is currently finishing up its last few inspections following some maintenance," Blake explained. "That means we won't actually be going on a mission until the afternoon…"

"Oh, that's fine." Velvet's smile was far too bright to fade. "I'm just happy to be here on the job. On Team Job, eheheh. Er, provisionally."

She'd agreed to their terms, which included their first mission with her going well before they actually gave her a job offer for real, but it seemed that all three of them knew what was coming. Truthfully, Blake had mostly left that stipulation in rather than actually hiring her on the spot to give herself time to learn how to write up a contract for her.

"So, uh." Jaune looked to Blake, but she really had no idea what they were supposed to do either. "I-If you don't mind me asking, have you been able to find lodging in Vale?"

Velvet nodded. "Yup. I'm officially a renter. My landlady's a nice old ex-huntress who offers apartments at a discount to people who just came out of Beacon in the past six months to help them get on their feet. It's really great, actually."

Damn. Maybe we shoulda stayed in Beacon a little longer to get that discount, because I think Jaune and I could've used something like that.

"Well…uh…s-so, we also have lodging in Vale."

Velvet's head bobbed up and down.

"And it's basically where we're working from at the moment."

"Of course," said the rabbit girl. "Because the office is being renovated."

"So, I only said that because I thought you were a customer," Jaune admitted. "We don't, ah, exactly possess an office at the moment."

The smile disappeared, replaced by a look of innocent curiosity. "Then where do you work?"

Jaune coughed twice. "You remember those lodgings Blake and I have?"

"Velvet, Team Job Security is basically a start-up at this point," Blake explained. "We've only been operating since the year began at Beacon, about a month now. We're still finding our feet."

"But if you work from home and don't have an office, where does the legal team stay?" Velvet asked, blinking innocently.

"Legal team?"

"Yeah. Team Lettuce, they said that you told them you had a bunch of lawyers on hand." Velvet looked at the two teenagers who were both younger and far less experienced than her. "When will I be able to meet the rest of the company?"

Well, isn't this awkward? I guess this is the real world consequence of Jaune basically conning our way past any sticky situations and me smiling as I let him.

If Velvet was to work with them, she would have to know the truth at some point. A client they only saw once in a lifetime could be fooled, no problem, but not an employee who would be seeing the ins and outs of the business.

"As Jaune explained, the company is rather small, at this point," Blake stated as factually as she could. "In fact, it's so small that we three are it."

"The legal team –"

"I sort of bamboozled Team Lettuce," Jaune admitted shily. "I'm kinda good at trickery."

"Really?" Velvet said, eyes wide. "You are?"

Damn it, we're probably going to lose her. Actually, we've probably already lost her. Velvet signed on thinking we were an actual company that knew what it was doing, and she isn't going to want to stick around with a couple of tricksters.

They didn't even have a plan for what to do with the morning. Blake usually just read business books in the library while Jaune dicked around on his scroll and occasionally joined her, the subjects of his books being his missing huntsman education.

"Wait, so it's just you two?" Velvet asked. "And you never graduated from one of the four academies?"

Blake nodded her head in shame.

"Holy flapjacks, that's so cool!"

Well, that hadn't been the expected response. Velvet wasn't frowning at them or looking down upon them in shame. Instead, her eyes were watering as she squeezed her cheeks together.

"I thought you had a bunch of people doing all the missions I've heard about, but it's just you guys? That's awesome! It normally takes a full team of four hunters to go out into the field and get these kinds of jobs done. If you guys can get it done on your own, you must be awesome!"

You know, I can sort of see why she and Ruby might have been close enough friends to chat.

"You're okay with it being just the two of us? Er, three of us?" Blake amended.

"Sure," Velvet said, relaxing. "I'm used to a t…I'm used to being on a small group, so it's fine. If you guys want to go to your home office to work, I can wait or tag along. It's really fine."

"It's really not much," Blake said. "Just a one bedroom hotel room where we keep our stuff."

"One…?" Velvet's eyebrow raised up, and she rapidly looked between Jaune and Blake. "Oh. You two are – oh, that's hot."

"N-No!" Blake quickly corrected. "No, we alternate using a sleeping bag and the bed! Jaune and I are business partners, not partner-partners! It's just to save money on rent!"

Velvet actually looked disappointed at that. "Awwww."

Jaune just laughed. "Try not to sound too disgusted, Blake. Look, how about we head home for the time being? You can draft up a contract, and I can fill Velvet in on the details so we don't have any more mismatched understandings again."

It was kind of cute to watch from the corner of her eye. Blake was fully focused on writing up the paperwork at her desk, but every now and again her view slipped over to the two others in the room, and she couldn't help but grin.

Jaune was going a little crazy with the stories, spinning mostly true but slightly exaggerated tales of how they'd bested hundreds of Grimm with their bare hands and their wits, and Velvet was eagerly eating up every word of it.

"…new type of Grimm, never before seen in all of Remnant! Tentacle-y son of a gun reached out from the surface of the water, wrapped its slimy mutated paws around me, and yanked me right into the water before I could even get a word in edgewise!"

"Wow! How'd you get out of the drink?"

"That's the neat part!" Jaune pointed at her. "I didn't."

"Woah!"

"It dragged me down into its underwater fortress, no doubt intending to do nefarious modes of torture upon its freshly captured prisoner, but our beastly beastie got greedy and decided to bite off more than it could chew."

"D-Did…" Velvet sucked in a breath. "Did it stick its tentacles in your mouth?"

"No, even worse! It tried to use me as bait and tricked Blake into getting too close, then it pulled her into the cave as well."

"Did it stick its tentacles into her mouth?"

"Nope," Jaune said, unphased. "Our epic battle with the Cephalopoid creature lasted only a few minutes, but they were among the most harrowing of my entire life. Blake engaged it in direct combat, slashing its limbs to pieces with Gambol Shroud – that's her sword, B-T-W – and I coordinated the assault using my tactical prowess."

"And you killed it?"

Jaune's grin could have rivaled the Curious Cat's from the story of the Girl Who Fell Through The World. "Tore it to shreds, she did. Ain't no Grimm's a match for our Blake here."

Being called out like that was too much for Blake to not blush a little bit in pride. "It wasn't that much," she called from across the room, but her protests were ignored.

"Oh, Velvet, you shoulda seen her. It was one of the coolest things in the world – the cave was collapsing around us, water was flooding into our little moonpool, the water level was rising and pushing us up into the hungry mouth of the tentaclaceous monstrosity that had plagued that town. Things were at their bleakest, until I had a stroke of unrepentant genius and astounding courage."

Velvet was clearly on the edge of her seat. "What'd ya do?!"

"You see, I knew from experience that Blake was a master combatant, so I expertly had her come up with and execute a plan to collapse the cave while simultaneously imploding the Cephalopoid-dude."

"WOW! Jaune, you're so cool!"

"My leg was nearly torn off in the encounter…I still have the scars, if you wanna see."

Jaune lifted up the leg of his pants, showing off the spot where Blake had accidentally shot him on that mission. She cringed at the memory of hurting him, even unintentionally, but he just winked her way and continued to brag about it to Velvet.

"Sick, innit?"

"Can I touch?" asked the Faunus girl.

Without waiting for an answer, she immediately prodded it with her finger straight on, almost like she was hoping there would be a hole inside for her to stick her finger inside.

"Aw, hell yeah," Velvet shuddered.

"The mission was easily our greatest success," Jaune boasted proudly. "The villagers begged for us to take on the illustrious title of grand heroic champions, but we were most humble and accepted a minor cash reward and some fish for Blake."

Blake nodded at that, never unhappy about reliving a fish-related memory. "The townsfolk sure did know how to pickle a good herring."

It was difficult to tell if Velvet was actually believing Jaune's tall tales at face value, if she could see through them and discern the actual truth, or if she was just playing along to impress the bosses. As a huntress herself on a decorated team, she probably had adventures of her own, but they would probably be Beacon-sanitized missions with zero risk and a teacher looking over Velvet's shoulder at any given time.

Her excitement seems genuine. I think she's a good kid.

She was actually older than Blake, when she thought about it. Weird.

"You heard about the snake fiasco with Team LTUC," Jaune said, quickly brushing over the mission where they succeeded by literally stealing the victory out of the Beaconite's pockets. "And that brings us to our latest mission."

Blake paused on the papers she was drafting, though she pretended to continue. She knew what was coming, and she had no way of telling how Velvet would take it. If she needed to intervene…except Velvet could kick Blake's ass when she wanted to.

Dang it. How am I going to protect Jaune if she takes offense at us having worked for the SDC?

"What did you do this time?" Velvet asked, chipper as her animal trait's origin.

"We were employed by a certain Schnee Dust Company."

This time, Velvet's smile did drop, and it wasn't like before when she'd found out just how small a company they were. Blake could make out the exact moment her awe was replaced by disappointment bordering on disgust.

Jaune saw it, but he'd been expecting it and didn't hesitate to deploy their countermeasures. "Blake, you wanna tell our disciple how we swindled 'em for eight hundred and twenty grand, or should I?"

"Don't forget about the robot of theirs we destroyed," she added.

Instantly, as fast as Jaune had lost Velvet, he got her back, and with a vengeance.

"Y-You're kidding…"

"Nope," Blake said, turning in her chair to face Velvet. Given the severity of the SDC, Blake felt like not providing her full attention would be insulting to her fellow Faunus. "This one's not even embellished. They hired us to stop some bandits, but when we got back their stolen fortune, we donated to the Furs."

Jaune himself hadn't been familiar with the charity Blake had chosen, but Velvet instantly recognized the nickname of 'Funds for Faunus,' or the Furs as it was known by every Faunus. Needless to say, the relatively underfunded organization had been most happy to receive the large and anonymous donation.

"Oh, what I wouldn't have given to have signed onto Team Job just one mission earlier," Velvet said, dropping back onto the bed. "To have seen the look on those Schnee fuckwits' faces."

"Here, I can do an impression of it." Jaune took a second to compose himself and stop maniacally grinning. When he spoke, it was in an obviously put-on, effeminate voice. "Wowzers, Team Job. You guys are so amazing! It's fine about the stagecoach and the missing money, we're too stupid to question you and will believe whatever you say at face value."

"No," Velvet gasped, shocked. "They bought it? You didn't get in trouble?"

"One of our best cons," Jaune said. "That's sort of my thing, you know. Blake's got the best head for business of anyone, but I, and I don't exactly mean to toot my own horn here, but I can kinda sell our clients a big load of horse manure and get them to thank me for the deal."

"That's why I stick to him like glue," Blake explained to Velvet. "Well, that and the free cooking he does."

It was actually good that they could clarify Team Job's internal intricacies to Velvet like this. If she was going to be a part of the team, she would need to know that the reason it was a good place for Faunus to work was because Jaune could act as a buffer for anti-Faunus prejudices.

Better she learn like this, with fun stories told in our hotel room, than on a mission where someone gives her the stink eye and Jaune needs to step in.

But still…

"Neat!" Velvet said. "Then I can be the team's muscle!"

"Well, I'm also sort of the muscle," Blake said.

When she looked Velvet's way, the rabbit Faunus was smirking the most shit-eating smirk of all time.

"Don't," Blake hissed.

"If you want to spar again –"

"Velvet, shut up or I'll tear up this contract right in front of you."

" – for the title of Team Job's muscle –"

"I'm not playing, here."

" – I'm happy to go another few rounds, boss."

Eventually, when Jaune had exhausted his short list of heroic war stories and had fully explained how Team Job operated (their little loophole situation, their website, their slightly complicated relationship with hunters), the time for lunch came.

"Here, I'll heat us up some leftovers," Jaune said, going for their half-sized fridge.

"Jaune!" Blake rebuked. "It's Velvet's first day on the job, and you want to feed her day-old leftovers?"

"Uhhhhmm." Arc's eyes shot to the left, then back at Blake. "Y-Yeah?"

"She's a guest in our home!" Blake stood up and brushed him in the direction of the door. "Go out to the grocery store and fetch some fresh food!"

Velvet flushed. "It's not –"

"Please, I insist," Blake said. "Rather, Jaune insists, because he's not a substandard host and will be taking good care of our guest."

"Fine, fine, okay!"

Jaune hustled out the door.

"I'll be back in a –"

Blake shut it behind him and slid the deadbolt.

"U-Um, Blake." Velvet swallowed uncomfortably and got up off the bed. "I-Is everything okay?"

Taking a few seconds to listen and make sure Jaune was actually gone, Blake allowed his footsteps to fade off as he went down the stairwell. When she knew for certain that she and Velvet were alone, she turned away from the door.

"I wanted to have a talk in private."

"Oh. Um…okay? I-If this is about –"

"It's about the stuff that two Faunus might not want to discuss when a human is present."

"Oh." Velvet sat back down on the bed. "That. Okay."

"This isn't an interrogation or anything. I just want to make sure you're actually going to be comfortable on this team."

Standoffish or not, innocent or not, Velvet was a fellow Faunus sister of Blake's, and she had every intention of seeing to her safety here.

Velvet placed her hands in her lap and nodded for Blake to continue.

"We're in Vale, but we mostly work for the outlying villages and communities in eastern Sanus. That means it's going to be a lot of humans. So far, it's only been humans, as a matter of fact."

"I can work with that."

Blake shook her head. "I tried getting a job in the city before I met Jaune. Trust me, there's a lot more prejudice than you might think. You've gone on missions before and worked for humans, but I'm guessing you were always introduced as the licensed fourth member of Beacon's own Team Caffeine?"

"Team Coffee, but…"

"We don't have that shield to hide behind," Blake explained. "Jaune is our shield, which means you and I are essentially dependent on him. Is that a problem?"

Velvet shook her head vehemently. "No, ma'am. My entire team was humans. I don't have any issues working alongside them."

"It's more than working alongside him. When we're on missions, we have to pretend that he's the one in charge. He's a tall, conventionally attractive, male human, and we're both Faunus women." Blake was voicing thoughts she'd had for a while, though the arrival of Velvet would probably only exacerbate things. "At some point, people will probably assume things about our relationship with him, and we won't have the luxury of telling them off when they do."

"I can live with that," Velvet said. "It won't bother me, Blake."

"Okay." They weren't done yet, though. "In the interests of full disclosure, I want you to know that Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon believes that Team Job and the very idea of us being non-hunter-licensed security consultants is dangerous."

"Why?" Velvet asked, alarmed.

"He thinks we'll cause the public to lose faith in hunters when we inevitably fail."

Velvet blinked a few times. "Whuh…but you haven't failed."

"And he's so worried that we will that he would see us unemployed rather than take that risk."

Velvet blew some air out of her mouth. "Hooo. That is a bit problematic…but I guess he'd probably be like that whether or not I was with you guys, right? I'm unlicensed, and my only career path is consulting security, so it doesn't matter where I'd go."

Blake agreed with her. Ozpin might have had some sort of personal quarrel with Jaune and Blake on account of their attempt to enter Beacon on false pretenses, but she doubted that would be enough to make the incredibly busy man pay a personal visit to their hotel. That meant he'd spent the time and energy it took to track them down, which was no easy feat.

"Do you mind if I ask some questions?" Velvet inquired, shifting to a more comfortable position.

Blake was done with her disclaimers and warnings, so she nodded.

"You and Jaune."

Blake didn't need to hear more of this. "We aren't a couple. Just a couple of close friends and business partners."

Velvet's head turned to look down at the single bed in their shared room.

"We're roommates," Blake said. "It saves us lien, which is a bit of a limited resource at the moment."

"So…" Velvet trailed off, tapping her all of her fingers onto the sheets.

"So?"

"So…he's not attached?"

Blake regarded her cautiously. "Yes, but he's your boss, as am I. Dating him might lead to some problems."

"M'not talking about dating," Velvet said.

Blake's brow furrowed as she tried to figure out how Jaune being single was relevant if she wasn't discussing dating him.

"If you want to pursue him however you want, you can," she said, frowning ever so slightly at the implications in Velvet's words that she had yet to fully comprehend. "That's between you and him. But like your 'problem' from before, just make sure it doesn't interfere with company business."

Please, Gods, if you're real, don't make them a couple. I can barely deal with Arc as it is, let alone his new little rabbit bestie. Babysitting their kids would be the death of me.

Coming Soon: Cost and Scarcity

Sometimes the reward of a job well done isn't as large as the expenses it takes to complete it.

Chapter Text

It was around 2pm in the afternoon, as Jaune and his friends were chowing down on the enchilada casserole that took him nearly an hour and a half to get the groceries for and make, that Benson Airship Rental gave them a call.

"We's all set. You kids are summa my most loyal customers – ya didn't jump ship after the first mishin – so I figured I'd give y'all a heads up."

"Thanks, dude," Jaune said. Since he was the boss when in public, he was the one whose scroll number was listed as their point of contact on the website. "We'll be there in a jiffy."

"Jus' bring my fee and you can be here in a krusteaz for all I care."

Jaune ended the call and told his teammates of the good news.

"Alright!" Velvet pumped her fist into the air and let it slump down. "First team mission but for real now!"

The job for Team Job was a relatively standard one from the type of client they usually got – someone too poor to afford the cost of posting a reward on hunter mission boards, which started at a minimum of 30,000 lien but typically didn't get touched unless they were 30-50% higher. The town was so young that it hadn't even been named yet (a lot of places thought naming themselves after less than three years of survival was jumping the gun), but the only way they could survive was with regular Grimm clearings. If Team Job did well here, they might actually be able to work out a regular contract with these folks, something annual or bi-annual even.

We've got a lot depending on us here – our futures and theirs. We'd best do a good job.

Like Lemuria, it was just a plain old culling, with no special tasks. Clear the woods of any Grimm they could find, as quickly and as efficiently as possible. The usual woodland variety was expected, though the nameless town also said that their locality was a hotspot for juvenile Nevermore to poke their heads up every now and again.

Velvet was practically dripping with enthusiasm as they walked down the street towards the airship agency. "I've actually been out in that area before once – it was a search and destroy mission where a particularly giant Giant Nevermore was plaguing the skies. Fox had to coordinate us using his semblance as me and the gang tried to pinpoint the exact spot of its – ah, never you guys mind that. Let's just have the most fun we can, right?"

It struck Jaune as curious that, in spite of her camaraderie with Jaune and Blake for being a Beacon dropout, she was a regular student there only a few days ago before her abrupt resignation, living the life that Jaune had once oh so desperately desired. Jaune didn't want to think of Beacon as the enemy, but in every interaction save for his brief run-in with Ruby in the park, it had at least been the adversary, and normal hunters were rivals. Was Velvet herself a primary school student with a huntsman father and a huntress mother? In another life, would it have been her and Team Coffee whose tracking scroll he'd pickpocketed instead of Team Lettuce?

But she's not, and I didn't. In another life, I might have slipped into Beacon and trained to completion as a huntsman there. Heck, in another life, I might have even had a huntsman kid and perpetuated the cycle by only telling them about primary combat schools. I can't judge people based on hypotheticals. She's renounced Beacon, and she came to us by choice.

They finally came upon the airship yard after about thirty minutes of walking. Jaune pushed open the door, ringing the little bell and summoning Benson to sit up without dropping his magazine.

He grunted noncommittally. "Hey, kids."

"Oh, hey there, hot stuff," Velvet said with a sudden smile.

Jaune had been moments away from giving a simple hello as a greeting when Velvet's unexpectedly unexpected words nearly made him bite his own tongue. "Hwguh?"

Benson, who was probably thirty-five years old, completely bald, and as human as they came, put down his magazine at that.

"Me?"

Sauntering over to the counter behind which he sat, she leaned onto it with both elbows and pressed her palms to her cheeks. "Yes, you."

"K-Kids?" Benson leaned back in the chair in which he lounged to throw a look at Jaune. "She with you?"

"Newest recruit," Blake explained. "Say hi to Velvet."

"You can just call me Vel." She winked at him. "Or Vet, if that gets you going."

"S-Sorry, but'cha ain't gon' fool me that easy, lass." He laughed nervously. "No discounts on the flight."

"Oh, I ain't lookin' for no discounts, sailor." Velvet's head leaned to the other side.

Blake's hand landed on her shoulder and yanked her backwards. "Alright, no idea what the fuck that was, but we're already two days late for our mission. Is the airship ready?"

"Y-Yeah. All inspections're passed with flyin' colors."

Jaune imagined it was more like hovering black-and-white, given how Benson's airship sometimes seemed like it was cobbled together with spit and sticky tape. Removing the money from his pocket, he handed over the counter, taking care not to get anywhere near where Velvet had leaned on it.

I have no idea what she's sick with, but I sure as heck don't wanna catch that.

"Thanks, bucko." Benson nodded to the doors to the airship platform. "You guys buckle in while I lock the front doors, 'kay? It'll only take a sec."

"Can't wait for a ride, mister," Velvet said as Blake dragged her out the back doors. "Catch you in a hot minute!"

The ride over was no better than their initial introduction of their taxi to their newbie. Velvet kept making thinly veiled innuendo, getting to the point where Blake had to order their pilot to close the doors to the passenger's chamber. After overcoming his initial confusion, he seemed to actually be half-intent on reciprocating what Jaune assumed were Velvet's advances (he wasn't well-versed with the ways of romance), and they nearly crashed into a radio antenna when he got distracted.

"Eyes on the skies, man," Blake said.

"Oh, I wouldn't mind if he kept his eyes on –"

"That's enough out of you," Blake said, cutting her off with a tug on the nearest ear. "Where did all of that professionalism from the interview go?"

"You said you didn't mind!" yelped Velvet, pulling back the Faunus trait and rubbing it with a little frown.

"What? I…when…that was for…"

And then Blake looked directly at Jaune, blushed, and shut her mouth.

Well, I'm far too oblivious to know what they were talking about just now, and I'm pretty much 100% sure that even if I could, I wouldn't want to. Can we talk about something else? Please?

"Hey, uh, Velvet. I-Is this your first time riding in an airship?"

Jaune immediately regretted the stupid question as soon as he said it. A huntress like her had obvious flown in airships plenty of times before – heck, she would have had to in order to get to Beacon! To an Ansel boy who grew up in the same town and only occasionally rode on the train, it was normal small talk, but no Valean would have a clue what he was on about when he said stupid boke like that.

But Velvet took it good-naturedly and just shook her head. "I've flown before, but I can't really say I like it. I don't know if it's a burrowing mammal thing, but I've always felt more comfortable on the ground."

Then why were you flirting with a pilot who…ugh. I don't want to know.

"Well, as long as you can stomach your discomfort, I think we'll be okay," Jaune said instead, only to find both Velvet and Blake staring at him. "What?"

"J-Jaune, I was making a joke. Faunus don't…we're not actually animals."

"Oh, crap! N-No, I don't think…I didn't mean…s-so sorry! I'm so sorry!" Jaune bowed his upper body as best he could when strapped down by a seatbelt. "I swear, I'm not racist!"

Except that's exactly what a racist would say! Double crap!

Blake snorted. "I think she's having a go at you, Jaune."

"No, I'm completely serious," Velvet said, stone-faced. "What you've done is reprehensible, Jaune. In this crapsack world where our people are enslaved, mistreated, and sometimes outright murdered, you not recognizing the bait in a joke is what crossed the line."

Blake laughed again, and Jaune cautiously snickered. He knew from experience that he and Blake understood one another when it came to what was serious and what was sarcastic, but Velvet was uncharted territory. So far, she'd only ever been genuine in her enthusiastic sunny demeanor…and now it was back, with a full smile.

"I'm just joshin' ya, Jaune." She leaned over and nudged his knee with her own. "Just pulling your leg."

"Y-Yeah. Heh, good one."

"Sorry. Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." She rested back into her seat on the airship. "I'll ease up on the jokes."

"Yeah. I-I mean, no. I mean, s-sure."

She winked at him with a smile that was a little more…friendly…than usual, and Jaune immediately forced himself to look away. Right now, he had no idea what message he was supposed to be taking away from this interaction – from Velvet's entire first day on the job as a whole.

I…I did notice some weirdness that I was willing to brush away back when we took her to our hotel. I mean, who asks about if a Grimm puts its tentacles in your mouth?

He'd given her the benefit of the doubt before, but the way she'd just jumped right into blatantly flirting with Benson was a red flag he couldn't ignore. Jaune would have to watch her a little bit closer.

But not too close. Jauney ain't no creep.

They were mercifully spared the discomfort of having to fly much longer as the airship began its descent…and by they, Jaune meant himself. Velvet hopped right off the airship and began stretching out her arms and back like nothing was abnormal whatsoever, but a quick glance at Blake confirmed that she was just as confused by Velvet's slightly bizarre behaviors as he was.

Jaune got a little closer to his partner. "Uh…h-hate to ask, but –"

"No, it's not a Faunus thing. I think she's just…"

"Weird?"

"…I was gonna say a freak, but let's go with weird."

Okay. That was good to know.

"Okay, fun Velvet's over," said the rabbit Faunus, too far away to hear Jaune and Blake's private conversation. "Mission Velvet's back on, and that means you can expect nothing but the most compassionate huntress and ruthless force of Grimm extermination known to Remnant."

Jaune nodded. "We've got a contract written up back home, but this is more of a formality. Short of anything disastrous, I don't see us not hiring you when we get back home."

He knew he probably wasn't supposed to say that, but Jaune wanted Velvet's joining of Team Job to start with complete honesty. There was little to be gained by making her nervous or jittery.

Jaune leaned away as the airship they'd flown in on rose back up above the trees and started to move horizontally when it reached peak height. "I'll go check in with the village and let them know we're here. Do you ladies want to come with me, or would you rather start hunting the Grimm?"

"We'll go with you," Blake answered before Velvet could even part her lips. "I think Velvet might need to see you in action firsthand."

Jaune had a feeling that there might be a little more to it than that, given the knowing little glances the two Faunus kept furtively giving one another when they assumed Jaune too oblivious to notice, but he had no reason to object.

The town reminded him a lot of the Lake of Lost Voles fishing community, but more like a prototype of it. All of the buildings were constructed from wood of the same color as the trees, much of it with the bark still on, and quite a few of the homes around the edge of the village were still mid-construction. Jaune imagined that the village was probably in a perpetual state of growth, limited only by the speed at which the people within could erect the necessary structures.

It did have a mayor, though, and Jaune had been given detailed instructions on how to identify the house in which she lived. Unlike Lemuria, it was neither ostentatious nor flamboyant – the only distinguishing factor that separated it out for his identification was a painted plus-symbol on the doorframe in red.

Stepping up to it, Jaune gave the door a few good knocks and fell back.

"Coming!"

It opened a minute later to reveal a pleasant-looking woman wearing work clothes with her hair in a bun. Her hands were gloved, and there were streaks of mud along her coveralls.

"Forgive me, I was working in the garden." Her eyes roved across the team, and her lips came together ever so slightly to form a flat line. "Team Job Security, then? This is it?"

Jaune nodded. "We're here to deal with your Grimm problem. Everything's set; we just wanted to let you know we've arrived. It's quite likely that we will be involved in combat, so we'd recommend all citizens aside from town militia on patrol return to their homes for the time being."

He was parroting the words Blake had drilled into his head the night before. For villages like this one, where there was no wall, it was always good to take a few safety precautions, especially when they knew for a fact that they would be attracting every monster in town with their loud noises and aura.

"I…ahem. You three…you are our huntsmen?" the mayor asked, a slightly unhappy note in her voice. "Just you three?"

Jaune almost nodded but caught himself before he could say anything incriminating. "We're not huntsmen, ma'am, in a licensing sense. However, we can guarantee the security of a tract of land, an airspace, or a body of water from any and all threats, including those you and your town might be facing."

He wasn't legally allowed to specify that meant Grimm, or Ozpin would be on him faster than a dog on dropped chocolate. However, what he said was no lie, and Team Job would happily fight bandits, act as bodyguards, or perform whatever non-Grimm function was requested the second a mission related to it came to their doorstep.

It wasn't enough for the lady. "May I speak to…ahem, you are the leader, correct, young man? If so, may I speak to you in private, sir?"

He could tell what the problem was. Swallowing his discomfort at what he would have to say to appease her, Jaune motioned for Blake to stay put and followed the lady into her house. He shut the door behind him, to at least spare the teammates that ignominy.

The second it was closed, the mayor's smile dropped. "This isn't what I…more than half of –!"

"I'll be doing the work – the real work, that is, ma'am," Jaune interjected, preferring to get this over with sooner rather than later. "I only keep them around because I can pay them a quarter of what it'd cost a human, and some jobs require extra sets of hands. Plus, the pansies in Vale would shut me down if I didn't meet their precious quotas for 'inclusivity.'" Jaune made finger quotes at the last word and rolled his eyes for effect. "You know how they can be."

She didn't look particularly happy about it, but Jaune had a feeling that this argument would work better on someone who immediately saw the Faunus and was upset by it than the truth about how competent Blake and Velvet were.

He was proven right in short order. "Just be sure that they don't move about the village if you aren't there to supervise them. I don't want crime in my town. And I'm not paying extra for an extra 'set of hands,' even though your website advertised a team of two."

Jaune nodded and reached for the doorknob, but the woman reached over and pressed the door closed before he could.

"I mean it, huntsman. I hold you responsible for keeping those Faunus in line. If I find a single missing cache, larder, or stockpile, it'll come out of your budget."

"Don't you worry…if I find out they've been besmirching my business' good name…" Jaune just shook his head. "Mmmm – not a topic for polite company. I'll keep them on short leashes."

"Don't go into the village alone," Jaune said to the girls the very second they were all alone and in the forest. "The mayor's a bit of a racist B-word, and I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that the townsfolk are probably just about the same."

"We figured," Blake said.

"You guys heard?" Jaune asked. "Or is it just that obvious?"

Blake just nodded. "The second one."

Velvet's ears leaned forward and twitched. "I kinda did hear a little. Something about leashes…?"

"Velvet, I was only telling her what she wanted to hear," Jaune immediately said, ashen-faced at her words.

"So none of us are going to be putting leashes and collars around each other? Not even a little?"

"No way," Jaune promised. "I know it would be better if I could challenge her for her archaic be…wait…wait, wha–"

Blake lifted her gun straight in the air and fired a loud string of shots, sending all of the birds in the area flapping away with loud caws. Her arm dropped back down to her hip as soon as it was done. A loud roar came from off in the distances.

"Oh dear," she deadpanned. "I seem to have accidentally given away our position to the Grimm by discharging Gambol Shroud. Innuendos will have to wait until after they've swarmed us. What a shame."

"Did I hear someone say discharge?" Velvet said.

Blake frowned. "Jaune, let's fire her."

"Oh." Velvet crossed her arms sassily. "You gonna give me the sack, Jaune?"

Blake frowned even harder. "Jaune, let's kill her."

"Can we handle the Grimm first?" Jaune asked, pointing to the pack of Beowolves that had just come from over a nearby hill and was currently charging headlong in their direction. "Please?"

"Don't'cha worry, kids," Velvet said, slinging her camera around her shoulder to rest against the small of her back. "You two just lie back and let Momma Velvet do all the work."

Blake threw her arms into the air in utter disgust. "Ugh…"

But Velvet was already moving. Her camera made some sort of clicking noise as she ran through the forest at speeds faster than what Jaune had ever seen Blake move, and a weapon appeared in her hand, but it wasn't normal. The camera's lens acted like some sort of projector, creating lines of light that created the outline of a massive war hammer with a staff as long as Crocea Mors' full length. The hammer had no faces, nor did it seem to have a solid mass, but Velvet swung it overhead and slammed where the blunt edge would be into a downed tree trunk, propelling herself forward to the hordes of Grimm.

It's Anise Dorito or whatever she called her huntress weapon – the Hard Light Dust thing. She said she could create other hunters' weapons and use them with as much skill, so this must be it.

And use the hammer with skill Velvet did. She wasted no time in slamming the brains of the Alpha Beowolf right off the second it came into range with a gorgeous underhand swipe. The other Beowolves tried to jump on her, but the lines of the hammer began to slide around one another until the entire weapon was reforged into a single long whip.

Velvet twirled it around in a full circle, slicing off the paws of the Beowolves that had gotten too close and even cutting one clean in half. The whip cracked so loudly that Jaune himself flinched in spite of being over 100 feet away from it.

Another Alpha leapt her way, but Velvet flicked her wrist to wrap the whip around its neck and yanked back. The Grimm was dragged off its paws and pulled face first into the dirt, but she wasn't done with it there. Grabbing hold of her noncorporeal weapon with both hands, she began to swing the Hard Light whip above her head, using the still snarling body of the large Alpha as a wrecking ball to smash apart the bodies of its smaller companions. Within seconds, the entire pack was disintegrating. Flicking her wrists once more, she tightened the whip just enough to decapitate the beast, and then the weapon was no more.

"Damn," Blake said to Jaune, both of them watching the spectacle in awe. "She makes it look easy."

More Grimm were crawling out of the forest and the skies and converging on Velvet, most of them unaware that the rest of Team Job was even there, but Velvet was nonplussed. Her camera's shutter clicked once more, and this time a pair of chunky gloves materialized on her fists. Jaune had no idea how that constituted a weapon, but he had a feeling that he was about to find out.

The gloves had some sort of propulsion system worked into them, and Velvet was able to masterfully use it to throw herself about the forest and increase in speed as she punches through the terrestrial Grimm. Nevermores began to dive out of the sky to divebomb her, and the camera clicked again to put a translucent sky-blue outline of a boomerang in her hands. Still punching out the Grimm, she chucked the new armament and let it carve Nevermore out of the sky.

"She's showing off," Jaune said. "For us."

"Yeah." Blake shook her head. "She really doesn't need to."

Jaune nodded without looking at Blake, because it was impossible to take his eyes off of Velvet as she summoned another Hard Light Dust weapon from her camera, this time Ruby's own scythe, and began to slice and dice some of the few remaining Grimm into bits and pieces. A rampant war-cry escaped her lips as she brought down the weapon into a roaring Ursa.

"It's not just that we don't care to be blown away by her talent," Blake said. "All that Dust being spent like it's nothing…our swords could have cut down half of those Grimm if she just let us, and we don't have to buy reloads to merely operate them."

Blake stepped forward in Velvet's direction, but Jaune put an arm in front of her.

"It's her first mission," he supplied, watching the last of the Grimm be slaughtered by the laughing huntress. "She's probably used to a Beacon team hogging all the fun and a leader bossing her around. She can have her fun, just this once. We'll tell her later – maybe it'll give us something to talk about on the airship other than whatever sex jokes she keeps making."

Blake bit her tongue. "I'm not entirely sure how much they're just jokes…"

Jaune waited for her to elaborate on that vague supposition, but she never did. The Grimm were now all dead, and Velvet's weapons slowly simmered away into glimmers of the residue that the Hard Light seemed to leave behind. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she waved back to her bosses.

"How'd I do?" she shouted across the forest, waving at them with a broad smile.

The mission was pretty much over at that point, but the trio continued to walk through the forests, combing it for any Grimm stragglers that might not have gotten Blake's bullet-shaped memo. Once they'd walked a perimeter around the town and double-checked any particularly tall trees for fledgling Nevermores, they would call it.

Velvet herself was soaked with sweat from the fight, but her breathing wasn't as ragged as Jaune's would have been had he been forced to jump and bounce around that much. The horde of Grimm that they'd…well, that she'd faced here was probably around twice the size of what Jaune had faced in Lemuria, and that had been too many for Blake to retreat.

I guess that's the difference between a real huntress and us. Team Job has had to use our wits to pull us out of the crazy situations we get ourselves into, but she can just resort to the massive skill and brute force she'd cultivated over the years.

To be fair to him and Blake, Velvet was supposed to be among Beacon's best, and she had pretty much used up all of her Dust.

"I still have a little," she said bashfully. "I know how to ration – I really do!"

"It's not a problem," Blake calmly explained. "We're not upset with you, it's just a business choice given the cost of Dust."

"Gods, this is so embarrassing. Coco would usually act as my handler, telling me when to jump in or when to leave it to her, but…oh, I ruined it."

"You didn't ruin it." Blake gave her a friendly pat on the back as she put her face into her hands. "The mission was a success, and it was a great chance for us to see your weapon in action."

"Y-You sure?" Velvet asked warily, lifting her face up a little.

"Heck yeah," Jaune admitted truthfully. "That was probably the coolest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. Can you do me?"

Velvet's head moved back up to being fully straight, and she blinked twice at Jaune. "Pardon?"

"My weapon." Jaune lifted Crocea Mors from its scabbard and showed it to her. "Can you duplicate it and go hog wild on the Grimm? It'd be so awesome to see."

"Oh, you want…b-but, I mean, I sort of can't. Wait, no, I can…I can copy it with Anesidora and create a Hard Light sword, but for some reason my semblance isn't working when I try to copy your movepool. If I copied it, I'd be useless."

That would probably be because Jaune had no movepool. At the moment, he had no idea how to wield his own blade, and if her semblance was to copy other people's given attacks, neither did she. If she could only be as good as he was, then she was right; she would be useless.

Crap. I guess that means I can't have her copy it and train me. But I guess that would be a weird thing for a boss to ask of his employee. I guess it's back to training with Blake for now.

They continued to trek through the forest, and Blake actually did come across some Nevermore chicks that they had to destroy. The tree in which they'd hidden was too high for Jaune to climb, so he just stayed on the ground with Velvet. Both of them had to crane their necks to even see the treetops that their cat Faunus partner was scaling.

"Hey, uh, Jaune." Velvet cleared her throat. "Would it be alright if I asked you something?"

"Go right ahead, anytime."

"So…just making sure, you and Blake are a thing, right?"

Jaune took his eyes off the skies to look down at Velvet. "A thing? As in, romantically involved? No, we aren't. Why do you ask?"

"Just doub…just checking."

Jaune gave her an uncertain nod and went back to Blake-watching.

"Can I ask you another question?"

"Of course, Velvet," Jaune said. "You don't need to ask if you can ask – it's not like I have anything to hide."

Velvet made a minor noise of discomfort. "It's, uh…it's about Beacon. And you guys."

Wait, I forgot – I do have something to hide.

Patting his palms against his jeans to wipe off any sweat before it could even pool up, Jaune forced a smile. "Yeah?"

"Uhhh…Blake said that Ozpin doesn't like Team Job Security, and Ruby mentioned you guys applied to Beacon but didn't get in because of some error. It sounds like there's some bad blood between you two. What…what's the deal?"

Uh-oh. She didn't take long to figure us out.

Jaune found himself struggling to keep up his neutral composure as Velvet directly asked him the one question he wasn't prepared to answer. Not only was his own trustworthiness on the line here, for admitting the truth would be telling this former huntress that he had tried to cheat his way into her alma mater, but he would also potentially be compromising Blake's own secret, her past with the White Fang.

A little white lie won't hurt. We told Ruby that we didn't meet Beacon's qualifications and that the headmaster only noticed after the fact. Unless Velvet goes snooping through Beacon's confidential records, she won't ever figure out that that's not the case.

Jaune began to feed the Faunus his made-up story, his fears abating as she gradually grew more and more relaxed at the reasonable explanation.

It's not like I actually snuck in – I just tried to, and then I got caught and turned around. This isn't a harmful lie. I'm just sparing us all the discomfort that the truth would bring us.

This will be fine.

Mission Complete: Grimm Clearing

Client Review: A different team than the one advertised was sent, but all of the Grimm these huntsmen were asked to destroy were slain. No visible damage was caused by the Faunus laborers the huntsman brought. ★★★★★

Current Holdings (lien): Ⱡ 27,800

Current Holdings (assets): Benson Airship Rental punchcard (six punches)

Current Holdings (realty): none

Employees: 3

Coming Soon: A New Deal

Now that Velvet's a member of the team, Jaune and Blake decide to rework their vague arrangement into a sensible one.

Chapter Text

Intellectually, Blake knew that Velvet meant no offense by slowly and meticulously reading over every single line of the contract she'd written up. Jaune often complimented Blake for having a good head for business, and that meant recognizing that a binding contract of employment wasn't something to just be glanced at and signed.

Still, it worried her a little bit every time the gears in Velvet's head began to visibly turn. Was the bunny girl upset by the verbiage of their agreement? Was Blake's wording vague and ambiguous? Was she having second thoughts about Team Job altogether? It was impossible to know.

The three of them were once again inside Jaune and Blake's shared apartment, but this time it was Velvet who sat at the desk and looked over the papers Blake had drafted. In order to not make her uncomfortable, Jaune was busying himself with making them all lunch while Blake read from her books, but it was impossible for their eyes to not wander at least a little.

It's only eight pages, and she's been reading for nearly a full hour…is something wrong?

But Velvet had only asked for more time to read when Blake had asked if she needed anything – twice, in fact – so Blake just went back to silently stressing as Velvet intently focused.

"Any, uh…any allergies to shellfish?" Jaune asked out of the blue. "I realized that I forgot to –"

"Blake, could you come over here for a second?" Velvet asked. "I think you might have, uh, a-accidentally left a few lines out of the contract."

Okay. Okay, you can do this, Blake. Swallow your pride and admit your mistakes if you made any; she's a real huntress and knows more about this than you do.

Blake marked the page she'd been on and got up from her chair. "Sure. Let's have a look."

Leaning over Velvet's shoulder, Blake looked down at the words she'd carefully chosen to bring them –

Wait, I should…

"Jaune, how about you come and join us? This pertains to you as well."

The flabbergasted way that Jaune responded to being summoned over to the business table was a testament to how much she needed to invite him and in doing so change her behaviors. He was the student and she his teacher, but that extended to more than just hunting. Anything could be a lesson, but if Blake gave him nothing, he would learn nothing.

"Velvet, what's the sitch?" Blake asked.

"Well, it's just that…a lot of this is mostly on payment and benefits, but you leave out things like arbitration, quality assurance…I mean, you don't even have a line on how to fire me."

She was…worried about the fact that Blake wasn't planning on firing her? What?

Velvet seemed to notice her obvious confusion. "It's not that I want that or something. But if you ever decide to fire me, is it effective immediately? How will I be ensured I get due compensation for services performed that are as of yet unpaid? Could you fire me at will, or does it have to be justified?" Velvet shifted around in the chair to face them both. "It's not just that. A contract is meant to be comprehensive…water-tight, if you will. If you leave any detail out, you leave yourself open to litigation."

Blake hadn't known all that. Menagerie had no such bullshit, and people agreed to pay one another for the work they did there. If your boss fired you, you took what you were owed for today's wages out of the till and went on to find another job.

"I…I…"

The problem was that Blake had no idea how to fix this. The books on business management were meant for entry-level readers, and this sounded like the kind of problem that even a lawyer would need to sit down and think about. She could easily leave it to Velvet, but asking an employee that wasn't even formally hired yet to write her own contract sounded like inviting trouble, especially when Velvet could decide if and how she could be fired.

"We should probably get this run by a lawyer," Jaune said, drying his hands off with a hand-towel. "Vale has to have some, right? Business contract lawyers?"

"Jaune, we can't afford –"

"Sure we can," he said with a laugh. Blake rolled her eyes, but he just shrugged at her. "We have 25,000 lien in the bank. Yeah, we were saving it up, but what for? An emergency? A rainy day? This is the rainy day. It's the kind of business expense we probably ought to splurge on if we don't want to regret it later."

Velvet, her scroll out and open to a web browser, piped in. "It says that a simple drafting of a contract costs on average 2,000 lien from start to finish, and a complex one doesn't usually go for more than 5,000." She looked up. "We…if it really costs too much, we could subtract it from –"

"No way," Jaune said, shaking his head resolutely. "We're not going to make you pay us to work here. Blake and I are the owners of the company, so it's our job to get our employees signed up and signed on properly. You can count on us to do this right, okay?"

As much as Blake wanted to chide Jaune for his bleeding-hearted generosity, he did have a point. If they were to be Velvet's bosses, it was unreasonable to expect them to put this on her.

"Sorry about the confusion," Blake said, taking back the contracts she'd made herself. "I guess this means we won't be signing today, but we fully intend to hire you, Velvet."

"Oh, it's fine. Do you want me to start looking up some good contract lawyers at least? I should help out a little."

Blake shook her head. "You did more than enough to amaze us on the last mission. I think it's only fair that we do something to wow you."

It took them three sessions to iron out the full details of Velvet's contract, each one lasting at least four hours long. At the going rate of 275 lien per hour, Blake honestly wondered if it might have been easier to pay the lump sum that had initially been offered.

"…Miss Scarlatina agrees that, in the event of termination, a valid reason must be given, with pages 29 through 32 listing all possible 'valid reasons.' In the event that Miss Scarlatina wishes to prematurely terminate the five year contract with Team Job Security, she may do so in accordance with Valean Civil Code Chapter 3, though she forfeits any and all benefits…"

Blake was feeling a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information that had been put into the contract. It wasn't that any one part was confusing – it was actually all rather simple when the lawyer explained it to her (though that cost her another 550 lien) – but just that there were so many scenarios they needed to cover. If Velvet were injured, if they wanted to give her a raise or a salary reduction, if Jaune and Blake discriminated against her on account of her being a member of a protected class, if she somehow discriminated against them on the same basis – there was no room for ambiguity.

The lawyer had also offered to write up a document that outlined Jaune and Blake's relationship with one another and their control of the company, but they'd both instantly rushed to say no, preferring their own handshake to be the only thing that bound them.

Blake, like Jaune, trusted her partner. It was the way he had phrased it back when they'd just interviewed Velvet that described it best. They'd both been there at one another's worst, and they both mutually understood how harsh the world could be if they didn't stick together. Jaune had been moments away from being eaten alive by Grimm, and Blake had been cast adrift in a sea of prejudice that would never let her rise in station.

I don't think we need a contract, and even writing one feels like a breach of trust – some sort of implicit suggestion that one of us might try to screw over the other with lawyers or something. Sure, we've had our differences, but I choose to…I want to believe in Jaune. If he betrays me or I him, I'd rather it all crumble down than watch ourselves destroy one another in legal battles. Besides, we've already got Ozpin watching from up high, ready to fill the role of our enemy should the opportunity present itself.

Perhaps she was being a sentimental fool, but Blake wanted to believe in someone again. She had been burned by Adam, and after that the world had seemed a whole lot colder and grayer, but Jaune had done right by her, even in the times when she couldn't say the inverse. He'd trusted her on every mission, he'd handed control of his finances to her without a second though, he'd listened and learned when on the SDC mission…in short, he was a good person.

In the end, once they'd had Velvet sign her contract, Jaune and Blake mutually agreed that the way they were doing things so far – pretending to split their profits in some unequal bargain but never actually moving their communal funds out from the suitcase under the bed – wasn't working. Rather, it was working, but it wasn't the most sensible arrangement, not when they were roommates anyways.

With Velvet, change had become an inevitability, so Jaune and Blake had decided to embrace it and restructure not only their company but their entire lifestyle. A number of changes were made, the kinds of things they'd always planned on doing when they were more 'financially secure.' Neither had really known what that meant, but with Velvet and an SDC review to back them, now felt like the time.

Firstly, they reserved a membership to a huntsman gym with specialized equipment that wouldn't break at the first touch of an aura user. It was expensive, costing 300 lien per person per month, but it would increase the effectiveness of Jaune's training by at least an order of magnitude now that he could actually use his sword. Plus, having a place to train would give them something to do other than work from home or receive a librarian's glare for overstaying their welcome in the library's public spaces.

Secondly, Jaune and Blake moved out of their hotel and into an actual apartment. It, too, was pricey (land in a cramped, walled city always tended to be), but not to the extent that it would truly strain their finances. To avoid being pestered by Velvet with her seemingly incessant questions about their relationship, they'd splurged a little bit and gotten a two-bedroom place, giving them each their own spaces.

On top of that, Team Job's new prices and salaries were finally decided, and a more secure place for their money than the bottom of the bed was secured.

They could now increase their prices to 15,000, as their newest member's presence would no doubt speed up missions and improve customer satisfaction. Her contract stipulated that the cost of the flight and any Dust than the three of them spent on the mission, regardless of circumstance, would be paid first from the fee money. Then, Velvet would receive 30% of the profit, and the remaining 70% would go to Jaune and Blake.

Jaune had tried to argue for an equal split of the money, but Blake had put her foot down there and insisted that there needed to be some difference in their pay scale to differentiate the fact that Jaune and Blake's names were on the business license. That meant that they would be liable for any legal trouble the company got it, and they had greater duties than their underling. All three were security consultants, but the bosses had to be bosses.

Velvet had actually agreed with Blake on that one.

"I was honestly expecting something more like 10%, since I'm just a new member," she explained. "30% is really generous, and it's more than enough to pay for what I need. Besides, if we did an even split, it would only be 30% to 33%. I think I'd rather have a good relationship with my superiors than the extra 3%."

It had taken Blake pointing out the part of the contract that described how they could give Velvet a pay raise to appease Jaune and get him to agree to the uneven division.

As for the two of them, Jaune and Blake decided on something…different.

Instead of doing some sort of arbitrary division of percentages and lien chips, they put their money into a shared bank account. It was in Jaune's name, as the banks in Vale tended to be more receptive to humans opening accounts, but they agreed that it would be 'their' funds, or Team Job's funds – there wasn't really a big distinction.

Money in the account would go towards any company-related expenses, their shared rent and groceries expenses, and any other costs that affected the both of them. If either wanted to spend their hard-earned cash on something personal, they could do so at their discretion, but the other partner would be given just as much for their own spending pleasures.

Blake might have worried about the account being in Jaune's name if not for the fact that a) he typically obeyed her without question when it came to handling their money, b) he typically seemed to be less interested in the financial reward aspect of their work than his own satisfaction in being a mock huntsman, and c) she was added as the secondary signer. That way, in the event that Jaune were indisposed, she could access their shared money.

No sooner than the account was open than Jaune had almost immediately asked for some money to buy his own comic books. Blake might have judged him a little bit more for his spendthrift behavior if the newest volume in her favorite series hadn't come out just yesterday.

"So, just to be clear…you have a shared account," Velvet asked as they flew to their next mission. "Joint finances?"

Blake nodded, but she kept a weather eye on the rabbit. The way she was asking suggested she was about to say something suspicious.

"And you live together? Are you guys sure you aren't, like, a married couple?" Velvet shrugged. "Because I won't be weird about it if you are or something."

"No," Jaune said firmly. "Didn't you have a partner? I would think you…y…s-sorry."

Velvet's pleasant smile immediately dropped at the mention of their team, as did the mood of the airship's cabin. Blake didn't like to think poorly of her co-boss, but he really should have known better, especially after so recently being reminded of Velvet's situation.

The reason she was asking about their financial union was because Velvet herself hadn't actually gone with them to the bank. Firstly, she wasn't involved in that endeavor, but secondly, she had been busy at the time, doing her 'thing.'

The unspoken thing that she refuses to tell us about which requires a few hours of her week and forced her to leave Beacon…maybe we should have had a mention of that in our contract.

Honestly, Blake had almost forgotten about it until Velvet had informed them she would be leaving. Their contract demanded she perform her duties as a 'security consultant' without personal affairs interfering, and it had then gone on to outline in excruciating detail what those duties were, so there was no chance of this 'thing' interfering with her work, but the singular loose end irked Blake a little. It was especially annoying given how everything else had been sealed up perfectly, three times over and with enough fine print to fill the footnotes of a work of classical literature.

"It's…mmm…it's okay, Jaune," Velvet forced out. "I got this job because of my years of experience at Beacon, so it's not weird that Beacon comes up every now and again."

"Your, uh, your team…d-do you wanna talk about it?"

"Not yet," Velvet said. She bent forwards and rested her elbows on her kneecaps. "I'll tell you soon. I'll have to. But I'd just like for things to be normal for as long as possible."

It was sometimes difficult to reconcile the sweet-seeming girl in front of her with the Grimm-massacring monster slayer and master martial artist who was a more lethal fighter than Blake herself. Velvet was something of an impossible combination that seemed to conflict with herself on every plane – one second she was a gentle bunny girl who ate up all of Jaune's stories about Team Job with wide eyes, the next she was snapping the head off of a Beowolf with her bare hands. Just as quickly as she was saying something weirdly lewd, she would immediately transition to an ominous clue about her presumably dark past. Everything about her seemed to contradict itself at some point.

But aren't we the same? Jaune plays the part of the champion huntsman so well that it feels like he was born to wear the skin…only when in front of the customers. Otherwise, he's about as graceful as a penguin in a volcano. Plus, for all that he's the one man I can trust, he was fully prepared to sneak his way through Beacon without a qualm in his heart.

And I can't deny that I'm also a girl of many masks. Velvet may tease some deep dark secret that tore apart her relationship with her team and her school, but my secret is actually deep and dark. Whatever she did can't be worse than what I witnessed in the White Fang…what I allowed to happen.

How similar three otherwise entirely different souls could be…perhaps it was fate that brought this unlucky trinity of outcasts together with people they could depend on.

In reality, it was probably just necessity and happenstance that forced them to rely on one another. Jaune and Blake had only been united because Ozpin wanted to get two expulsions done in the time of one, and Velvet had heard of them from Ruby and sought them out for the protection and legitimacy they could offer a flunked huntress. The three of them were like rats huddling for warmth, desperately rubbing together in a vain hope to weather out the winter storm without freezing to death.

But Blake preferred to think it was fate. And a small part of her that she'd once thought stamped out was beginning to have faith in that spark of hope.

Coming Soon: The Disconnect

Jaune finds himself against his first non-Grimm opponent and begins to question the disconnect between his level and his teammates'.

Chapter Text

Unlike the SDC mission that Jaune and Blake had run all that long while ago, the bandits that were plaguing the town of Temecula had actually been seen, and a few of the militia members who'd seen them were even able to give a rough description of the perpetrators.

"It was six people, round 'bout your age," said the man who'd gotten the best look at them. He gestured to Velvet. "Prob'bly closer to the lass, if I had to guess. All young men, and all lookin' the same."

"Dark hair for four, blonde on two," said a woman with paws. "Otherwise, they were just a couple of young boys that looked roughly similar. Not one among them too tall or too stout."

Velvet nodded intently. "What kinds of weaponry did they use?" she asked.

Jaune himself leaned in the doorway of barracks, content to take a backseat on this one. The village miraculously actually had a Faunus mayor, and three members of the armed peacekeeping force with whom Team Job was currently speaking were actually Faunus, implying that there was no need for him to fulfill his usual role as team leader.

It's weird to think about. Blake and Velvet know what to do better than me, meaning that the second racism ends, so does my value to the team. I'm barely a huntsman, and I can't balance the books or manage our resources or instinctively know how contracts work. I literally need anti-Faunus discrimination to keep existing, or I lose my relevance.

Hypothetically, if the world became a place of equality and social harmony, Jaune would be out of a job, but everyone knew it was a long time before that was going to happen. Still, it kinda sucked to have to depend on the charity of two real huntresses because they weren't taken seriously.

On that note, they were leading the investigation here. Several citizens of Temecula had been harassed by bandits when they'd ventured out into the woods alone to chop wood, hunt food, or harvest resources. Most of them had been assaulted and robbed for literally everything they had on them down to the socks, but one of them had been close enough to town to raise the alarm, leading the militia forces to arrive in time to drive them off.

"All six of 'em were armed with knives," said the Faunus lady. "But they weren't hunting knives…one had a switchblade, but the other five looked like they were waving around butcher's cleavers. I saw handguns on their hips, but none of them used them."

"'Twas a bit queer, that" said an older guard. "We had spears best suited for pokin' Grimm to death – nothing compared to their pistols. We only outnumbered the crunks by three, but they could have loaded us full o' Dust faster'n a spring hare."

Velvet turned to Blake. "Sounds like limited ammunition, or perhaps a fear of outright confrontations?"

She nodded in agreement at the other Faunus. "Grouped up bandits tend to be cowards. If they only go after single citizens, I'd wager they want to minimize risk to themselves. Maybe they could win the fight with their sidearms, but why risk it when they could run?"

The villagers had decided that it would be safer to pool together their money and hire Team Job to handle it rather than take matters into their own hands. After all, if those bandits did decide to break out their big guns (which, in this case, meant small guns), professionals who could take a few shots and come out breathing would be much safer.

"Was there a particular time of day or region they would frequent?" Blake asked.

See, that was the kind of thing that Jaune wouldn't even think to bring up. It wasn't that he couldn't comprehend it or something, just that he would probably have thanked them and then walked into the forest to hopefully bump into the bandits by chance.

I need to critically think more. Learning how to fight is one thing, but planning a fight in advance could spare me a lot of heartache if I do. Think of the who, what, when, where, and why – we know who, Blake just asked where and when…that leaves what and why.

Why was obvious – bandits wanted some easy money and decided to rob people for a living. As for what…I got nothing.

The militia had already filled Jaune's time in on the details of where the attacks had taken place, so there was nothing left to do but thank them for the info and head on out.

"Best of luck, hunters," said the elderly man.

Jaune considered correcting him, but he somehow doubted that people this far out from Vale would actually care for the distinction between Team Job's security consultants and a real team of hunters.

"If the attacks are as regular as you describe, we should have them in custody within two days' time," promised Blake.

They exited the barracks building, but Blake stopped Jaune before he could start leaving the village.

"I think our best bet is to lay a trap when the sun sets," she explained to the others. "One of us goes into the forest with a, I dunno, basket so they can start pretending to harvest wild berries or something, and the others lie in waiting. We know when and where the attacks take place."

"And then what?" Jaune asked.

Blake shrugged. "Then we catch them."

"Uhhhh…they have guns?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah, but only handguns and handheld knives," Velvet said, as though that weren't something to be worried about.

"Look, you guys, I get that we can take a hit and keep walking. But what if they have their auras unlocked as well?" Jaune was a little surprised that he was the one advocating for better, more thorough planning. "They outnumber us two to one. It just seems like a waste to blow our advantage and rely on out-skilling them."

"If they had aura, they wouldn't carry standard weapons like pistols and cleavers – hunter-level foes typically fight using longer blades to maximize their reach or heavier duty firepower." Blake flared up her aura against her skin to show Jaune. "Remember, they live in the woods, alone and unprotected. If they were aura-unlocked, it would attract Grimm like there were no tomorrow, and one doesn't fend off Grimm using the kinds of weapons that licensed civilians can purchase."

"Plus, they probably wouldn't have fled from the militia if they knew they could beat them," Velvet added in. "I think we're safe, Jaune."

"If it makes you feel any better, we won't make you be the bait," Blake promised.

It actually did make him feel a little better, for more than one reason. He'd arguably played the role of bait in anywhere from two to four of Team Job's past five missions, and Jaune felt like it was time to share the wealth. Plus, a tall, strapping lad like him was less likely to be jumped then the diminutive young Faunus women…especially when the criminals were male young adults.

"I remember that we jumped into danger in the Lake of Lost Voles, so let's not do that again," Jaune requested. "How far will we be from the bait, and how long will we pretend before we give up and try again later?"

"I can take six guys at once," Velvet offered nonchalantly, batting her hair. "At least, long enough for reinforcements to arrive if they have to hide far away. Make me the bait. I'm a master bai–"

"Ah-ah-ah!" Jaune shook his head before she could go any further. "Fine, you're the bait."

"I think hiding at a distance isn't the way we should go about this," Blake stated. "If we could somehow blend into our environment, we could stay close without being seen."

"Disguises?" Jaune asked.

"I was thinking just covering ourselves in a pile of leaves or something," Blake said. "It's just six bandits, Jaune. They won't sniff us out from a mile away or something. We're not fighting an elite squadron of specialists or something."

Well, she wasn't wrong there. Temecula hadn't had trouble before this, indicating that this was a relatively new problem, which meant the bandits were inexperienced and likely testing the waters. If they could stop them early on, they might end this problem before it ever truly began.

As the weevils and ants crawled across Jaune's neck and shoulders, Jaune gained a new appreciation for the non-bait roles and just how difficult they could be. He and Blake had covered themselves in a thin layer of branches, leaves, and other forest floor droppings while Velvet chopped down a tree. They'd considered having her harvest fruits or mushrooms, but if she was being scoped out by robbers and raiders, they might begin to wonder why she didn't move from this spot after gathering everything of value.

The risk is if they decide they don't like the axe she's got and move on. We only have the element of surprise once before they recognize our faces as real fighters and not village militia.

But were they real fighters? Jaune might have had all the essential components of a huntsman – aura, sword and shield, basic training – but he had never won a fight against another person before. Granted, it was only against Blake and Velvet that he'd ever sparred, and if he somehow won, that would be a travesty, but the point remained that Jaune was yet to be truly blooded. He'd defeated Grimm before, but never an intelligent being that could think against him.

Will I win? Or will I just be a burden on the team?

It would be humiliating to have to be saved by the girls against ordinary bandits, and Jaune would never be able to live with himself if someone got hurt because of his incompetence.

Velvet hacked away at the tree, her semi-rhythmic thuds making the only noise within the forest as she kept at it. Jaune had learned from his mistakes in the Lake of Lost Voles and had asked her to whistle or hum a recognizable tune as she worked – nothing suspicious to an outside observer, but a clear indicator that it was her chopping the wood and not someone else who'd stolen the axe and picked up where she left off in order to trick Blake and him. She'd chosen the Pumpkin Pete commercial's jingle, something Jaune would recognize anywhere.

He couldn't see anything aside from the mound of leaves and tree trash that was piled up above him, but his nerves were about to explode from excitement. Even after nearly thirty minutes of waiting with no indication that anyone was in the vicinity but the three of them, his blood was still flowing just as quickly as when they'd started.

"Heads up," Blake whispered to him from her nearby little pile.

He had no idea how she heard whatever early warning sign of the bandit's presence that she did, but as a few seconds rolled by, the crunch of fall leaves beneath the boots of newcomers filled the empty forest, competing with Velvet's chopping and the up-tempo humming in tune with it.

"Hello, m'lady. Isn't a poor, defenseless girl like you a bit far from home?"

The chopping and humming stopped, and Jaune heard what he presumed was an axe dropping to the ground from where Velvet was posted. "Am I?"

A different voice spoke next, but it came from roughly the same location as the first. "I think you aren't where you should be. You're in the Rattling Nocturnes' turf, and nobody wants to tussle with us."

"Rattling Nocturne's?" Velvet asked.

Then, the sound of presumably six grown men pretending to hiss like rattlesnakes filled Jaune's ears, and any doubts he had about his own self-worth evaporated like vapors as he got a good listen at what real failure at life sounded like.

This is so cringe.

"We're the kings out in these parts," said another voice. "Society can't tell us what to do anymore now that we've shed it like old skin. We make the laws here, and you're trespassing, female."

He needed to wait until they got closer to Velvet to spring the trap, but Jaune was already starting to get some vibes from these guys.

"You're gonna have to pay the toll for slithering through our land, unless you wanna have a problem."

"But I don't have any money, you group of big, strong men," Velvet said. "All I have is my body."

Blake's pile of leaves groaned.

Are you serious, Velvet? Right now?

"Well aren't you in luck," laughed one of the bandits. "That just so happens to be the toll."

Velvet made a little squeaking noise, and Jaune heard a belt buckle clink. "Oh, fuck yeah, we are so –"

The plan to wait could get effed (hopefully before Velvet did). Jaune rose out of his pile of leaves and stuff that he'd been hidden in and raised the sword and shield of Crocea Mors in the direction of the bandits.

"Freeze! You're all under arrest!"

Blake came out of her own pile shortly thereafter, doing a neat backflip right over the heads of the bandits and landing behind them. In less then a second, they were caught in a triangle of three security consultants.

"W-What the hell is this?!" screamed one of the bandits. "Who are you people?"

"Gods-damned clamjammers, that's who they are!"

"You're under arrest!" Jaune repeated, ignoring Velvet. "Surrender, or we will be forced to…to use force!"

It wasn't his smoothest delivery of a threat, but the bandits all lifted out their knives.

"You're messing with the wrong –"

A Hard Light hammer, hurled from the direction of Velvet, impacted the legs of the bandit who chose to speak. Unfortunately for him, he didn't exactly have the protection of aura that would enable him to take such a hit, and the leg snapped. Jaune winced; he could see the tip of a fragment of bone sticking out.

"Oh shit," Velvet cursed. "I…I didn't realize you guys were that flimsy. None of the people back in Beacon ever –"

"Beacon! They're huntsmen!"

"Rattling Nocturnes, assemble!"

The five remaining bandits formed into a neat little circle around their fallen comrade, all hissing at Team Job. Jaune took a good look at them and began to figure out what their problem was.

One of the bandits had an eyepatch on, but he bit his lip and flipped it upwards onto his forehead, revealing a perfectly good eye underneath. Two others had lip and nose piercings, and one of them was literally wearing a fedora.

He's pretty much in uniform.

"H-How do we take them?" Blake asked nervously.

That got a few vicious grins.

"Alive, that is."

The smiles faded.

"Fist of the Eternal Shadow Dimension!" screamed one of the boys. He charged straight towards the unarmed rabbit Faunus doing what looked like a mixture of martial arts katas and undergoing an epileptic seizure.

Velvet caught his fist in one hand, then squeezed down on it. The flesh cracked underneath the pressure of her grip, and his hand snapped, the phalange bones sticking out in several places.

Horrified, Velvet let go of the hand as the man fell to his knees.

"FUCK! I DID IT AGAIN!"

"Velvet, please stop!" called Jaune. "Self-defense arguments only go so far in a court of law."

"I…I never realized how flimsy normies are! Huntsmen and huntresses and take hits like that with a smile! S-Sorry!"

The remaining four bandits were now all back to back, pressing into one another for dear life as the faux hunters closed in on them.

"Seriously, what do we do?" Blake asked. "We have to take them down somehow, but I don't wanna hit them if they're that easy to break."

"We can't use our weapons," Jaune pointed out. If the blunt force of Velvet's hammer was enough to snap their limbs, then Jaune really didn't want to find out what the bladed edges of two swords might do.

Think, Jaune. How do we use a 'normal person' amount of force on these guys?

He cleared his throat. "Uh…hey, Nocturnal guys…can you do us a huge favor and knock each other out?"

One of the young men stepped forward, his trembling fists raised in a boxing position. "T-The Rattling Nocturnes are true alpha males! Never shall we bow down to society's –"

"Shut the frick up, Vernon! I don't wanna die!" The other bandit threw his knife down and dropped to his knees. "I surrender!"

"Get rid of the gun too," Jaune commanded from behind his shield. "Kick it to me."

"It's a replica! My mom's boyfriend bought it for me on my birthday!" The surrenderer tore off the holster in its entirety and let it flop to the ground next to him. "Please don't hurt me! I confess! We're from Vale, we've only been camping here for a week now!"

Jaune guessed that explained that. This wasn't a real tribe of bandits like he'd been fearing, just some edgy twenty-somethings who thought they were hot potatoes.

"Jaune, I say this with love, but you're the least experienced of the three of us," Blake called over to him, her gun pointed at the guys. "How do we knock them out without accidentally killing them? You probably know more about how normies work than me or Velvet."

Velvet or me, the A Language Arts student in Jaune longed to say.

"Don't kill me!" another one of the weeb-bandits broke down in tears saying. "I-It was the others, they did all the bandit stuff and the pot brownie sales and the cyberstalking! I never posted those loli images to the message boards, it was all Isaiah!"

"Son of a bitch!" called out the guy with the broken hand, writing in pain. "I'll fuck your mom, you virgin beta chud!"

"Jaune! How do we nonlethally take out a non-aura user?"

Jaune thought it over for a moment. It was evident from Velvet's accidental overdoing of it that bonking them on the head wasn't a reliable plan. The huntresses in his party were too strong for their own good and were used to bashing Grimm or punching other aura users, meaning that they could accidentally concuss these bandits if they messed up. Without any rope or handcuffs, they couldn't restrain them, and there were too many of them to reasonably drag all the way back to town by the arm.

If we knock them unconscious, I think we could each carry two bodies. So how do we get them unconscious?

"GRAAAAAH! RATTLING NOCTURNES FOREVER!"

One of the bandits grabbed the dropped knife of his companion off the ground. Dual wielding it in one hand with his own in the other, he charged towards Blake, stabbing wildly into the air as though she were right in front of him the moment he started running.

The cat Faunus kicked him in the chest as soon as he got close enough to slash against her aura. It sent him flipping over himself twice, and he landed on the ground groaning in agony. Jaune winced as he noticed that the man's two knives had actually stabbed right through the palms they'd been clutched in.

"Do you guys really not know how to handle normal people?" Jaune asked.

"I do, but I don't know how to fight them!" Velvet complained.

"Same!" said Blake. "Ad…my old teacher would always train me to fight like my life depended on it! There was never a need to hold back."

"Uh-huh," Velvet confirmed, nodding. "Professor Goodwitch drilled it into our heads that we weren't to ever go easy on a Grimm, because it would be our undoing."

Crap. They can't hurt us because we're aura-users, and we can't hurt them because they aren't. This really is a good old-fashioned Mistrilian standoff.

Three of them were already down, taking Team Job from outnumbered to evenly matched, but Jaune really didn't want to overdo it with the other half of the gang if he didn't absolutely have to. These guys were packing knives, which could be lethal weapons, but to say that they would be lethal when used against him or his partners was a straight-up lie.

"I'll say it again – if you guys knock each other out, I can promise you won't be harmed," Jaune said. "A fair trial, public defenders – you said that you're citizens of Vale. You'll get the works, but only if you come quietly."

"Bullshit!" said one of the guys. "You'll kill us like you killed Isaiah, Lucien, and Cristo the second we let our guards down!"

"Velvet, can you make a Hard Light rope?" Blake suggested.

Velvet shook her head. "It wouldn't last if they struggled."

"Wait, doesn't Blake's weapon turn into a rope?" Jaune asked.

Both Jaune and Velvet turned to look over at their third teammate. Gambol Shroud was in her hands, compactly shaped in the form of a gun. Her eyes widened as she looked down at it. Letting out a long sigh, Blake held out her gun and shifted it into the hook and ribbon form.

"Sorry," she meekly apologized.

I guess I really do have something to contribute to the team after all, Jaune thought as they handed the bandit squad over to the local militia.

It wasn't their job or within the scope of their jurisdiction to arrest people, but the Faunus mayor of Temecula had the right to do so provided a citizen of his township had witnessed the crime. It was a part of Vale's laws to empower local leaders to ensure the safety of their town, and it was just enough to get Team Job off the hook in terms of responsibility.

Jaune's fears before had been partially true – he wasn't on par with the girls – but that didn't mean that they didn't need him around. He wasn't just their human shield; he could also be their bridge to the world of normal people, crossing a gap that he had never realized was so wide. Blake was ex-White Fang, and Velvet was a huntress of Beacon, presumably meaning she'd lived most of her life apart from the regular citizens of Vale. Jaune was their resident 'normal person.'

Maybe that's why I'm so good at liaising with clients. I grew up in a normal village, I went to high school, I didn't spend my childhood training in a separate sect of society – I have more in common with them than either of the huntresses do.

It was also a little alarming just how disconnected his two companions were, at least when it came to civilians in combat. To Velvet, it was a completely normal attack to throw a massive hammer into someone's legs, and Blake hadn't hesitated to send a man holding two knives tumbling down. It made sense to them, because they were used to fighting aura-users who could take it, but at least the part of Jaune's brains that protested at it were still intact. Maybe the fact that he wasn't a pro-huntsman just yet might not be a bad thing.

Mission Complete: Temecula Bandits

Client Review: They were good kids, and they did a decent job, but they might still have a little way to go. ★★★☆☆

Current Holdings (lien): Ⱡ 30,690

Current Holdings (assets): Benson Airship Rental punchcard (seven punches)

Current Holdings (realty): none

Employees: 3

Coming Soon: A House is not a Homestead

Team Job's newest employer turns out to be a bit of a curiously unpleasant fellow.

Chapter Text

Blake had known that the SDC was a big thing, but she hadn't realized just how different having them listed as security consultants for it would be. Before, there had been multiple days to sometimes almost weeks between jobs, but it was only the day after the work at Temecula that another mission came in.

That was a good thing, though – more than a good thing, actually, a necessary thing. Their rates were 15,000 per job, and once Dust and the cost of the airship was factored in, that typically brought it down to roughly 10,000. Subtracting Velvet's cut, Jaune and Blake were only making a grand total of 7,000 lien per job, and their rent was 350 lien per day.

We're solidly in the green, but only as long as we regularly do jobs. At least one every 20 days is necessary, and that's assuming no new expenses pop up.

The thing that was the kicker was that that didn't mean that they could just wait 20 days and get a job. The work they were hired to do could and often did take time, as evidenced by their next assignment.

A farmer who lived a short distance beyond the edge of Vale's capital, about fifteen miles, was under the impression that his land was in danger from some vague and nebulous threat, for he wouldn't specify on the website. Jaune had actually given him a call and asked if he could be more precise in what he believed the threat was, but the guy had said he himself didn't know. All he could tell them was that he wanted his property secured, and he was willing to pay them for it. In the end, they had agreed that one full week for their fee would be a fair trade.

This is literally what we advertise for – it's like the mission was tailored for Team Job. We can't say we're going up against Grimm, as it might be bandits, criminals, rival farmers, or even wild animals. All we've been asked to do is secure a select area of 800 acres from whatever threats are present and ensure the safety of the human who lives there.

The Temecula bandit idiots hadn't wiped them out or anything, so Team Job had agreed to fly out the same day. The only delay was Velvet buying a full three Dust reloads for Anesidora, as the vagueness of her mission made her wish to be prepared in advance.

"I can use the Hard Light on the next mission if it doesn't come up here, but if we're out there in the woods for a full seven days and conceivably fighting Grimm on each of those days, I'd rather be armed than not," she explained.

"Have you considered getting a secondary weapon?" Blake asked. "Something that doesn't vaporize the instant it receives anything more than a lovetap?"

Velvet shook her head with a smile. "No."

They'd left the conversation at that. Regardless of backup weapons, Blake herself had actually seen the wisdom in stocking up and also purchased three full reloads in advance. Between the two of them and the airship flight over, it had cost them over 10 grand to supply up for this one mission.

The farmer had agreed to house and feed them for their time there, but rent for their place back in Vale was still due even if they weren't staying there at the time, meaning that they would just barely be breaking even for this mission. It all depended on how much Dust they used.

I hope this is just some paranoid old man whose seeing shadows in his cornfields. We really ought to consider buying Dust in bulk otherwise.

Given the land size of the farm and how high above average it was for a farm, Blake had been expecting the owner to have been living in something the size of the Schnee Mansion up in Solitas, but that couldn't have been further from the truth.

The actual house itself was sizable (most people who didn't live in the city took full advantage of their open spaces) but not at all extravagant. It looked like it was mostly built from wood, and while nothing was visibly rotting, the paint was beginning to chip in some spots. In others, it was simply unpainted altogether. There were no windows, likely because glass was difficult to get out in these parts, and only a single door at the front. Blake could see a cobbled chimney coming out of the top as well as a well, likely made from the same stone.

The estate also had two other buildings, a barn and a workshop. Those two were more well-kept, even though they looked like they were also hand-built. The barn was three times the size of the house and stood out on the skyline like a towering mountain peak, but the higher up Blake looked, the worse its state of disrepair got. While the bottom seemed to have been well maintained, there were missing planks of wood and numerous holes from the top.

As for the workshop, it was little more than a roof with four posts in place of walls, but there was everything a junior blacksmith might need in order to ensure a self-sustaining lifestyle out in these parts. Tools aplenty were neatly hung up on the walls, and a decently sized kiln was at the center of it. There was also a plow with a yoke just lying around, not hitched to anything, and some other pieces of farming equipment with which Blake wasn't exactly familiar.

This place was built to function, not to be pretty to look at. It's utilitarian in every sense.

As for the farmland itself, Blake could clearly tell where it started and where it ended by observing the treeline. The forest terminated almost immediately where the even rows of crops began, leading Blake to assume that this had all once been a dense mass of trees. The lumber that had been downed to make space for the farm was probably what had built the house and the large barn.

In addition to crops, there was also a vast, fenced-off grazing pasture in which a mixture of sheep and cows roamed. The fences led it back to the barn, but there was no way the hundreds of heads of cattle could ever fit into the barn, even as large as it was. She did see a long trough, though. As they flew over the pasture, Blake also made out one or two horses among the cows and sheep.

And there's the owner…I can see him out there, running out of his house and…and…

The man was younger than she'd been expecting, probably only twenty-five or so. Blake hadn't necessarily been expecting a senior citizen, but the farmer was supposed to be living alone out here, and she had naturally assumed he would be at least a little old and experienced.

Why is he waving his arms like that? Is…Is that a pitchfork?

As he sprinted closer and closer to the airship as it began to touch down, Blake began to realize from his body language that he wasn't running out to greet them but to threaten him. His pitchfork, barely even a weapon though it was, was brandished at the large airship like it might somehow stop it from landing, and the man looked like he was screaming, though it was impossible to hear over the engines winding down.

"Izzat yer guy?" asked Benson. "Looks like a right poor-temper'd feller."

"Well, we don't have to like him to get paid by him," Jaune said. When the airship landed, he was the first to hop down and disembark. "It's just another job. Maybe a not as glamorous one, but we'll make the most of it, eh team?"

That was a nice sentiment, but if their own employer didn't want them to be here…

"…kicking up the dust! I swear to the Gods, it's like a hurricane out here!" Now that the airship was quiet, Blake could actually make out the young man's rabid screaming. "Scaring my steers, scaring my sheep, making all the ruckus in the world – don't you dare start up that airship again, or I'll stick it right through the side!"

"Apologies for the disruption, sir," Jaune said. "Had we been aware that specific accommodations –"

"I don't give a damn what excuses you have to say! Get this metal bird off my property before you go announcing my location to every assassin in the entire state!"

Jaune nodded and turned back to the pilot, who had the windshield between them. Blake and Velvet had gotten off of the ship, and the backdoor was closed, so sound couldn't travel, but Jaune just gave him a thumbs up.

"No! No, don't –"

But the protests of the farmer were too late. The airship rose up into the air (Blake had to admit, it wasn't really all that noisy) until it reached a vertical altitude, then shot off.

"Damn noise! Damn you kids, why didn't you land elsewhere and walk here?!"

"W-We weren't aware you wished that."

"It's obvious!" trumpeted the farmer. "My livestock are probably never going to recover from the heart attacks you gave them." He threw his head back and snorted. "Just don't do it again when you leave. Now follow me inside – we have to talk about your job."

The inside of the house was just as drab and poorly maintained as the outside. It had all the essentials for survival, like a bed, a stove, a water pump, and so on, but nothing was even remotely close to being decorated. The walls were blank wooden strips, and the only floor covering was a bristly brown matt at the front door on which the farmer partially wiped his muddy boots. The rest of the mud just tracked into the house and left thick footprints.

The man didn't have any chairs or a couch for them to sit on in his living room/kitchenette, so Team Job just stood around like a bunch of assholes in random spots in the room. There wasn't even a countertop or something for them to lean against.

"So…you're the bodyguards I hired."

"Correct, sir," Jaune said. "Team Job, at your service."

"Don't need service. Need protection."

"Of course, sir. But, if you could give us more details about –"

The man held up a hand and swallowed. "I know, I know. Toldja on the phone that I wasn't sure, but now I know what I know. Assassins." His eyes darted to the two doorframes in the room – the one though which they'd entered, leading to the outside, and the other empty frame that entered into the farmer's bedroom. "They're after me."

"Please, tell us anything you can."

"I'll start at the beginning. Name's Augustine Alizarin. Go by Austin to my friends, but they all died when the plague came, so you can call me Mr. Alizarin. The land you're standing on came from my grandpappy and grandmammy. They left the farm to me after my mom and pop died from plague, and they passed on last year from old age. I've been struggling to make ends meet for a while now, but I'll be in cold, dry ground long before I hire any hands. This is my land, not yours!"

Blake knew that this cantankerous young man wasn't referring to her in particular but to people who would impose upon or disturb him in general, but it was difficult to feel like there wasn't something personal about the glare he shot each and every one of them, one after the other.

"Now, they're trying to get me to leave. They want me gone, they want me outta here, they WANT ME DEAD!" His eyes flared, and he turned around to violently kick the wooden wall behind him with enough force to make him recoil in pain. "I need you lot. I – urghff – I need you three bodyguard type folks to keep them from getting to me."

"Who?" Blake asked, only to regret speaking up and bringing the attention upon herself.

"ASSASSINS! I JUST TOLDJA!"

"But –"

"What my associate means," Jaune cut in, "is that we will be better suited to protect you if you can tell us the number of assassins, their capabilities, and such information? Do they have aura? Are they armed? We only ask in order to ensure your safety, Mr. Alizarin."

The anger turned to sorrow faster than Blake could have imagined, and the farmer began to weep like a child. "Hundreds of them! Thousands of them! They're closing in on me, from every direction! They come at night, but I don't trust the day either. They'll kill me dead if I don't do something to stop 'em!" He pointed a finger at Team Job, but not accusatorially this time. "Please! I'm begging you, please, help me stop them!"

He was sounding less and less coherent by the minute. Initially, Blake had assumed upon flying overhead that this was something mundane, like an animal dying and a farmer wanting to ensure the safety of the rest of his herd from the unseen threat, be it Grimm, wolves, or vandals. When he'd said assassins, she might have been able to buy that a rival farm might want to kill this bachelor who lacked family in hopes to steal the land, but now he was just spouting nonsense.

I think it might be more suitable for this man to see a therapist than to hire bodyguards.

But Blake would only recommend that at the end of the week, after Team Job Security had secured his land and secured their fee.

The rational part of Blake's brain, which had never failed to serve her well in the past, told her that Mr. Alizarin was just a kook. His mind was almost certainly gone, most likely from the isolation and loss of all of his family and friends to the nasty bout of Green Plague that had spread through Vale and even parts of Vacuo some years back.

However, the rational part of Blake's brain also told her that she could never account for everything. It wasn't likely that there were hordes of assassins gathering around this random farm every night (especially since he'd had no defense for himself or his land up until the arrival of Team Job), but that didn't mean that there wasn't some threat. Perhaps the confused farm owner had mistaken a real threat, something like the burning crimson eyes of the Grimm, for some sort of fairy tail-esque nightmare.

It's also possible there are bandits or thieves out here casing the place some nights prior, and he saw that. Hell, it could even be the White Fang. Mr. Alizarin is a human, and he's well off in terms of his estate. It's not the target I would pick, but who knows what goes on in the minds of some of my former brothers and sisters?

Jaune, who was typically received the best, had been able to coax some more information out of Mr. Alizarin. This one time, Blake didn't actually believe it was because of prejudice or Jaune's above average people skills; the young man seemed paranoid around everyone and everything.

Team Job had been kindly given the loft of the barn, an otherwise empty space, to use as their base of operations. There were no keys to any of the doors, but they had been verbally granted free reign to enter any part of the house, barn, workshop, or outdoor farmland at any time if they believed there was a threat. As long as they didn't harm any of the animals, they were also permitted to move about the pastures.

Since the assassins were expected to come at night, they would be splitting up each day of the seven that they expected to stay into three rotations. Jaune and Velvet would patrol the mornings, Jaune and Blake would patrol the evenings, and Blake and Velvet would patrol the nights. It worked best for all of them this way, as Jaune wasn't too keen on staying awake at nights, whereas Blake was all for it. Darkness was the element of the Faunus, and Blake was a creature who could melt into shadows with ease.

Mr. Alizarin himself was going to be going about his daily business, but anytime he left the house he asked that one of his hired bodyguards be close by to watch over him. From what Blake understood of his extremely busy schedule as the sole caretaker of this enormous farm, that would be most of the day.

According to Jaune, the farm was falling on some hard times. It wasn't really pertinent to the mission, but Mr. Alizarin's obsession with being the sole worker of the fields and caretaker of the animals had led to numerous problems on his end. There was simply too much land for him to harvest on his own, and sometimes he would have entire swaths of crops that fell off the plant and died before he could ever get to it. Additionally, he used to have chickens, but a communicable illness had spread among them, and the entire stock of them had gotten infected and died. Their owner had refused to call in a veterinarian, but that had left him with no other option but to pray for good fortune that never came.

In short, the Alizarin homestead was a failing enterprise run by an obstinate man, one so blatantly bitter against the world that even Velvet herself hadn't tried anything. Blake gave it about ten years before the farm was completely useless, assuming it kept going as it was now.

He could probably sell it and make bank, but people can be stubborn sometimes. Can't say I blame him though, not when he's got non-financial factors like family legacy and personal pride on the line. I mean, I've done stupid things before when it comes to sticking to a dying cause that no one believes in but me.

B̶l̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶h̶o̶p̶e̶d̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶'̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶a̶l̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶W̶h̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶F̶a̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶T̶e̶a̶m̶ ̶J̶o̶b̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶.̶

"There's nothing to worry about," she said to herself as she unrolled a sleeping bag in the loft of the barn.

The morning sunlight was pouring in through the cracks and unfixed holes in the roof, forcing her to have to hide in a corner and face directly into a wooden wall. Jaune and Velvet were out there right now, familiarizing themselves with the turf as Blake tried to force her circadian rhythms to adapt to an unwanted change.

"This'll be an easy job." She fluffed her pillow and rested her head down on the side of it. "Our easiest one yet, I'm guessing."

Coming Soon: Cornfields, Cows, and Calamity

Jaune helps out around the farm, engages in single combat with an endangered species, and has a nighttime chat with Velvet before bed.

Chapter Text

Author's Notes

Team Job Security claims yet another victim to its massive viewcount on FFN, this one in the form of its rival Jaunefic, Living The Dream.  With that, it takes the second place.  I suppose it won't be long now...

Poor Tuna.  It barely even had a life.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!

"They're after me, I'm telling ya!"

Mr. Alizarin was 100% correct in the second statement – he certainly was telling Jaune. He'd told him when he'd woken up in the morning and called his security escort to watch over him, he'd told him as they'd hauled bags of feed out and dumped it in numerous big piles for the animals, he'd told him as they walked among the fields and inspected the crops for beetles while simultaneously harvesting anything that looked ripe, and he was telling him now, just as he'd been telling him for three days now.

It was impossible not to feel at least a little sympathy for his client. The man was clearly overworked, for even Jaune with his little to no farming experience knew that animals weren't supposed to eat from upended sacks. And if that weren't enough, the entire first half of the day covered less than about a tenth of the field. There was no way they were going to be able to do the entire farm in one day, and Jaune wasn't even sure that Mr. Alizarin would be able to go through that much land in the full week they'd be here.

The pity was offset a little bit by two things, though.

Firstly, the dude had entirely brought this upon himself by not hiring other people to work his land. Pride could only carry you so far, and as an employer himself, Jaune had learned that one person, no matter how much they dreamed a dream, would need help every now and again.

Secondly, Mr. Alizarin simply wouldn't shut up about these vague threats to his life. It was impossible to tell if he was offended by the assassin's very existence, morosely consigned to his fate at the hands of what he saw as an impossible enemy gunning for him, or fearful of every stalk of corn that swayed in the morning breeze.

"I've known they were coming for days. They've been after me, you see, after me for years. No, my entire life! No, forever! They've always been after me! Always! They want me dead, and they won't stop until my blood is running through these fields. But this is my land, my farm, my home, my world! I own it, and I'm not going to give it up for anything! I won't let them win."

Even though it was gibberish, Jaune still paid close attention, hoping that he might be able to hear some nugget of certainty in the myriad of nonsense that might give him a better idea of what exactly they were planning on doing here.

If it really is assassins like he thinks, I wonder how much we can do to protect him. All it takes is a single gunshot from a sniper hiding in the tall stalks of the corn to end it instantly. We could unlock his aura, but training me on how to defensively use it was an ordeal, and it'd only attract more Grimm in the long run. Eventually, we will have to pack up and leave, and they'll overrun the farm. He's a solitary man living alone out here – unlocked aura should only be considered an absolute last resort.

In all likelihood, there probably was no danger closing in on this farm, not when the only evidence of these murderous assassins was an incoherent hermit's ramblings.

But if that's true and we're safe, nothing is lost by staying on my guard at all times. And if I'm wrong, an innocent man could die.

"I see their faces when I sleep, you see. Hundreds of them. There's men and women, humans and Faunus, rich and old, young and poor – they won't rest, and they won't let me rest. There's nowhere to run, but I'm not going to run. No, sirree, no running for this man. Let them come – you'll turn the tables on all of them."

Huh. Jaune hadn't really thought about that. If the assassins did try to kill the client, would he actually be able to stop them?

Maybe…Maybe Ozpin had been…

Lives were on the lines, and Jaune was just…

Except it isn't just me. Unlike Mr. Alizarin, I'm not choosing to be alone here. A single scroll call, maybe even a single loud yell, and Blake and Velvet will come running. And there's no doubt in my mind that they can fight like demons and stay the hands of any assassins.

Every huntsman in the world had some limits, but that didn't mean they should just give up and live a life of fear. It wasn't as though a few years at Signal and Beacon would have made Jaune into some immortal god-king with a magic semblance that instantly slew enemies. He was just a man with a sword and a solid white aura no matter what.

"Right-o. That's enough for now." Mr. Alizarin heaved up the wheelbarrow full of collected crops that had ripened or been ready early. "Let's head in for lunch."

Jaune nodded. He was staying at a slight distance behind Mr. Alizarin. It might be better if he were closer so that he could jump in and protect him from any sudden attack, but Jaune felt like it was a worthy trade-off for having a better view of the row of crops down which they were walking.

Looking about the field in which he stood, Jaune asked, "If you don't mind me asking…there's no way you could harvest all these when the bulk of them ripen. How do you –"

"I don't," Mr. Alizarin curtly said. "No way I could. I used to rent out a Dust-powered corn harvester, but the lady I got it from died from the plague, and the machine broke down when he son-in-law tried to repair it. When that time comes, I usually just let the animals out into the fields to eat the leftovers. It's not perfect, but it's what I can do."

It was extremely not perfect. In fact, it was so imperfect that Jaune was almost ready to scream at the inefficiency. His employer was seeding a full field, tending to it for months on end, and then just letting it go to waste. It was as far from perfect as you could get.

But it's not my place to –

A noise caught his ear, and Jaune whirled around. He heard Mr. Alizarin's breath suck in from behind him. Fumbling once or twice out of haste, Jaune drew his sword and shield and backed up a few steps to bring himself closer to his charge.

"Stay close, sir. Can you reach into my pocket and grab my scroll? I don't want to lower my weapon."

"Got'cha."

Regardless of how cantankerous he could be during his daily routine, he was at least completely willing to leave his safety in the hands of the (semi-)professional without any backseat ordering. Jaune felt a hand slip into his pants and grab out his scroll.

"Ok. Call the contact listed as Velvet."

She was currently awake and keeping watch over the house while Blake rested. Mr. Alizarin had initially wanted her to watch over him as well, but Jaune had been able to convince him (using the pre-prepared talking points Velvet had armed him with) that having someone to make sure that an assassin wasn't sneaking into the house to poison his food or lie in wait for night to fall was a better use of their time. It was a schedule that had worked for then for almost half of their week, and now it was going to be put to the test.

"Okay," said the young man's voice behind Jaune. "I'm dialing…okay. V-Velvet, it's Augustine, we're out in the fields…"

The sound had been little more than the rustling of corn, but spending an entire morning among the stalks had given Jaune a good ear at determining what was rustling from the wind and what was not. It had been a concerted noise, something moving about the dense thicket of tall plants that had alerted him to its presence.

"In the fields! In the fields, you – ! They aren't labelled or somethin'! Just run out here and shout!"

He couldn't see anything. The enemy clearly knew where he was, and he didn't know where they were. That meant that they had the advantage here.

"Okay, Mr. Alizarin. We're going to back away from here. Don't run, because that could make you trip. I've got my eyes on our six, so you just look straight towards the farm. Let me know the second you hear or see any –"

An opening formed in the fields of corn, and something stepped out.

It's a cow? No, cows aren't so brown and furry, and this thing is much bigger. What is this animal?

"It's a bison," said Mr. Alizarin. "I'll be damned…I thought they hunted them to extinction."

"A what?" Jaune asked. He'd never heard of 'bison' before.

"You might've heard of it as a wild buffalo. It's a wild animal. They used to live in the plains of Sanus…essentially the crawl space between Vale and Vacuo. Hunters – animal hunters, that is, not you lot – used them as a cheap source of food to lighten the load on caravans between the kingdoms. Vale and Vacuo are the only kingdom linked by land, so –"

Jaune enjoyed the pedantic lecture as much as the next guy, but now wasn't really the time. "Is it dangerous?"

"As dangerous as a bull with the disposition of a wild animal. It should just leave if we don't bother it."

The bison-thing didn't leave, but it also didn't bother them. Kicking down a stalk of corn with one of its broad forelegs, it dipped its head down and took an unhusked cob fully into its mouth with a soft low.

Okay. This is fine. I can work with this.

The farmer said what was on Jaune's mind in literal seconds before he himself could. "Let's just back away slowl–"

"JAAAUUUNE!" screamed Velvet from afar. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

That got the cow thing mad. Well, not mad, maybe, but agitated. It scarfed down the last bit of corn that was in its jaws and lowered its head, huffing loudly. It didn't take a biologist to know that this animal was preparing to charge him.

"VELVET!" he called out, for the need for calmness was long gone. "HERE!"

Jaune dug his feet into the ground and raised his shield in front of his sword. This animal was far less dangerous than a Grimm, and assuming nothing went wrong, he would likely be able to fend it off without killing it. Assuming that Mr. Alizarin was right about it being endangered, it would be better if he didn't raise that status up to extinct.

"Go to Velvet, sir," Jaune ordered Mr. Alizarin. "I'll repel it, but there's no need to risk you safety."

Taking a single second to look over his shoulder, Jaune confirmed that he was fleeing in the direction Velvet had come from. Unlike the theoretical assassins out to get him, this bison could care less for one human leaving when there was still another one for it to honk at. Planting his feet, Jaune braced himself as it charged.

The horns were obvious dangers, but Jaune knew that on any ungulate had more in their arsenal than sharp points. Quadrupedal beasts tended to be well-built and quite muscular, and the wild cow in front of him was no different.

The mountain of frontal fur snapped its neck upwards when it collided with Jaune's shield, and he found himself losing ground. A normal person would probably have been knocked right over and trampled, but his aura boosted his strength enough to endure the blow, albeit just barely.

Its entire body is probably as strong as an Ursa Major's paw-thrust. But this is a wild animal, not a Grimm. All I need to do is push it back until it knows that retreat is better. Cows aren't carnivores; it's only defending itself.

The next time that the buffalo thing slammed its head into Jaune's shield, he dropped his sword entirely and pushed his own body forward, leaning his own full fight into the metal barrier. The animal let out a hollow roar and tried once more, but Jaune strained his muscles and let himself tank the hit.

Dang, this dude is strong! No wonder rodeos can be so dangerous.

It took one more solid defense against the charging beast to convince it that the fight wasn't worth it. Jaune was gritting his teeth by that point, but the bison decided it had had enough and nodded its head up and down in short, jerky movements. Its breath came out with spat out flecks of corn and even some strands from the husk, and it turned around. Jaune kept his eyes on its retreating haunches until it was full out of sight.

Wiping his brow, Jaune bent over and retrieved his sword. It would have been child's play to kill the bison with it, but he was here to stop assassins, not wild creatures stealing corn ears.

Speaking of which…

"HEY! THE BISON THING'S GONE!"

"You don't need to shout."

Jaune nearly jumped out of his skin when Blake's voice came from behind him. His attention had been so entirely fixated on the bison that he hadn't seen her arrive during the fight.

"I was planning on intervene, but you looked like you had it," she explained, her arms folded. Gambol was in one hand, shifted into its gun mode. "Velvet's escorted the big boss back to his home."

"Good, good," Jaune said, bending over to lean on his own knees. "It would suck if the assassins killed him while I was distracted asserting dominance with a feral cow. Lemme catch my breath for a second."

Crocea Mors had a few minor scratches on the paint from where the bison's horns had scratched into it, but it was otherwise undamaged. Jaune shifted it back into a sheathed sword and holstered it on his belt.

"You know there aren't assassins, right?"

Jaune looked up at Blake. "Huh?"

"Jaune, he's crazy."

"Yeah, no S-word. But we're being paid to protect him either way."

"We're being paid to waste time. Hunters are in short supply for the kingdom; we could be out there killing Grimm instead of playing bodyguard for a farmer who's in zero danger."

Jaune wasn't entirely sure that zero danger included nearly having been mauled by a bison just seconds ago, but he did have to admit that it was most likely just a random encounter, not the first stage of a grand murder scheme.

"We aren't hunters, Blake," Jaune reminded her. "I mean, like it or not, we should probably stick to low key, easier missions for now. You might be good, and I might be okay, but we're both trash compared to Velvet, and she's only a third year. Beacon students normally get four. I don't like Ozpin, but he was speaking the truth about us not yet being ready for the responsibility of entire village's worth of lives in our hands."

Blake didn't seem to be too pleased, but there was nothing untrue in what Jaune had said, so she let it go. "Let's just go back to the farm."

Jaune learned afterwards that Blake had already been awake when they'd encountered the bison, and Velvet had just gone to sleep around the time they'd called. After having some mixed vegetable and beef stew for lunch, the rabbit Faunus had returned to her slumber, leaving Jaune and Blake on their patrol.

In the interest of fairness to the entire team, Blake had volunteered to be the one to escort Mr. Alizarin into his fields in the afternoon and listen to him vent about how much he hated…basically everything. It was a welcome respite for Jaune to just be able to do nothing but watch over the homestead.

When Velvet had returned to her sleeping bag in the loft, Jaune had climbed up the ladder just behind her. Crawling through one of the holes in the roof, he'd exited the shelter of the barn and lifted himself to the top of the roof, where he currently sat. It gave him an eagle's eye view of the entire farm. If anyone tried to sneak up on them, he would see it.

Blake was probably right about the assassins, but Jaune had no intention of slacking off either way. It was impossible not to feel a little bit of sympathy towards the man who'd hired them, given how plagued by his fears he was. If putting in a tiny bit more effort here and there to ensure he felt safe was all it took to ease some of that torturous fear, Jaune would gladly go the extra mile.

Basically nothing happened for the rest of that shift, so Jaune mostly just watched the barn animals doing their thing out in the fields. When Blake and Mr. Alizarin came into view, out there among the fields of crops, he would keep his eyes on them for as long as he could before they disappeared behind a tall ear of corn. It was just something for him to do to pass the time.

Velvet woke up a few hours before she'd gotten her full shift of rest, but she said she wasn't able to go back to sleep, so she joined Jaune up on the top of the roof. It was roughly 8 o'clock PM, and given the season, the sun had just begun to set beyond the forest on the horizon.

"We never did anything like this back in Beacon," she said to him, kicking her legs off the edge of the roof. Jaune himself was seated a few feet back, for his comfortability around heights was a little less than hers.

"See?" he said murmuringly. "Not even four missions in and you're already experiencing new things."

Her ears twitched as she smiled. "Team Job." She raised her hand in the air and swept it out like a shooting star. "Join up, and see the world! From atop a barn…"

Both of them chuckled a little bit at that.

Blake would probably be coming back soon to relieve Jaune of his duties. At night, Mr. Alizarin would be asleep in his bed, and he valued his privacy, so the girls were going to be posted outside. Neither would have direct eyes on him, but at the same time, there weren't any assassins out there, so it didn't matter.

Topping backwards to lie on her back, Velvet let her arms fall straight out on the roof in the shape of a starfish. "Hey, Jaune."

"Hey, Velvet," he said right back.

"I'm pregnant," she said.

"Oh."

Jaune's brain took a second to remember what the word pregnant meant.

Velvet's head tilted upwards from where it rested on the barn roof to look back at him. "Jaune? You still there?"

He held up a finger. "Gimme a sec."

Pregnant. That means she's pregnant with a baby, but Velvet isn't pregnant.

Jaune looked over at her, specifically her stomach. It wasn't bumpy like a pregnant woman's stomach was supposed to be, but it wasn't flat either. He hadn't really noticed it under her vest, but there was a decent curvature to it.

Okay. I think I've got it.

"You're what?!" Jaune exclaimed. "WHAT?"

"Voices down, Jaune." Velvet's second set of ears flopped a bit. "I can hear you loud and clear."

"B-B-But…But you're you! You're…you?"

"Yeah, I'm aware."

It was impossible to wrap his mind around. "You're nineteen! Y-You're a huntress, one from a Beacon!"

"Yes, I'm nineteen, and no, I'm an ex-Beacon ex-huntress." Velvet sat back up and put a hand over her stomach. "Why do you think I quit?"

The conversation that they'd had at her job interview came rushing back to Jaune's memory in full technicolor. She left Beacon abruptly because she didn't think they would be able to accommodate her schedule, and the reason why had been a mystery up to this point.

"I…what…why?"

"Why what?" Velvet asked. "Why did I get pregnant? Because I didn't take enough precautions. Why did I hide it? Because I didn't want anyone to know. Why am I telling you now? Well, I'm already starting to show, and you're a bit more approachable than Blake, so I wanted you to know first."

Jaune knew he wanted to ask more about this revelation from straight out of left field, but he had no idea what question he wanted answered. Thus, the defaults came out. "How? Who?"

"How…" Velvet coughed out a weak laugh. "Don't really wanna explain that to my boss. As for who, you wouldn't know him. Before you ask 'when,' it was at the end of the previous school year, when I was still in Beacon."

Jaune had no idea how he was supposed to process this. Velvet had just up and dropped it on him, and tons of half-formed ideas were crawling around the empty inside of his head like ants on a log.

Is she okay? Is it safe for her to fight Grimm with Team Job? When is she going to give birth? Is she quitting the team? Is the baby a boy or a girl?

Nothing came out of his mouth. There was just too much to focus on any one thing, and Jaune didn't trust himself to not say something stupid or potentially offensive.

"I'll tell Blake on my own time," Velvet muttered. "Please don't…b-but I understand if you have to." Now that Jaune looked at her, Velvet was suddenly looking a lot more nervous than he'd realized.

She's telling her boss that she's with child. Of course she'd worried.

"I won't. B-But…"

Velvet looked at Jaune, waiting for him to say whatever he was going to say.

I think I need to process this and figure out what I want to ask before I have this conversation. I should make a list of questions.

"I need time…is that okay?"

Velvet furiously nodded up and down. "Of course, sir."

"Jaune," he instantly corrected. "It's still Jaune."

Regardless of Velvet's status of motherhood or not, she was still the same Faunus as before…his friend. That didn't change just because she was pregnant.

"That's Blake," Velvet said, pointing out to the third member of Team Job as she and Mr. Alizarin came out of the corn fields with a wheelbarrow so fill it was spilling. Blake was picking up the dropped ears as they fell, and even at this distance, Jaune could see she was annoyed at having been relegated to such a role.

"You'll be joining her for the night shift, then?" Jaune asked.

Velvet nodded without a word.

"Okay. Good luck. A-And, if you're worried I'm upset or something…I'm not. We'll all sit down and have a talk eventually, but…just –"

"Later," she finished for him.

"Later," Jaune agreed. "Later."

Jaune awoke to his sleeping bag being shaken violently.

"GAH! WHAH?"

Blake, kneeling over him. easily blocked a random punch he threw her way and stopped shaking him. "Jaune, you need to wake up."

"I'M…a-ah. What's going on? What's wrong?"

He looked around and saw that Velvet was standing above him. She was wringing her hands nervously.

"What is it?"

"It's Mr. Alizarin," Blake answered, her voice a bit shaky. "His house is burning down, and he's gone missing."

Coming Soon: Missing but not Missed

With their distrustful boss missing and a slew of unseen enemies roaming about the farm, Blake is in for a long night.

Chapter Text

"He's –"

Jaune sat up from his sleeping back with such force that his forehead nearly clipped Blake's and she was forced to lean back to avoid getting clocked.

"We don't know how it happened," Blake explained to her confused partner. "One minute, Velvet and I were chatting about corn or some stupid shit, the next moment there are flames flickering inside the house and smoke pouring out."

It wasn't the fire that gave it away; it had actually been the smoke. There had just been so much of it, pouring in a huge plume out the chimney and sneaking out the cracks in the wood like water through a broken pot. Blake had seen it first, but Velvet had noticed the oddness before she could say a word.

"We ran inside the house to check for him, but he wasn't there," Velvet said.

"That doesn't mean he died in the fire," Blake explained before Jaune could even ask. "It's still burning out of control, but there would be a charred body inside if he'd been in there."

"Sh-Should we extinguish it?" Jaune asked, fixing his sword to his belt.

"Talk as we go down the ladder," Blake said, putting her foot on the top rung and heading down.

"I think finding our missing man is more important at the moment," Velvet pointed out, following after Blake. "And besides, none of us packed Ice Dust. We've no way to put it out other than the well, and the house'll burn down before we carry up enough buckets of water to do anything meaningful."

"I was more thinking about setting ablaze the entire farm, fields, and forest," Jaune said, third down the ladder to the ground floor of the barn. "We won't be able to search in an inferno."

"An ex-boyfriend of mine had a mechshift shovel for his weapon," Velvet explained, recounting what Blake had witness moments ago. "I dug a ravine around the house with it to prevent the spread of the flames." She opened the barn door, letting in the frantic noises of the frightened livestock, to point out the trench she'd dug.

Jaune blinked a few times. "E-Ex-boyfriend?"

Velvet's whole body tensed for a second, then she swallowed uncomfortably. "N-No, he wasn't the…it was a –"

Jaune shook his head before she could say anything. "Sorry, now isn't the time. My mistake."

Both of them immediately moved on to get Jaune up to speed on Velvet's firefighting methods, but Blake couldn't help but fixate on the bizarreness of that little exchange for a minute.

Velvet's ex-boyfriend…Jaune…

Are they…? If so, that was fast.

It didn't matter. Not now, not when a man's life was at stake. Jaune was right; it was a mistake to distract themselves on the job.

"We need to split up and search the fields," Blake said, taking charge of the situation. Velvet might have been the best fighter, but only Blake had actual experience commanding others during emergency situations. "I know it sounds like a mistake, but we'd never in a million years cover the full grounds of the farm before whoever's taken Mr. Alizarin sneaks off into the night."

"I-I can't see!" Jaune shouted out. "I'm not a Faunus!"

Shit. He can search in the dark if he's too blind to recognize one row of corn crops from another.

"Velvet, take all fields to the south," Blake shouted, wasting not a minute. "Go!"

The rabbit girl scurried off.

"Jaune, you'll stay here at the farm. In the event that our guy somehow escapes or breaks free, he'll most likely come back here. Scroll out, sword drawn, secure a perimeter, lethal force authorized."

Those last three words were bitter pills to swallow, both for Blake and Jaune, but arson and kidnapping weren't the actions of someone who could be dealt with the kiddie gloves. This wasn't like the edgy bandits in Temecula. This was a real danger.

"Call the second you see or hear anything. I don't care if it's a fucking chicken clucking – you call me and Velvet."

Jaune nodded, exhaling deeply. Blake returned the nod and ran out into the northern field.

Blake's main goal was to get to the edge of the property as quickly as possible. The forest and the farm's crops were both thick, but between them was a thin line of space that she could guard. If anyone tried to kidnap Mr. Alizarin and intended to get him off property, they would need to cross that line at some point, and she would see it.

And they must want him kidnapped, or they wouldn't have just shot him rather than cart his body off.

But that still left the question of how, and in so many ways. How had they gotten past Blake and Velvet's watchful eye? Both of them had done a once-over of the house before letting Mr. Alizarin go to sleep, and they'd found no one inside. And when Blake and Velvet had charged into the burning house, aura raised and mouths covered to protect them from the smoke, how had the assassins gotten past them and escaped?

A secret entrance, perhaps? But we weren't told of any. He specifically said that the front door was the only point of entry.

A semblance? It's possible. Teleportation, invisibility, flight, burrowing…it could be anything.

If it was a semblance, then there would be virtually nothing that Team Job could do to stop this.

Jaune's words echoed around in her mind, the ones saying that perhaps Ozpin had been right about them all along, but she pushed it out for now. A Beacon-trained huntress would be just as powerless against a foe who could teleport right past them.

The further she got away from the crackling of the fires, the darker and quieter it became. Blake had trained extensively to be light on her feet, and she nimbly wove through the stalks of corn in a way that they made no sound when they flopped about. If she did run into anyone, she would hear them before they heard her.

Blake wasn't a very big fan of horror movies (or any movies for that matter), but even she knew that nighttime in the cornfields was a big staple of them. Whether it was extraterrestrials carving messages with laser beams, possessed scarecrows wielding pitchforks, or inbred axe murderers seeking vengeance for wrongs in a past life, this setting was as quintessential a trope as they came.

But unlike fiction, where the monster picked off the heroes one by one, this was reality. Splitting Team Job up was the right call, because the three of them with their aura were already more dangerous than 97% of Remnant's population – even Jaune with his minimal training was a force to be reckoned with if you were a normal person.

The light of the fire was on her side. If someone ahead of her looked back, she would be a shadowy silhouette, and they would be fully illuminated. Chasing had been the right call.

Our biggest problem is that there're only three of us. If we could have had full teams of people scouring the fields, it'd be much better, but that's no fault of Team Job's. Our client could only afford three people, and most hunters would never have even come to play private bodyguard to a lunatic.

Except he wasn't a lunatic. There had been someone out to get him, and Blake had nearly dismissed the concerns he'd been singing since the very beginning.

Thank the gods we didn't just half ass this whole thing. If Velvet and I had gone to sleep, we wouldn't have even known something was up until morning.

The trees were finally visible above the stalks of corn, meaning that Blake was nearly at her destination. If she could –

THOMP!

Something ran into her at full speed – no, someone!

As quickly as the person had appeared, they were off in the opposite direction, tracing the path Blake had just come from as they ran in the direction of the burning house.

Blake scrambled up to her feet as fast as lightning and began to continue chasing after them. Taking out her scroll would only slow her down, but Team Job's biggest advantage was their numerical superiority (assuming there was only one assassin), and she needed to utilize it.

Typing would be impossible, so Blake hit the call button and lowered the volume to the bare minimum. "Bogey coming your way, Jaune," she whispered, not keen on alerting her mark to the presence of her allies. "Velvet, converge on the farm. Cut them o–"

Instincts that had been hammered into her by years of training, instincts so second nature at this point that Blake wasn't even sure how they alerted her to danger, just that they did, told her to move out of the way, and Blake just barely managed to avoid being skewered by a Deathstalker's tail from behind her. It wasn't a big one, by any means, but it had been light on its claws and fast enough to catch up to her without her knowing.

"Shit! There's –"

There was no choice but to drop the scroll as she desperately rolled out of the way of its oncoming pincered.

They must've been attracted by the fire, Blake thought as she leapt to the underside of the Grimm and shoved her sword into the joint between its middle left leg and its carapace. I guess this is what scared our assassin back towards the farm. On the positive side, that means they aren't a hunter, or they would have just killed it and been off.

Rolling out from under it as she cut off the other two legs at the base, Blake avoided being crushed by the collapsed Grimm and continued to run in the direction of the farm. Grimm or not, her primary job was to protect her client, and the best way to do that was to catch the person who'd stolen him and find out what they'd done with him.

Out of a desire to at least be aware of the threat, however, she turned back around for just a moment, still running the whole time.

At least ten Deathstalker tails rose were sticking out from above the corn crops. The Grimm had taken to the fields.

And they were all moving towards the burning house.

Blake actually stopped this time.

This many Grimm – that was too many to handle.

Her job was to protect her client, but Jaune and Blake knew that the assassin was headed their way. What they didn't know was that there were waves of Grimm, far too many to handle, converging on their location.

It doesn't matter if we save our guy from assassins if the Grimm kill us all afterwards.

In the tall field of corn this far away form the fire, Blake was hidden, and the Deathstalkers gave away their position with those tall tails of theirs. Out at the barn and the pastures, that advantage would immediately go away.

There's too many for us to handle in a head-on fight, but I could probably thin down their numbers with the aid of the darkness. Jaune and Velvet know what they're doing; I need to trust them to their jobs while I do mine.

The hard part would be killing them all without using bullets. Dust Bullets were noisy and would announce to every Grimm, human, or Faunus in the vicinity that Blake was out in the fields. In a situation where her only tactical advantage was the fog of war – corn and darkness, in this case, Blake could not afford to lose that one advantage, not when she had two fights ahead of her.

The closest Deathstalker's tail was perfectly steady as it moved through the farm. Unlike humans or four-legged animals that bobbed up and down during walking, the six-legged scorpions were sure-footed enough to keep their upper bodies from swaying or tilting.

Blake ambushed it from the side, driving Gambol Shroud into its right eye with as much force as she could. The Grimm gripped its front claws around her when she did, pinching her tightly, but it was dead long before it got around to inflicting any severe damage on her using the limb. All Blake had to do was stay the course and keep pressing her blade into its weak point, right through the brain.

There was no time to celebrate her victory, though, for the next one had made it past her in the time it took to kill the first, and that had only been a few seconds.

Killing the Deathstalkers using surprise attacks should have been relatively easy, but killing them all before they had even gotten close to the barn had exhausted her and cost her a hefty chunk of aura. Blake was currently in the low twenties, and she was fully winded. If it came to a fight with the assassin, she would be useless.

I thought they weren't a hunter because they ran from Grimm, but even a hunter would run from that many Grimm. I still need to go and help.

Taking a second to wheeze for breath in solitude, she jogged forwards towards the still-blazing house.

Velvet's the best fighter I've ever seen, but our assassin is an unknown factor. They could be anyone – a rogue huntsman, a hitman for hire, White Fang. We don't even know if they had help or if this was a one-man job.

Blake was fairly certain that the person that had run into her was male, but it was impossible to say for sure. They had been running at full tilt right towards her, and she'd been expecting to slowly catch up on someone going in the same direction as she had been.

I wish I had my scroll to call ahead and let them know I'm coming.

Hang in there, team.

As she got closer and closer to the barn, she began to hear some words being shouted off in the distance.

"…coming…me…kill…"

It was too far to make out what was being said or who was saying it, but the frantic urgency in the voice only put more pep into her step.

"…hundreds of assassins, out there! So many I can taste 'em…"

The words were getting clearer the closer she got, and Blake started to recognize them.

Is that…?

Sure enough, it was. As Blake broke through the cover of the cornfield, she found herself briefly facing the wrong end of a Hard Light minigun. As soon as Blake's fellow Faunus teammate saw it was her, however, she lowered it.

"Thank the gods, it's you. We were really worried when you didn't come back."

Closer to the barn were Jaune and Mr. Alizarin, and the latter was talking up a storm while the former tried to calm him down. He was clad in flannel pajamas and had Jaune's hoodie draped over his shoulders as he shivered from the cold. Blake noticed that there was a certain madness in his eyes as he ranted and raved, more unhinged now than before, about his assassins.

"Where'd the culprit go?" Blake asked Velvet. "Did you catch him?"

Velvet shook her head. "No culprit."

"But I ran into –"

Throwing her thumb over her shoulder, Velvet pointed at the quaking man. "You bumped into him. There never were any assassins."

"ASSASSINS! THERE WERE! I SAW THEM! THEY'RE OUT IN THE FIELDS RIGHT NOW!"

Blake lowered her voice. "Velvet, I know he sounds crazy, but someone must have started the fire."

"He dropped a match when he was lighting up a lantern for a midnight piss," Velvet explained. "He told Jaune and me everything before he started rambling. The fire was started by accident, and when we burst in, he heard someone kicking down the door and thought he was in danger. We were the assassins, in this case."

"But how did he –"

"I'm getting to it," Velvet said with a tired smile. "He was so worried for his life that he managed to brute force climb out the chimney and run into the fields. Then, when he saw Grimm, he turned around the other way, bumped into you, and sprinted back to me and Jaune."

Jaune was currently receiving the brunt of Mr. Alizarin's paranoia, and from his defeated body language, he'd been enduring it for quite a while now.

"THEY'RE HIDING IN THE WELL! YOU CAN CATCH THEM IF YOU LOOK! CATCH THEM, QUICKLY, BEFORE THEY ESCAPE."

Velvet didn't even respond to his eager yelling, but Blake decided to give it a go. She'd dismissed him once, and it had nearly ended in disaster, so she was a little hesitant to make the same mistake again.

Peering down the well, she looked for signs of life and found none. "It's empty."

"THE GRIMM! THEY BROUGHT THE GRIMM TO MY FARM TO EAT ME ALIVE! DON'T WASTE TIME LOOKING IN THE WELL, STUPID GIRL, THEY'RE IN THE AIR! THE SKIES! THE GRASS! THE WALLS! EVERYWHERE!"

Clutching his head, he gutturally screamed. The sound wasn't new to Blake – she'd heard that kind of scream before, every time Adam had raised his sword while standing before a hostage with their wrists bound.

"It's over now," Jaune said, patting his shoulder. "T-The assassins…they ran away. You're safe." He gestured over to Blake. "My companion chased them off. It's alright."

"S-Safe?" Even though he was a good five years older than even Velvet, Mr. Alizarin couldn't have looked more like a weeping child, victim to his own nightmares, as he looked up at Jaune. "I'm…I'm safe? Is it safe now?"

"It is," Jaune said. "It's safe. You're safe. T-There was some damage to your home, but you're safe."

"Mmmmmmungggh…it's safe," Mr. Alizarin choked out. "Other things don't matter. I'm still alive, and that's…oh, thank you huntsman." He threw his arms around Jaune and gripped him in a tight hug. "Thank you for saving my life."

Jaune said nothing and just let the man continued to hug him.

Blake felt a tug on her sleeve and managed to tear her eyes away from her client's breakdown to see Velvet anxiously wringing her wrists.

"Blake, what do we do? His house is mostly burned down, and it's completely unlivable. Mr. Alizarin has nowhere to stay. Do…Do we take him to Vale?" She ashamedly lowered her head. "I'm sorry. C-Coco or the professor would always handle these things back when I was in Beacon, and I just…what do we do?"

Even if Jaune was the de jure figurehead of Team Job, Blake was its de facto commander, and she had no idea what to do here. Much of her life had been spent destroying homes, and she really wasn't sure what to do with someone who'd lost their own.

"W-We could ask what Mr.…"

The idea died before Blake could even make a fool of herself by letting it cross her lips. Their client was currently in a state of distress, and even if he emerged from it, Blake wasn't sure he was mentally competent to make the right decisions for himself anymore.

I'm going to have to make the call, aren't I?

Coming Soon: Extended Contract

With time running out before their mission ends, Team Job must decide on just how long they intend to stay on the farm.

Chapter Text

"I…I think we should take him to Vale."

Blake looked at Velvet, then at Jaune. Neither said anything for or against, and she repeated herself, louder this time.

"We'll all go to Vale. To…To Vale."

"Take…" Mr. Alizarin removed himself from Jaune, to whom he'd been clinging like a limpet up until now. "Take me to Vale? No! No! I won't let you!"

For whatever reason, Jaune found that he was better than either of the girls at calming their employer down, so he tried to say something soothing, but the guy wouldn't have it.

"No! You can't make me leave! This is my family's farm…my farm. You have no right to evict me. I own this land, gods-dammit!"

"Sir, your house just burned down," Jaune said, hoping to get through to him with logic. "There's nowhere for you to stay."

Mr. Alizarin looked back at his farm and reacted with shock, as though this were the first time he'd even noticed it.

He's seen it multiple times throughout the night. We even talked about how he started the fire by accident.

And then, to Jaune's great surprise, he scoffed.

"I can built another house, but I can't get another life. This farm is the only place I'm safe. It's my castle, and I'm the king out here. We stay here."

Jaune wasn't so sure about that. Sure another house could be built, but how was he going to pay for a new stove? Would he sew himself new sheets for a bed and clothes to wear? Even thought it was rickety, his house had contained and had been much more than four wooden walls and a dirt floor.

But it's not my choice. I'm a security consultant, not a social worker. Until I know for sure that he's not mentally competent…though I'd be amazed if he somehow did get deemed so…I can't tell a grown adult how to live his life.

"I'll sleep in the barn until you catch or kill the assassins," he went on, absolutely undeterred. "Though I think I might want to roll back the routine a touch. I'll feed the animals, but the fields can go a few days without inspection if the alternative is them never being inspected again."

Jaune wasn't sure how much he believed that. Ears of corn were practically falling off the stalk as they waited to be harvested, and they'd plucked off what could have been fifty beetles just the other day.

"Until…?" Blake made a noise that was somewhere between a sigh of displeasure and a groan. "Sir, we're only here for the week. It's been three days…four, if you count tonight being passed midnight. So far, aside from a fire you admit to having started, no one's done anything."

"They'll come! I know they will."

"We can't stay forever," Velvet breathed out.

Jaune couldn't help but notice how her hand rested on her stomach. He had absolutely no clue if she'd always done that and he'd just never noticed or if it was a new behavior.

"They're out there, and they'll lose their patience soon, I assure you." His eyes scanned across the three of them. "Is it the time? The money? I'll hire you for another week if that's what it takes."

"S-Sir…"

"Double the rate!" he loudly exclaimed. "And triple for a third week if it takes that long, but I know it won't! I just know!"

"Do you even have that much money?" Jaune asked him, not really sure about this whole thing anymore.

He nodded excitedly. "It'll eat into my savings, but there's no point in saving up just to die an early death. Lien chips don't burn, so I can have the cash in your hands as soon as the house stops burning."

It was so strange to hear a man talk about his house burning down so casually, like it was nothing more than an inconvenient disruption to his routine that had to be outlasted.

That kind of money could really make a big difference to Team Job, especially given how their expenses had risen upon the induction of Velvet to the company, but this…this felt wrong to Jaune. He and Blake had done some dirty things before, but it had either been victimless crimes or crimes where the victims were D-bags. This time, it was an innocent, desperate man who felt like his life was in jeopardy. He probably would have offered them anything in exchange for protection, and that was too much power for them to have over him.

"Let's just finish this week," Blake said cautiously. "We can extend our arrangement and discuss further payments then, okay?"

Mr. Alizarin nodded once and stared back towards the burning house he'd once lived in. "As long as you don't go. I need you three here, now more than ever. Tonight, I fear, is only the beginning of what they're planning."

Tonight was you, you crazy –!

"If you're staying in the barn, we can lend you a sleeping bag," Blake said. "We brought three, but only one of us sleeps at a time. On that note: Jaune, if you can, go and get some sleep. You've had the least rest of all of us."

Jaune was fairly sure that Blake needed the shuteye more than he did, given how she was smelling like a used piece of gym equipment after running about the fields, but he was in no conditions to countermand her orders. In front of customers, he held the power, but when the action came, there was no doubt who was really in charge.

"Velvet, stay with me," Blake said. "We can start putting out the fire now that the situation with the assassins and Grimm has been dealt with."

"There were Grimm?" Jaune and Velvet asked at the same time.

Blake just ran a hand through her hair. "It's been a long night."

Things had been tough before – tough to handle, tough to make sense of, tough to watch – but it was pure downhill from there.

Mr. Alizarin basically locked himself in the barn from then on, but it afforded him no privacy with Team Job rotating out to sleep in the loft. His hapless confusion was something that Jaune could only pity. More and more random things were coming out of his mouth, talk of assassins that made no sense to the rational being. Jaune listened in at first, hoping he might figure out just why their employer had lost his mind so, but he gave up after catching phrases about Grimm cowboys riding on horseback, corrupt Atlesian commanders seeking him hanged him for insubordination, and hundreds of wronged ex-wives closing in on the farm in search of vengeance.

They took turns looking after the farm as best they could, but it was practically on the verge of death. The animals probably needed better care than food being dumped their way and bucketfuls of stagnant water in their troughs, but Team Job had no idea what that better care was supposed to be. As for the crops, they didn't even try to salvage those and just let them ripen and fall.

In spite of it all, nothing came. No assassins, no Grimm, no ex-wives…nothing. If Jaune had compared it to the most peaceful week in Ansel he could remember, he would have found this time even more relaxing.

Blake had been right the first time around – no assassins were coming. It was tempting to latch onto Mr. Alizarin's desperation and believe that something was out there, to trust that it was all an elaborate charade to lower their guards for the strike, but Jaune even scouted into the surrounding woods at one point during his shift with Blake, just to see if he could somehow find a clue. There was nothing.

The bigger danger to the man is himself. We leave him food and water, but he barely touches it. I don't think he's slept more than two hours in the past two days combined, and that was after being woken up the night before and outrunning both Blake and the Grimm.

They could tell when he was awake and when he was not. It was the talking, the unceasing talking. There was terror in his voice every time he spoke, and try as Jaune may have, he couldn't not hear it.

It was on the evening of the sixth day that Team Job all got together to discuss what they were going to do tomorrow. Jaune decided to forgo some of his sleeping time and asked them all to gather round to talk it over, since it seemed like no one else on the team wanted to take the initiative. To avoid being overhead, they spoke with one another as they fed the animals in the pasture.

"We're supposed to ship out," Velvet said half-heartedly, in response to the question of tomorrow's agenda.

"Because we would need to take another mission," Blake added. "But if we've got one here…"

Jaune shook his head. "Blake, he's not thinking clearly."

"And would our departure help him out?" Blake asked pointedly. "If we just go, he might kill himself or something. It might not even be intentional – he could just forget to eat."

She might have had a point about him hurting himself, but their presence there wasn't helping either. Short of assassins actually showing up and being captured, there was no end in sight, and Jaune knew that none of the three of them expected that to happen.

"And besides, it's not like he has anything left here. Farms require seed for the next year, and his crops are dying. He doesn't even have a silo. He has no idea how to be a farmer."

That wasn't exactly fair. Jaune had no idea how to be a huntsman, but he was still doing his best.

Except I take help when I need it, and that's all the time. I do it because I could be seriously injured or even killed if I stubbornly cling to pride. Mr. Alizarin doesn't want help, but we might have to force it on him if his life is on the line.

"I'm not saying we stay here forever, you guys," Blake said, hauling another sack of feed over her shoulder. "He's bound to run out of steam eventually. We just outlast him and get a double or even triple payday for doing nothing for two or three weeks. No extra airship costs, no extra work – it's pure profit for us."

It was good that Blake wasn't suggesting they take his offer to raise their rates, because Jaune would have balked at that. They couldn't afford to stay out here without being paid, but Team Job wasn't going to let their moral compass point full south if Jaune had anything to say about it.

It's not fundamentally different from what we did in our first week – payment of 10,000 lien for a week of security. It's just more of that for both of us. Another 10k to Team Job, another week to Mr. A and his farm.

"We should take him to Vale," Velvet said, biting her lips. "We…I know we aren't huntsmen, but normal citizens can call in a welfare check on someone. He's not faring well at all."

Blake nodded. "Normal citizens can call in welfare checks, but they can't drag someone against their will to a city that's miles away."

Velvet began to tap her foot. As Jaune patted a sheep that was chowing down, he couldn't help but notice just how uncomfortable she looked.

I kinda agree with her on this one. I think Blake probably does too, since only a fool would suggest he's going to just 'get better.' She just wants to get a complimentary second and third missions out of the first, and then she'll hand him over to a social worker in Vale.

"Ummm…J-Jaune…"

Jaune stepped away from the sheep to help Velvet with her third bag of feed. It was kinda weird that she would ask for his help to lift it, given that she could and frequently had demonstrated just how much stronger she was (such as with the first two bags), but Jaune was happy to help.

Honestly, it's probably just the baby. She doesn't want to put stress on her back –

Oh.

She didn't want help with the bag. She wanted help with Blake.

"U-Uh…"

It was obvious that Blake had noticed something was up between them as the awkwardly stared into one another's eyes over a bag of ground meal, but Jaune had no idea how he was supposed to approach this.

"I need to go back to Vale," Velvet whispered to Jaune. "Doctor's check-up. It's that thing I need to do for a few hours weekly."

"It's every week?"

Velvet nodded. "Perks of being a huntress – they have extra tests. I put it off this week, but I don't think it's a good idea to do it again."

Jaune eyed Blake, who was glaring at the two as they conspiratorially whispered with their backs turned to her. Her hands were on her hips, and she did not look pleased.

"If you've got something I need to hear, now's the time to say it. No offense, you two, but this isn't a democracy."

Jaune looked at Velvet imploringly. She'd promised to come out to Blake about the baby on her own terms, but now might need to be that time. Blake spoke the truth; she was the closest thing they had to a real team leader within Team Job, and it would be impossible for them to reach a consensus about what tomorrow would hold if their most experienced leader didn't have all the details.

But it's not my standing in the team on the line here.

Jaune patted her on the shoulder. "It's your call either way."

Velvet smiled. "Thanks, Jaune. It means a lot…"

The two of them turned back to Blake, who now had a twice as unhappy frown on her face.

"Alright," Velvet said. "Blake. The truth, the reason I've been so squirrelly about going home to Vale…about everything, actually, is that I'm pregnant."

Jaune had no idea what he expected Blake's reaction to be, but he prepared himself to intervene just in case. Velvet could defend herself better than he could, but if Blake took it really poorly and tried to do something stupid, he would be better equipped to calm her down.

There was always the chance that she would be overjoyed by what should be happy news, but Jaune doubted it. Velvet might have seemed more on the positive side about this than the negative side, but Blake was more pragmatic than she was emotional, and she would probably see this as a burden.

Velvet's chosen to keep this baby so far, even when getting rid of it is legal in Vale and would have been a lot easier for her. She could have kept her team, her school, her career – I assume that means that having this kid means more to her than any of that stuff, or she wouldn't be here with us.

If it got heated, he would step in between them. If it didn't, he wouldn't take a side other than the side that said they should both get along. Both of them were Jaune's friends and teammates, and it was his job to keep thing running smoothly between everyone. That usually meant human clients, but if it were the two Faunus women themselves, so be it.

At first, Blake just reacted with surprise. That was what he'd been expecting; Velvet's stomach wasn't beginning to really bulge or anything yet, and she'd given them no indication of this before, so it was sort of a bombshell to learn it without any softening.

She did jump around a lot and exert herself during missions, but I guess pregnant women are more durable when they have aura. My own mom didn't even survive the birth of her last daughter, but Velvet's a huntress. The rules must be different for them.

When Blake finally finished staring at Velvet and her stomach, she exhaled deeply and turned her back to them both. Jaune waited with bated breath for her to ask a question, exclaim in surprise, or say anything, really, but she was quiet. Her hands rose to her head and brushed over her eyes, running through her hair, but she gave no other response.

"B-Blake?" Velvet asked.

The cat Faunus didn't move, but Velvet flinched back anyways.

According to her, I'm the more approachable one, and she was still torn up with worry about telling me.

In spite of his earlier promise to leave this to the girls, Jaune was beginning to feel like he ought to do something. Velvet probably needed his support, and Blake could certainly use the voice of a familiar teammate to help ground her to reality.

But what do I say? I don't want Blake to think I'm siding with Velvet over her, or vice versa. Heck, there are no sides!

In the end, he decided to try and bring it back to the topic that had started this all. "It's…something we'll need to consider when we decide if we're staying here or returning to Vale."

His voice drew Blake out of her thoughts, and she turned around to face them. She didn't look angry, which immediately lifted a load off of Jaune's chest, but she was clearly was making an effort to keep herself locked down.

"Are you sure?" Blake asked Velvet.

The rabbit Faunus' head went up and down. "Sure."

Blake's hands went back to her forehead, and she leaned her head back with a raspy grunt, like the sound of metal creaking. "That was dumb. Getting pregnant while being a huntress or security consultant or whatever the fuck we are was pretty damn dumb, Velvet."

Velvet's head nodded in shame. "I know."

"Look, I'm not trying to be a dick here, but you spreading your legs like this fucks things up a lot, Velvet, for the full team. This isn't a job where being physically incapacitated just works out." Her hands fell back down, and she let out a lengthy sigh. "You aren't fired, but we're going to have to make suitable arrangements when we're back in Vale."

I guess that's the answer to that. Sorry about the farm, Mr. A, but Velvet's checkups take precedence over your raving conspiracies.

Velvet kicked her feet a little. "I'm not asking for specia–"

"Hmph." Blake didn't wait for Velvet to finish. "I know you aren't, but I'm your boss, and I control your salary and time off. Babies are expensive to handle. If I don't make sure you're taken care of, it's on me, so I have to make sure you get the special treatment you need, asked for or not.

"And you, Jaune." Blake just kept shaking her head at both of them. "I thought that you would have a better idea than anyone of how precarious Team Job is at the moment. Just because things are looking up doesn't mean…you should have known better."

Jaune cringed. "I…I would have told you, but it wasn't for me to tell. I'm sorry."

It was impossible for Blake to not see this as some sort of betrayal of her trust. Velvet had told him the reason she was kicked out of Beacon, and he'd knowingly withheld it from her. Privacy or not, it was going to seriously impact the company, and that meant it would have a bearing on Blake's life too. Heck, it already was impacting the company, since it was going to be cutting this mission short.

"I'm really sorry," Jaune repeated. "I'm really, really sorry."

If he could go back, he would do the same thing, so Jaune was partially lying in saying that, but Jaune was still regretful over all this. It had been the right thing for Jaune to do, giving Velvet her own time to confront Blake without him going and blabbing to her first, but he truly wished he didn't have to hide it from her as he had.

From the way Blake looked at them both with scorn, she probably knew that Jaune's apology didn't have 100% of him behind it. "What's done is done, and we just have to live with our choices."

Her face softened just a little bit. She still looked disappointed, but it was clearly less disappointed relative to before, and the change was visible.

"For what it's worth, I'm happy for you." Blake shrugged. "For both of you. It'll be difficult, but we can make this work."

That's good. If we didn't have Blake on board, this would be a whole lot more…wait…what did I do that's made her happy?

"Congrats on getting together, I guess."

Getting together…wait, Blake thinks I'M THE FATHER?

It was difficult for Jaune not to burst out laughing at that…too difficult, in fact. He knew it was in poor taste and probably alarming to Velvet, given how he completely lost control of his disorderly guffawing, but Blake had gotten it soooooo wrong.

"It's not my baby, Blake. Velvet and I aren't a couple." Jaune shook his head. "Serious, what's with all the people…"

Velvet had assumed he was with Blake, and she'd assumed the inverse of it. Jaune had no idea why everyone was shipping him with everyone else. Of course, not knowing didn't mean he wasn't driven to tears with giggles by the tangled web of misunderstanding.

"I-It's about fourth months along at this point," Velvet said, almost sounding rushed. She was probably eager to clear it up before Blake continued along with the wrong idea. "It wasn't Jaune."

"I thou–"

"It wasn't Jaune."

This has gone on long enough.

"Alright, everyone listen up," Jaune said, clearing his throat. "I'm not dating either of you, nor have I impregnated you. And as I understand it, you two aren't dating, nor have you gotten one another pregnant. As of right now, no one in Team Job is in a personal relationship."

It was a little weird that everyone kept assuming it was Jaune and someone, but it made sense in context each time. To Velvet, who had only just joined the team, Jaune and Blake were a young man and woman of similar age who'd chosen to work and live together. She hadn't known their relationship and had just decided to flat out ask instead of dropping subtle clues or hoping for them to bring it up.

And Blake probably thought this was a recent development. Since I'm the only guy on the farm other than Mr. Tall, Dark, and Crazy, it would be the logical assumption that I'm the father.

Jaune cringed at thinking that. Him, seventeen years old, and already a father…from his perspective, it was young even at nineteen, but at least that was above the age of consent.

"We should tell Mr. Alizarin," Velvet said. "N-Not about me and the baby. About the 'leaving for Vale part.' I-If we're decided, that is."

It seemed like they were. Blake had agreed that they were going to talk it over in Vale, and like she said, it was up to the pair of bosses of the team to ensure that their one underling was safe and looked after.

It wasn't pleasant to think about, but Blake was right about how much trouble this would be. The team was about to terminate a mission solely because of it, and their salary arrangements would probably have to change.

Velvet won't ask for more money that we agreed to give her, but what are Blake and I supposed to do if she needs funds for medical expenses or baby food or whatever it takes to raise a kid? Just ignore her? She shouldn't have let us write up that contract.

He could imagine her thought process when going through with it – she was ashamed of telling them and assumed she could get by with the 30% pay they gave her – but it was just going to be a headache for them to undo and rewrite.

We're lucky it's the three of us. If this were a large business, there would be HR and a legal department we'd have to run it by, but instead of that Blake and I can just choose to make a decision and go for it as long as we're not violating any laws. And I don't think there are any about paying someone more than agreed upon.

"Jaune, call the airship," Blake commanded. "Tell them we've got four to take back to Vale."

"Four?" asked a voice from the barn.

Out stepped Mr. Alizarin, his skin pale from the days without sunlight he'd spent in there. Jaune could see there was a creak in his step, and his eyes looked a bit more sunken in then before. The physical toll on his body that his estrangement from the world had taken was starting to show.

Jaune cleared his throat. Go time.

"Sir, for your own good, w-we think it would be best –"

"No need to convince me." He raised his arms in the air and cracked his back. "I, too, believe it's time I move on and set foot on the journey ahead of me. This barn is of no more use to me."

That was good to hear, but also rather concerning that he would give up so fast on something he'd fought so hard to keep prior to this. Also, why wasn't he ranting about assassins? He'd B-worded and moaned about them nonstop before.

"Um…y-you're sounding…a bit better, Mr. Alizarin," Jaune said, not sure exactly how to phrase the change. The man's body was clearly in its worst shape, but his voices sounded…heartier. Like, after losing himself for so long, he'd finally found himself again.

He smiled (probably the first time Jaune had seen him do that) and chuckled. "Thank you, Jaune. I'm feeling much better, now that the worst is behind us. Behind me, rather. And please, call me by my name."

Jaune blinked, unsure of what he was missing. "I…I did. Didn't I?"

"There's no need for 'mister.'" The change in his demeanor was impossible to not notice now. He was speaking with a surety that most people only dreamed of possessing. Neither he nor Blake had it; few their age did. "We may use our given names, my friends."

"Uh…"

Crap, what was his first name?! Jaune had forgotten it. He vaguely recalled that the guy had asked to not be called by it and insisted on his surname.

Jaune waited for Blake or Velvet to bail him out, but a furtive glance in their directions revealed them to be just as stumped.

"Augustine Alizarin," their client said at last, sparing Team Job of further embarrassment.

"A-Augustine," Jaune said, trying his best not to sound like a tool for parroting the name.

"Thank you." The farmer smiled pensively. "But as I said, all my friends call me Austin. Though, truthfully, I suspect I'll only be keeping the first syllable."

Coming Soon: Oztin

(in case you didn't get it)

Chapter Text

"But as I said, all my friends call me Austin. Though, truthfully, I suspect I'll only be keeping the first syllable."

I guess we're friends, then? How utterly special.

Blake had no idea why the young man was putting such emphasis on his name, like it was some grand revelation. It was the exact same thing as the first time he'd mentioned it to them, nor did it have any unique meaning that made it more significant all of a sudden.

"Alright, Austin," she said calmly, hoping it didn't come across as condescending. "As my colleagues and I were discussing, we think it would be best if you came with us to Vale." She looked across the failing farm, stopping when she reached the torched house in which he used to reside. "There's nothing for you here."

"I heartily concur on the latter, but the former is regrettably inaccurate. Vale is not where I am most needed." He stroked his chin with the fingertips of one hand, continuing to move the digits long after he'd let go of his face. It was like he was pretending to have a beard or something, and it didn't look natural at all. "I think you three deserve an explanation, but I wouldn't burden you with my life story. I scarcely think we possess the time."

It was difficult for Blake to decide if insane ramblings about assassins was better or worse than cryptically talking in circles. Both were grating on her nerves, but the second of the two could probably do so much faster if she continued to allow it.

"Sir, we –"

"I have a semblance. A…A unique one, which has burdened me with great grief over the many, many years."

Mr. Alizarin, or Austin as he wanted to be known, raised a hand, and a green light appeared on his fingertips. He held his arm out in front of him, and the light shimmered along the length of it all the way to his shoulder blade, then rapidly expanded to encompass his entire body. Then, as quickly as it began, the normal coloration of his skin returned, once again starting with the fingertips and spreading outwards like a fire.

"But it's also a powerful one. My body can be destroyed, but my soul will never cease. It passes on from one host to another like a parasite…and sadly, in my case, the relationship is not mutualism or symbiosis. My mind eventually consumes my hosts."

Weird semblance talk…Blake had heard similar stuff before. Every now and again, some tabloid published the odd piece of pseudo-religious malarkey about a miracle huntress born with miraculous powers to return life to the dead by speaking their name or a huntsman with glowing eyes that instantly killed Grimm just by looking at them. The claims were always unfounded, and the claimants usually fizzled out of popularity when they were unable to prove their boasts.

That didn't mean this guy wasn't legitimate, though. He clearly possessed some sort of semblance or aura control, given the way he manipulated the light over his skin, but whether he was speaking the truth about rebirth was something Blake wouldn't rule on until she saw proof with her own two eyes.

"My previous host, Osrynne, was an aged man who took my soul at the age fifteen and carried it for the next ninety years. He was killed by assassins – one tends to rack up powerful enemies when one cannot pass – hence young Augustine's paranoia."

He was talking about himself in the third person, and Blake was really starting to get worried that this was a mental breakdown or cry for help. That would certainly be easier to swallow than mysterious, godlike powers of immortality.

"Are you…e-even…Mr. Alizarin?" Velvet asked. "You don't talk like him…"

Blake hadn't even considered that. This could be an imposter, as semblances of faking appearances were also far more common than rebirth.

"I subsume my hosts over time, as a side effect of my presence in their mind. However, as I had no pressing obligations and Sal…and my enemy has been inactive for generations now, I felt no need to rush. Augustine wished to stay on his farm, and I permitted him to do so for as long as I could. For most of his life, he wasn't even aware of my existence. However, when the process of our minds merging began, my old memories began to cross over into his. He saw my desires to leave and battled them with his own need to remain, hence his temperamental behavior in the past few days. Furthermore, specific memories, those of hundreds of my lives being killed over the centuries, compiled themselves into a specific belief that he was being chased by hundreds of people, even though the passage of time itself has slain all those who killed me."

This was starting to get weird. If this guy was speaking the truth about it all and had been inside the minds of hundreds of people…

Assuming an average of fifty years, that means he's five-thousand years old or longer. That would put him at being born right on the verge of humanity and the Faunus coming together as a civilization from isolated hunter-gatherer tribes. And hundreds of assassins? It's bizarre that he's been killed by people every time and not disease, hunger, or accidental injuries.

Again, that was all dependent on whether or not he was lying.

But he didn't sound like he was lying.

He really is acting changed. It could be split personalities or just good acting, but odd semblances do exist in the world. Mantle has a human lie-detector in their army, and the vice headmistress of Shade is said to be able to turn any metal to gold with just a touch. A mind controller was arrested in Vacuo for terrorism and human trafficking just two years ago. In a pool of infinite powers where there's never been an example of an overlap, isn't it possible that someone has the power to transfer their mind from body to body?

"A-Are you…are we safe being around you?" Jaune asked, stepping just a few paces backwards. Blake could have scoffed – it wasn't like a single stride of distance would make a difference against mind jumping.

"It's no risk. The powers choose a random host, and it's only when I die." Austin folded his arms behind his back. "However, as I mentioned prior, it is time for me to resume my journeys. The world of Remnant is a vast place, and with Augustine gone, there's no more need for me to hide myself away from it. To that end…"

He stepped forward towards Jaune, who once again took another step back. Austin just smiled and shook his head.

"I mean you no harm. There is merely a gift I must bestow upon you for your generosity. Augustine's last few days could have been far less pleasant had he not been in the company of such pleasant people. You were his only source of comfort in a turbulent, changing state of existence, and for that you must be rewarded."

Austin gestured his arms wide open.

"You may have the farm."

Okay, Blake was really starting to believe this was a mental breakdown. He'd been obsessed beyond reason about keeping his land within his grasp and not even letting farmhands, veterinarians, or any helpers onto it, and now he was just handing it away? As a gift to three people he met a week ago?

"It's not as though I need it. I won't even be able to make use of it, traveling the lands as I shall soon be. Consider it a token of gratitude from the kindness of my and my host's heart to the three folks who safeguarded our shared body in the time of greatest need."

"W-We don't…" Blake had been about to decline, but she rephrased it out of politeness. "…we can't run a farm."

"Then sell it. It would sit here and rot if I left it unattended, or perhaps the kingdom and council would claim it via eminent domain due to my la…due to Augustine's lack of a will. As I understand it, you three could use the funds that would come from the purchase of such a tract of land."

He knelt down and ran a hand along the grass. Plucking a single blade from the field on which they stood, he lifted it up to eye level, then let it fall from his hand.

"Would that it could be mine, if only to keep the legacy within the body of one bearing the Alizarin bloodline, but a farmer I am not. My thoughts remain, but his are no longer a portion of this world's collective thought space. His wish to remain on his homestead until the ends of his natural life has been realized, but for all intents and purposes, Augustine Alizarin is deceased."

Team Job didn't really understand, but they had no means to protest it. Austin's explanation was a bizarre one, but it had no visible holes in the story, and the evidence supporting his otherwise psychotic claims was there, in the medium of his own changed demeanor. No human or Faunus, regardless of their acting talent, could forge such a performance. Whatever change had happened to him inside of that barn, be it a veritable mind merge between a farmer and an immortal, the emergence of a new personality from Augustine's schizophrenia, or something different, this Austin person was what remained. All that remained.

They agreed to take the farm, since he'd explicitly told them it was going to 'go to waste' if they didn't, but it wasn't some simple handoff of a piece of paper with the word 'deed' at the top. Since the new Austin was the same person as Mr. Alizarin, the quadrilateral plot of land was listed in his name at the Valean Bureau of Land Management and Registry (actually under the name of his grandparents, since it hadn't been updated when they died), and he could prove his identity using his fingerprints.

Velvet and Jaune were left behind to tend to the farm as best they could (mainly to keep the cows and sheep from dying) while Blake flew out and arranged the transfer of ownership. They'd conversed about what exactly they wanted to do with the random farm bequeathed upon them before Blake and Austin had flown out, and Team Job had unanimously agreed that selling it to the bank would be the best course of action.

"We aren't farmers, and neither was the previous manager of the farm," Velvet pointed out. "It's going to take professionals to turn this place around. We probably won't get much."

"But the land should be worth a lot, right?" Jaune asked. "Everyone always says Vale is overcrowded, and this area is huuuuge."

"It's not worth as much as you'd think," Velvet, their resident Valean and expert on the kingdom, explained. "Land inside the walls is highly valued, but you can go out and claim any plot of land outside of it, and unless someone else already has it registered in their name, it's yours. Space itself isn't valuable, though the fact that this forest has been cleared down will make it worth more…probably a few K. The barn, the workshop, and the livestock will be worth something as well. The crops themselves will last a while, but not indefinitely. We might not get millions, but we'll be getting something we can use if we sell. I think it's the best thing we can do."

Blake promised them she would do just that. She might have been the leader, but Velvet, as a citizen of Vale, was the expert, and Blake knew to defer to her wisdom here.

To streamline the process, Blake mostly just joined Austin as he spoke to the suits and got to selling his property. There was no need for him to transfer it from his name to their if it was going to then be sold to the banks once again, so he did all the work. She did sign a few documents, but solely as a witness as per some Valean property clause that she'd never heard of. It was extremely boring to just wait around, but the payday at the end was enough to keep Blake interested.

Eight hours later, the bank account that Austin had set up for this was swelling with a large sum of lien.

Eight hours and three minutes later, Austin's bank account was closed out, with all of the money now in Blake's hands.

"You may not need your farm if you're going to travel, but you need something to start with," Blake explained, handing him the money.

Velvet had been the one to convince her to sell, but Jaune had been the one to insist upon this one. Austin wouldn't get far in his new life if he didn't have some starting cash on hand, and with the countless fortunes that they were getting, they could afford to spare fifty thousand of it to him without risking ruin.

It's his money, anyways. He's giving it to us out of generosity, and we'd be fools not to take it, but we'd be set with even a quarter of it. Jaune's right – we'll all sleep better if we know he has some of it.

"I can't take this," said Austin, as she tried to hand him the withdrawn lien chips. The two of them were in the lobby of the bank at which they'd finished the business.

"It's yours," Blake said, pushing them into his hands again. "And it's only 10% of what you sold your land for. We appreciate your generosity, but you need some of your own money if you want to…travel, or whatever you plan on doing next."

Austin shook his head surely. "It's no more mine than it is yours. It belonged to Augustine, and he's no more."

"You're giving it to us because you said we cared for him in his final moments. Well, if I understand your story correctly, you left him to his own peace for years when you could have taken control or revealed yourself sooner. Consider this your cut of the rewards."

She kept shoving the money his way, and eventually he relented. "Th-Thank you. I shan't forget this."

Blake offered him her hand, and he shook it.

"I wish you well wherever you find yourself, mister," she said.

"Perhaps a time shall come when our paths cross again," he responded, taking back his hand. "Until then, I shall bid you goodbye. Farewell, my friend."

And then, pushing out of the doors, he stepped out onto the streets of Vale. Blake followed him at a slight distance to see where he would go and what he would do, but the young man just drew in a hearty breath of air, slowly let it out, and smiled.

It was only a second that she looked away, the honking of a passing car in a traffic jam involuntarily drawing her attention, but when she turned back, he was gone. And perhaps it was Blake's imagination, but the brick of sidewalk on which he'd been standing seemed to be faintly tinged green.

After putting the money they'd made (which was a large amount) safely under her bed, for Blake didn't yet know what they were going to do with it, she went back to Benson's to fly back and pick up Jaune and Blake. It was just as short a ride as the other two times she'd gone out to the farm, but this time she felt a whole lot lighter.

We've made enough money to retire, and it only took us one week. It's like fortune has rewarded us for all the shit we got put through before this.

The farm was now teeming with people when she arrived, but Jaune and Velvet were waiting at the outskirts, ready to be picked up.

"I'm a little surprised that you can just, you know, sell everything like that in one day," Jaune said once he'd loaded onto their airship. "Like, that was more land than my entire home village of Ansel, and it traded hands that fast?"

"It was nearly eight hours," grumbled Blake. To her, sitting around and waiting for nearly a full day's shift wasn't exactly 'fast.'

"Banks get a lot of leeway from the government when they want to purchase real estate," Velvet explained. "If we sold the farm to a normal person, they would need to do all sorts of paperwork, inspections, visits, and whatnot. A bank has those forms pre-filled our and ready to be signed and people on hand to go and look at the property in question at a moment's notice."

"Was that the people there?" Blake asked. She'd seen a cluster of people, some wearing suits and others wearing construction clothing, who'd been congregated around the barn. "Were they inspecting it?"

"Not quite. They were people sent from the bank, but they came hours ago, when you were still with Mr. Aliz…with the guy. They ran the inspections, asked us…well, asked Jaune a bunch of questions, and then spread out to look it over. I think they assumed we were employees or something."

Blake looked back out the window at the bank inspectors. "So what are they doing now?"

Velvet shrugged and collapsed back into her seat. "I don't fucking know. Preparing to flip it? I'm not a real estate agent or something; I just learned a lot of this stuff back in Beacon, because they thought we needed to know how villages came and went out in the wilds."

They flew the rest of the way in relative silence. Blake could tell the other two were eager to know just how full Team Job's coffers were, but an airship in the sky wasn't the ideal place to conduct their business, not when it was the single biggest change to their company to date.

Once again, Team Job was in possession of a large case of money. It was about the same size as usual, little bigger than a briefcase or laptop bag, but the chips inside were of a much larger denomination than last time. Fifty times larger, to be precise.

They were in Jaune and Blake's apartment once again, with Velvet as a visiting guest to discuss their business. Jaune and Velvet could clearly see the money, for the case was opened and on Blake's dining table, but they both just impatiently stared at Blake for her to tell them what they actually had.

"You could probably mathematically determine the haul by the size of the case and the dimensions of the –"

"Blake…"

"Velvet, you're drooling."

"I'm not!"

"She's not, Blake!"

Blake forced herself to sigh. Velvet may as well have been drooling. It was a lot of money, and Blake could understand how they were excited, but she really wanted them to back out of her personal space a little bit.

"Okay," she said at last. "Factoring out expenses like our larger than normal Dust expenditure, double airship flights to and from the farm, and the 10% we gave to Austin, we made a profit of…"

The others leaned in even closer, and Blake really started to get uncomfortable.

"Can you guys back off a little bit? Please?"

"Just tell us!" they shouted in unison.

Blake sighed. These kids are gonna be the death of me.

"Four hundred and seventy-nine thousand, f–"

"FOUR HUNDRED TH–"

Blake reached forward and flicked Jaune's chin, clapping his trap shut before he could go and shout out just how loaded they were to the neighbors. Vale was typically safe, but until Blake had deposited the lien in their bank account, she wasn't going to be giving robbers, thieves, or other criminals any help.

And that was what they were here for. Their contract with Velvet entitled her to 30% of the profit, and the rest would be left with Jaune.

To that end, Blake began to remove some of the chips and slide them towards Velvet. Fourteen of the forty-seven she was owed, plus change.

"We probably won't need to take missions for a while after this," Blake said as she took out the tenth chip. "I think a well-deserved vacation is due for the team. Twelve, thirteen…fourteen. Here you go, Vel."

"Heh…C-Coco used to…" Velvet awkwardly shook her head. "N-Never mind. B-But Blake, I was thinking –"

"This should set you up nicely for the duration of your pregnancy," Blake said. She'd nearly forgotten about that little nugget during the excitement with their mind-swapping employer and sudden swell in wealth, but it was still there in the back of her head, especially when she looked at Velvet and that slightly tubby stomach of hers.

"Blake, I…I have a suggestion."

"Okay. Uh, shoot."

"I think…I-I think…look, I wanna clarify that I'm not trying to tell you how to run the business." Velvet began to tap her foot nervously. "I'm just giving my advice. I know my place is –"

"We don't have places," Blake quickly said, fearful that they'd ever given that impression. "We might each be good at stuff, but that doesn't mean we can't help one another out."

"Okay." Velvet inhaled and nodded. "My advice is that we should invest in the company."

It was a strange and bizarre thing, to see someone willingly slide one hundred and forty thousand lien away from themselves when it was rightfully theirs, especially when that someone was a single mother.

"Y-You don't want it?"

"I do. I want it a lot, but it's not like it's going to last me for the rest of my life. My rent and other weekly expenses are over seven thousand lien per month, so this won't even last me a full two years. A-And yeah, that's a long time, but I'm going to eventually need to start hunting…starting providing security again, and my expenses will only go up when the baby is born.

"The company that invests in itself will always succeed over the one that doesn't. We have a lot of capital on our hands, and there's no lack of ways to spend it. We regularly pay three thousand lien each flight on an airship…you guys, we could buy our own airship. And we're meeting in your apartment to do our work. If we got an office space to actually operate out of…"

Velvet looked down longingly at her share of the profits, but her face hardened, and she nodded to herself.

"This could be an interest free loan that we use to make Team Job a company…a real, actual company instead of three dropouts doing their best. We don't have to give up all of our money, and it'd be prudent to save some for a rainy day, but investing a little bit now can make everything easier for us in the long run."

Blake looked at what remained in her and Jaune possession and ran some quick numbers in her head.

70% of about five hundred grand, with ten grand rent a month…we'd only last two and a half years if we decided to settle here and now. It's not like we're set for life.

It wasn't like Blake had intended on retiring after this job, but her big plan had just been to deposit the money in her bank account and let it sit there. It would collect a little interest in there (about 0.1% annually), but it would otherwise just stagnate.

She's probably right. The point of money is to spend it. If it's just sitting around collecting dust, we may as well have never earned it.

In the end, it came down to whether or not Blake thought having a fat wallet or a prosperous company was better insurance in the event that they ran into some hard times.

"Damn it," Blake said, taking back the lien chips. "You're right."

Velvet nodded forlornly, and Jaune actually had the audacity to pout, but he had probably learned somewhere in his general education economics class that a steady source of income was always a surer prospect than a single lump sum.

Blake sealed the case of lien. "I guess we'd better start airship shopping, then."

"It sucks butt," Jaune griped, reaching into his pocket and taking out a small piece of paper. "We finally get enough money to buy our own airship, and we were on the ninth punch of our punch card with Benson. The next flight would have been free."

Mission Complete: Assassins at the Alizarin Farm

Client Review: I wasn't murdered in my sleep by assassins, so I can only conclude that Team Job's mission was a resounding success. ★★★★★

Current Holdings (lien): Ⱡ 497,430

Current Holdings (assets): Benson Airship Rental punchcard (nine punches)

Current Holdings (realty): none

Employees: 3

Coming Soon: New Digs

Spending money has never been so stressful for Jaune.

Chapter Text

It turned out that buying an airship was actually a rather user-friendly process. That wasn't to say it was easy, or that Jaune wasn't giving it due consideration as he reviewed the options, but it wasn't nearly as snooty and restrictive as he'd expected.

Privately owned airships were an extreme luxury to most, so he'd imagined that it would be some sort of Rich Folks Only clubhouse that didn't like to let in the riff-raff, but it turned out to be much more like going to a car dealership. The vendors wanted business, given the huge profits that they made off of a single ship, so they did everything in their power to make sure you stuck with them and chose their product. That included giving tours, offering test flights, answering any and all questions, and even abandoning one model altogether to move on to another when Jaune said it wasn't what he was looking for.

I guess that, in the business world, they'll get all walks of life. Companies won't send their CEOs to buy the airships that they plan to use for shipping or personnel transport, so they must be used to normal folks like me.

He still came alone, though, as Team Job's representative. Just in case.

Blake had given him an idea of his budget and strict orders to not get suckered into buying something impulsively no matter how good a deal they offered. Even though she couldn't join him (rather, she didn't think it was a good idea for her to join him), she and Velvet would know much more about what was a good product for the price than he on his own ever could. All that he needed to do today was scout out the info on anything with wings below his price cap and bring it back home. Purchasing it could come later.

"Perhaps something a little smaller," Jaune said, in regard to the current airship in the lot that they were browsing.

"Of course, sir," said the salesman.

So far, everything they'd looked at was basically the top of the line for his price range, and all of them would cost Jaune everything he'd been offered to spend by Blake. It was tempting to just tell the guy to stop showing him the same airship but with minor additions to the wings and move on to something cheaper and more humble, but Jaune just kept mentally taking notes (and sometimes physically on his scroll when the details got too verbose).

Maybe there's some hidden gem that I'd miss if I skip anything. I'll see them all, and then the girls can advise me on which one we actually want.

"Our next model is the Xanthid Enforcer. It's similar in design to the small fighter jets used by Atlesians in their military, with minor adjustments made to remove the guns and instead improve the speed."

Jaune looked it over from the outside and through the open side doors, but he could already tell this one was a no go. Too much of the rear was cargo space, and there were only two actual seats behind the windshield. Unless one member of Team Job agreed to sit on the roof like a hobo on a train, they were going to have to go for something else.

Still, Jaune jotted down a brief note on his scroll just in case Blake or Velvet knew something he didn't and asked to continue on.

"If you're looking for something to act as a workhorse, we have the Aureate Twin and the Gala Canary." The salesman gestured to two slightly smaller and much more promising airships, at least based on their physical appearance. "Both are popular among businessmen who seek to make quick jaunts between the kingdom and local settlements. If you're looking for something to fit in your garage that guarantees the safety of you and your crew for day to day flights, it's the airship for you."

These two did look promising, so Jaune decided to give them a closer look.

The first airship was a twinjet with one helico-engine on both wings, which were conventional rotation engines that also had external blades to provide extra lift. The wings could rotate on their axis to allow for a purely vertical takeoff and subsequent propulsion. Jaune counted just one pilot's seat, but there were four in the back that could fit the rest.

It would be useful if we ever hire another employee to have space for them on the ship.

The entire thing was painted with a metallic gold coloring that Jaune didn't much care for, but as long as it worked, it could be painted polka dots.

Or could it? Bright colors might give us away if we're fighting hostiles. Most bandits don't have SAR missiles on hand, but that doesn't mean there won't ever be.

"Is it always gold?" Jaune asked.

The man smiled and nodded.

"Oh."

Realizing that this was a downside for his customer, the salesman immediately backtracked and said that it was some sort of calling card to show off ownership of a finely crafted vehicle, but at no point did Jaune hear any actual retraction of the statement.

I'll just ask Blake and Velvet if it's going to be a problem. They'll know for sure.

As for the other one, the canary thing, it only had one engine at the rear of the ship, but it was probably one and a half time the size of its counterpart. The wings looked frail and flimsy, more like rudders for steering. There was no way they could generate enough lift to oppose the bulky fuselage's weight.

"How does it…"

"Gravity Dust," filled in the salesman. He seemed very proud to have a question he could positively answer. "Most conventional airships use Wind Dust and aerodynamic design to provide thrust and lift to counter weight and drag, but the Gala Canary has a one-of-a-kind engine that completely negates the need. The wings, truth be told, are mostly for show, to keep people inside calm. I know what you're thinking – Gravity Dust is more expensive, so why should I buy an airship that runs on it? See, that's the trick. The Canary doesn't use even a quarter of the fuel that other airships of similar size use. Pound per pound, fueling up to full costs more, but you can stay in the air far longer on that same tank."

"I do like these," Jaune admitted. "Both of them."

"Would you be interested in receiving a quotation for either of them?" the man offered.

"I don't think I'll be buying today, as I need to run it by the guys in accounting, but I'll almost certainly be taking one of those two if we don't see something better."

It would have been easier to not have to make any promises to the guy, but Jaune wanted to clearly send the message that he wanted more airships in this vein and less of the giant but somehow extremely useless other ones.

"Of course, sir."

Jaune perused the lots for three more hours, getting detailed rundowns on every airship that fit his criteria. Most of them looked pretty much the same to him aside from minor cosmetic changes, but he dutifully copied down the specs just in case. By the end of it, he could probably recite the eight major criteria of the radar chart that airships were judged by.

There were so many names as well. The Hyperion, the Polar Starline, the Shadowdragon, the Pondhawk, the Flare's Breath. They started out really cool, all of them epic sounding in their own way, but as more and more came Jaune's way, he started having difficulty distinguishing them, until he could see them as nothing but pretentious. Jaune tried his best to categorize them into three columns – Yes, No, or Maybe – based on how well they fit what he knew the team needed, but by the end of it, there were fifteen airships in the 'yes' category and twice as many in the 'maybe.'

I've done my job, Jaune thought to himself, his mind numbed by the copious amounts of memorization he'd had to do. All they asked me to do was go to the airship dealership and get the stats on the ships. The others can sort out the rest.

Promising to come back later, Jaune got the name of the salesman so that he could request they picked up where they left off and ensure he got the commission when the time came. Then, it was back home.

Blake herself had taken on the task of scouting out a working space for them so that Team Job Security would actually have a brick and mortar place when a customer came knocking. All of them so far had done it remotely through the website, but Jaune understood that even just adding a picture of them standing in front of an office of some sort would do wonders for them.

It was so weird, when he thought about it sometimes. They were planning to increase their rates to 25,000 lien per job, which would still undercut the average huntsman mission by a half or less, but most of the stuff that they were getting wasn't going to change the quality of the job they did. Having their own airship, which Jaune had already decided would be christened the Job Hunter when the time came to name it (because, like, come on), would cut costs for Team Job because they wouldn't need to rent Benson's rust bucket, and having their own office space would give them a place to stay and keep their stuff other than their personal apartments, but a client wouldn't care about that. It's sole function in terms of advertising was to make them look more professional and thereby more employable, but it still disturbed him a little bit to think about.

We could be the best security consultants in the world, but we'd be at the mercy of a client's whims because we don't have licenses. I mean, we aren't the best security consultants in the world, but…

Actually, come to think of it, there probably aren't many other people doing what we do, and those that do won't have their auras unlocked, so maybe we are the best security consultants in the world. At least in the kingdom; we've got that one locked down for sure.

Velvet was out getting their weapons inspected by a blacksmith, which, in spite of the name, was not just some sweaty dude in a forge as Jaune had been expecting. Like the SDC's stagecoach, it was a thing that took a familiar name for convenience of understanding, but the career of smithing had evolved with the times to become a modern science at this point. A blacksmith was more of a weapons engineer, the kind that would design Gambol Shroud or Anesidora using computerized schematics, 3D-printing, and high-tech machining. Perhaps the original type of blacksmith, one who used a hammer, anvil, and forge, had built Crocea Mors, but that only made it a relic from a bygone age. Jaune had insisted on keeping it, but Velvet had insisted he at least get it looked at for faults and potential improvements as she saw fit.

Since they weren't sure if Blake would find a good place in one afternoon, they were once again meeting at the apartment, but it was hopefully for the last time this time. Jaune arrived last, finding both girls already there and waiting for him when he pushed through the door.

"Ladies. How'd everything go for y'all?"

"Not bad," Blake said, going first. "It took me the better part of the day, but I think I found a nice spot for us. It's basically just a front lobby where we can put a desk plus a single back room, but the price is just barely acceptable, provided we pay up front."

"And that price is…?" Jaune asked.

"Two hundred and sixty thousand lien."

Jaune could have fainted. "All that for two rooms? We sold 800 acres for about twice that!"

"It should, but land in the city is expensive. Trust me, this is the best I could find."

He did trust her, but that didn't mean he wasn't a little upset at having to fork over a large portion of their biggest payday yet just to get a scrap of land.

It was best to move on to the next problem. "Velvet? The weapons?"

She nodded and picked a duffle bag off the ground. Inside of it were Gambol Shroud, all folded up, a sheathed Crocea Mors, and a bunch of other things that Jaune didn't recognize.

"Blake, the smith guy said your weapon looked like it had been cobbled together from spare parts," Velvet stated, handing it over to its owner. From what Jaune knew of her origins as a White Fang agent in the impoverished country of Menagerie, that may very well have been true. "Anyways, he made the ribbon a lot sturdier using some metal thread weaving, and the Dust usage is now 3 times as efficient. Some of the parts that would have eventually failed due to compressive or tensile stress were replaced with…well, with parts that won't."

Blake took back her sword and began to turn it over as she visually inspected it. To Jaune's untrained eye, it looked exactly the same, but he wasn't its owner and would freely admit that he probably wouldn't recognize any major changes even if there were any.

"Jaune, uh…Crocea Mors was actually in perfect shape. He said it was the most well-built blade he'd ever laid eyes upon."

Wow. I guess that my great-great-great-grandfather's blacksmith must have done a decent job, then.

"I did purchase some of the smith's commercially available sidearms, just so you could have a few somethings when a plain sword won't cut it."

The duffle bag was handed his way, and Jaune shuffled through the remaining contents after claiming his ancestral blade. Velvet had also gotten him a small crossbow and an angled dagger that was probably a few inches shy of reaching a full foot in length.

"You'll have to collect the arrows for the crossbow after shooting them if you don't want to buy new ones, but they're made with metal hafts and poly-fibers fletches, so they won't break when you fire them," Velvet explained, pointing out a small bundle of the arrows that the crossbow had been on top of. "And the dirk is for extremely close-range fights. If you can't find the range to swing Crocea Mors, you can pull that out to give yourself an edge when hand-to-hand combat starts."

Hand-to-hand combat was probably where Jaune needed an edge, given how atrocious he was at it. Swordsmanship was progressing faster now that he could train with Blake at the gym they'd subscribed to, but he really had trouble with fist-fighting. Ironically, Velvet often seemed just as deadly without a weapon as she was with one.

"Good job, Velvet," Jaune said, looking over the new weapons. The crossbow's limbs and stock folded up neatly into the shape of a single rectangular prism, and both it and the dagger were light enough that he could put them on his belt or in his pockets without hindering his movements. "How much did it all cost?"

"Everything? The tune-ups and the new stuff?" Velvet shifted in her seat. "Eighty thousand."

Once again, the sheer absurdity of the price nearly made Jaune flop over and die in a heap on the ground. It was common knowledge that huntsman-weapons were prohibitively expensive (yet another way that they kept outsiders from joining, Jaune was slowly beginning to realize), but that much for just some inspections and two tiny side weapons?

"It's supposed to be one-time investments," Velvet explained, clearly seeing the distress on Jaune's face. "These are weapons that won't wear away or break down over time. It's the same thing as buy land vs. renting – we probably save more money in the long run by getting tougher stuff in the first place than paying to have it fixed every time a screw unfastens or a groove is eroded until it's flat."

"It's fine," Jaune said, trying his best to believe it. They had the money, and it was supposed to be worth it to spend it, after all. "Did you get anything for yourself?"

"Nope." Velvet patted the camera slung over her shoulder by its strap. "Don't need anything."

Blake sat up. "Wait, so it was 80 grand for just our two weapons? That's…That's a bit high."

Velvet just shrugged. "It sounds about right to me, pretty consistent with the receipts we used to give Beacon for reimbursement. It's very technical work, you see, to build these kinds of weapons to such exacting specifications, and the blacksmiths that do it have to study for a long time to learn their trade."

Jaune looked down at the folded-up crossbow in his hands that probably cost about three times as much as one of Team Job's early missions paid out in total. To him it looked just like a regular piece of treated wood with some metal added in, but it probably required very special materials in order to make a crossbow that could fold up as it did without being ruined. Still, Jaune had to wonder just how truly valuable 'mech-shifting' was as a tool. Blake's sword became a gun, but that made it cost three times as much as either of them combined, and with barely any benefit. Twenty thousand more lien for a touch of convenience at not having to tote around two weapons and switch between them.

"Was there no way we could have gotten a discount?" Blake asked, testing the strength of her new and improved ribbon. "First time customer or something like that…?"

Velvet rubbed her cheek. "I considered trying to haggle with the blacksmith and see if he would lower the prices, but I'd just gone down on him, like, ten minutes before I got the bill, and I didn't want him to think that that was just so that he'd give me a discount. It would have been unethical."

Of flippin' course. For a second, with all the recent good business advice she'd given and upcoming promise of motherhood, I'd almost forgotten who Velvet was, and how she'll chase after anyone with a pulse. I guess that she's already pregnant, so at least there's no more risk.

"The money's already been spent, either way." Velvet looked over at Jaune. "I guess we'll need to take how much we have left into account when we choose an airship. How'd that go, Jaune?"

Jaune took out his scroll and opened up the list he'd made before handing it to Blake. "I've got forty-seven options to choose from, but there are fifteen that I think are particularly viable. Given how much Velvet sp…how much Velvet had to spend, we can narrow that down to about ten options that really slap. We've first got the Gala Canary, which is in the 'light cruiser' category. It's got a top spee–"

"Sounds good. Let's get that one."

Blake returned the scroll to him.

"B-But…the…V-Velvet, do y–"

Velvet nodded. "Any name-brand airship fresh off the dealership is good. If it's in the right price range, I don't really mind."

"Wait, but I thought that you guys knew more about this than me! I spent hours looking through their offerings to find the best one."

Blake looked up at Jaune and frowned. "We never said that."

"B-B-But…"

"Jaune, I was worried you'd get swindled into buying an over-the-top battleship or some box of junk. We don't care what airship we get as long as it's cheap but not a lemon.

Jaune tried to form a rebuttal in his head, but nothing came up. As he reran over the conversation they'd had this morning, he slowly realized that they'd never actually ordered him to do anything but not buy something impulsively.

I…I assumed that they knew airships, but only because they were huntress who'd flown in them before. Well, I've flown in them too. Does that make me an expert?

"So…"

The conversation had continued without him, and Blake and Velvet were no chatting about the changes they eventually wanted made to the website. "Yeah?"

Jaune bit his lip. "Actually, never mind."

"Where's the rest of you lot?" Benson asked as Jaune walked into his shop.

"They're not coming." Jaune handed him the punch card. "I'd like to go to Ansel."

"Ansel?" asked the middle-aged man. "What's in Ansel? They havin' Grimm troubles?"

"Nope. My family lives there."

Benson uncomfortably shifted from behind his desk. "You, uh, throwin' in the towel?"

Jaune just shook his head. "Nope."

"Alright, then. Ansel it is."

If they were going to own an airship, then they would no longer need the taxi service they'd been using up until this point. Thus, Jaune felt no guilt or shame in squandering its last use to make some random, impulsive flight when it would have otherwise been thrown away.

It's not like I can go back to the dealership and buy the new airship today. I told the sales dude that I was going to have corporate take a look at my findings or something to buy time, time that I was supposed to use consulting the girls on which airship is best. If I turn up less than a half-hour after leaving, it'll be obvious I lied.

So Jaune was just D-wording around on his own and visiting his family.

The realization that Blake and Velvet weren't these all-knowing master huntresses he'd assumed them to be may not have been something that should have shocked him as much as it had, but that didn't change the shock Jaune felt. Thus, he'd decided to pass the time by just doing whatever.

If the girls didn't have some concerted plan to account for his actions, he felt like he could just take the night off and be back before midday tomorrow. Velvet was doing her doctor's appointment, and Blake would be signing the deeds of the office space (it would be in her name to balance out the bank account being in his). Perhaps it would be better if he stuck around and did something productive, but Jaune was feeling diet nihilistic about everything, so he was just taking the night off.

It wasn't like he'd thought Blake knew all knowledge in the world about business, nor had he believed Velvet was the finest living huntress in the universe, but he'd always assumed by default that they at least knew more than him about everything. To learn that there were instances where they too just made it up as they went…

I thought for sure that Blake would scrounge up some deal and get us the cheapest land there was, or that Velvet would come back with indestructible weapons for a bargain. But they just did their best, no different than me.

Jaune supposed that this was the moment he'd become an adult, so to speak. There had always been a parent or a teacher or a boss to tell him what to do before, but right now, Jaune was a self-employed man, and he was taking the evening off because he felt like it.

It felt…free.

Coming Soon: Later

Velvet tells her story, and Blake has to wrestle with some uncomfortable truths about herself and her teammates.

Chapter Text

"How in the literal fuck does an airship cost less than the weapons tune-up?!" Velvet exclaimed as she received the receipts after Blake finished thoroughly reviewing them. "Only fifty thousand lien!"

"That's why I was so surprised by your guys' prices," Jaune said. "Mine was so much lower."

Blake hadn't expected it to be so cheap, but she was aware that airships often sounded more luxurious in one's head than in reality. People assumed that every private airship was a rich person's fancy toy, but advances in technology in the past century had really expanded the market into a range of availability.

The airship industry was no different than ships and boats that sailed the open seas. Militaries like Atlas and industries like the SDC owned massive cruisers, liners, and warships, and no one could match such things in size. One step down were personal yachts that fancy folks went out and bought as status symbols or power trips; Blake wouldn't be surprised to learn that the majority of what Jaune had seen two days prior were similar in nature as toys for the higher class.

Lastly was the Gala Canary that they had bought, basically the aeronautical equivalent of a motorboat. It wasn't something that a typical citizen could buy with the average minimum wage salary, not when it was more than a year's rent for most folks, but a company like theirs could afford it without breaking the bank.

Jaune had vanished off the face of Remnant for a day and a half and returned with an airship, though Blake was embarrassed to admit that she hadn't even noticed how long he'd been gone until he was already back. At the time, she'd been so concerned with sealing the deal on the property and wrestling with the decision of whether or not to get the AI holographic assistant that was offered for a five thousand lien markup (she'd decided not to, since they already had a secretary/greeter in the form of Jaune). But either way, Jaune was back now and with an airship he'd dubbed the 'Job Hunter' in tow.

Team Job Security was now a real company, or at least it had transformed into something that resembled one. It had all the characteristics of a security firm – transport, weaponry, an office, security consultants – but not a single, clear, identifiable qualification.

Whatever it is that they were doing, though, it was working. They had been hired for another mission even after raising their rates by 150%, and Blake was feeling hopeful about the future after that.

Velvet was a trained pilot, having taken the Beacon course that all second years had to, so she was their resident flying ace. Still, Blake insisted that both she and Jaune got their licenses, just in case.

"I don't see why," Jaune called out to her above the hum of the Gravity Dust engine. "If Velvet can fly it, there's no point in having us learn how."

"Jaune, you remember why we hired her?" Blake knew that Velvet couldn't hear her or Jaune form the pilot seat unless they yelled; the weird engine afforded them some privacy back in the rear. "The reason you asked to get another employee?"

"Well, yeah. It was because…oh."

It was because if anything happened to Blake, Jaune would be on his own and in danger. The same logic applied here, for if anything happened to Velvet, they would either be trapped in the woods with no way to fly home or, Gods forbid, falling out of the sky in a cheap sailboat tin can.

"We can get our pilot's licenses in between missions," Blake said. "You're good at learning, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

It was difficult for Blake to tell if the smoothness of the flight was due to the novel engine configuration or because they were flying a brand new bird, but it certainly was less turbulent. According to Jaune, the Job Hunter was cheaper to fly than its Wind Dust counterparts, though he admitted that it was probably a bit of a weaker engine. They might have trouble carrying substantial cargo if they ever decided to, but one human and two Faunus wouldn't be trouble.

Blake looked over at the cockpit through the small porthole in the door. It was just high enough to see the tips of Velvet's ears twitching every now and again, as they were prone to do.

"As much as I liked Benson, I think we've got a better pilot now," Jaune said, looking with Blake at the porthole. Apparently, he attributed their evenness of flight to her skills.

And yet, Blake couldn't help but wonder if she was reading too much into the way his eyes lingered on the cockpit as he praised Velvet.

"Jaune…look, I don't mean to beat a dead Nuckelavee, but are you…you can tell me if you are…are you the father?"

Jaune met her with a look of utter confusion. "The what?"

Blake nodded her head towards the cockpit.

Note to self – never call it the cockpit in the presence of Velvet.

"I said no, jeez." Jaune scowled at her a little. "It's not even possible. She's four months pregnant."

"Yes, but…"

But he and Velvet seemed like they were closer than he and Blake.

But Blake had left them unattended for hours at a time on the farm, with no adult supervision.

But Velvet had told Blake in confidence that she might be interested in pursuing Jaune.

Actually, for that last one, she just made sure that she and I weren't overlapping on one another's choice of boyfriend, so to speak. She never actually said she planned to date him; she just wanted to make sure that there would be no muscling in on my territory.

"I don't get it," moaned Jaune. "You both keep aggressively assuming that I'm dating the other. I thought I put a stop to this back at the farm."

"Yeah, but I still have no idea where the baby came from…rather, who it came from," Blake admitted. Velvet had told her that her pregnancy existed (well after she'd told Jaune, given how he'd clearly had time to process it by the time Blake was informed), but she'd withheld all other information about it.

Was she planning to carry it to term? To give it up for adoption? Was she going to request maternity leave or, worse yet, retire as a huntress? Was there a Mr. Scarlatina in the picture, hidden behind the scenes? These were questions that Blake felt like she, as the leader of Team Job, deserved an answer to. She would support Velvet no matter what choices she made, but the sooner she knew what that choice was, the better she could start planning for it.

"I barely know anything myself," Jaune said. "I mean, she told me first, but I think it was because she was doing it one at a time, not because she doesn't like you or something."

Blake didn't like admitting it, but that had been eating at her a little. Sure, Jaune was approachable, and sure, Velvet might have been interested in him romantically or sexually.

But Blake was a woman. Blake was a Faunus. Blake was a huntress, an actual huntress and not a f̶r̶a̶u̶d p̶h̶o̶n̶y apprentice like Jaune. She had everything in common with Velvet that two young people she need to form a connection, but Velvet…

It's not her fault. I chose this. I told Jaune to make himself the approachable face of the company while I stayed behind in the shadows, and this is just a byproduct of my own machinations.

"We can just ask her," Jaune said. "She's been pretty nice about everything so far. If we make it clear that we don't mind if she says no, then –"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Blake sighed. "Let's just…we'll talk about this later."

Asking might be the fastest way to get a straightforward answer, but there was one big problem with it. If they did the polite thing as Jaune asked and promised Velvet she could decline their questions regarding her situation, she might just take them up on that offer.

Another day, another implicitly-biased-but-never-explicitly-acknowledging-it town. Jaune took point when they met with their point of contact, but this time Blake and Velvet were at least allowed to tag along behind him, so perhaps they truly were making progress towards racial harmony.

Not every job that Team Job took on was a glamorous one, and this was firmly in the 'not' category. The Hydrust Salt Flats, an extremely dry and arid region that was just to the north of their client's mercantile outpost and wilderness hotel, was in need of a Grimm clearing, but this job involved no glorious combat or high stakes action.

"It's…It's a cactus?" Jaune asked, prodding one of the Grimm plants with his sword. "I thought Grimm were animals…?"

"Grimm take many forms," Velvet explained, placing a hand on Jaune's shoulder and pulling him away from the Grimm cactus before he could touch it. "These are Tubercules. Professor Peach taught me about them in Beacon on a mission one time. They're sedentary, functionally defenseless Grimm that don't move more than an inch a year, making them mostly harmless, but they do have decent pricks."

She was right about that. The meat of the cactus was black instead of green, but the spines were bony white and looked like they could pop a hot air balloon. They were interspersed with a distance of a few feet between them, and they continued on all the way to the edge of the mountain range that heralded the end of the dry, cracked surface of the salt flats. This place was littered with too many of them to count, but Blake expected it to be in the tens of thousands.

"The real hazard is the aerosol discharge, though," Velvet explained. "When you chop 'em in half, they release a cloud of thousands of micro Grimm spiked spores that add up and bleed people to death. As long as we have raised auras, there's nothing they can do to stop us from slicing them to bits. That's why they need us, or I'd imagine a client would just stick them with his pitchfork and uproot them."

Blake had already raised her aura, but she was pretty certain that she was Jaune's go up as the worlds came out of Velvet's mouth.

Cautiously, Blake drew her sword and approached the nearest cactus. It did nothing in response – no ominous shifting, no spikes pointing her way, no jumpscares. With a single slash of the blade, she cut it clean in half and immediately leapt away.

As Velvet had warned her, a thick spray surged outwards in all directions from both open faces of the cut Tubercule Grimm, as though it was a balloon that had been filled with smoke. None of it came anywhere near Blake, raised aura or not.

Velvet stepped up to the dying Grimm and waved her hand through the smoke. "It's harmless, you guys. Each Grimm has thousands of spores, but they're so small that they only do about a millionth of a percent of aura damage."

"You're saying…that this entire field of Grimm is going to cost less than a single percent of our aura?" Jaune asked incredulously.

Velvet nodded. "It's huntsman-only work, but most would see it as beneath them. The only reason we're even taught about them in school is because they're afraid we might waste time on them instead of dangerous Grimm if we don't recognize them during the middle of a fight."

"I guess…we just raise auras and chop?" Jaune drew Crocea mors.

Blake nodded. "Let's get chopping."

It all pays the same, Blake reminded herself as she brushed sweat off her brow and raised Gambol Shroud for the ten millionth time. They'd been methodically clearing out the Tubercules for just shy of an hour now, after Jaune realized that it would be more efficient for them if they moved in parallel rows next to one another.

He was swinging Crocea Mors in tune with some humming he was doing, having learned to pace himself and not chop with reckless abandon. Blake was used to long, repetitive workloads, having often handed out flyers for hours on end at early White Fang rallies, so this was nothing new to her.

Given how quickly they tore through the field, Blake estimated that they would be able to finish it off before nightfall, which would save them having to come out here again, but it meant a long hard day of work ahead of them. Still, there was no risk in this mission of failure – the Grimm were rooted down and would offer no resistance to being massacred.

The cacti were surprisingly light, not at all like tree trunks. They had a certain springy sponginess to them that let her sword carve right through them with ease. Honestly, the most exhausting part was just the amount of walking they had to do, exacerbated by the hot sun.

For some reason, Velvet had refused to borrow Jaune's dirk and was uprooting the cacti with her bare hands and snapping them. As always, the rabbit girl was insisting on never using an actual weapon other than her camera, and the Hard Light Dust costs alone would eat through Team Job Security's entire bank account if she broke out an ethereal sword or scythe from Anesidora to chop down every stem, stalk, or root. Blake might have complained about the inefficiency of Velvet using her own two hands if she weren't somehow moving faster through her row than Jaune and Blake were in theirs.

She really is a good huntress. Hiring her seems to have proven to be a good call…so far.

Blake was mostly sure that her reticence was professional uncertainty and not personal curiosity regarding the baby, even though she knew for a fact she was feeling both to a degree.

Velvet was ahead of her, so there was no risk in sneaking a peak. She hadn't noticed before, but when she knew to look at Velvet's stomach for signs of growth, it wasn't difficult to see them.

"Heya, Velvet," Jaune said, breaking their silence. He glanced over at Blake, chewing on his lips, then back to the rabbit who was in front of them both. "You said you might be willing to tell us about your, ah, situation later. Is now a good time?"

Blake shot him a dirty look, but he just shrugged.

This fucking guy. He's getting too big for his britches if he thinks that he can…

…can…

…can what? Ask Velvet a question? Ignore Blake's instructions otherwise? She may have been the team's leader, but she really had no way to police his personal behavior, nor did she possess the right, e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶r̶e̶c̶i̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶u̶d̶d̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶d̶e̶p̶e̶n̶d̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶e̶a̶k̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶i̶n̶g̶.

"You don't have to tell us if it makes you uncomfortable," Jaune went on. "It just seems like we have a lot of time on our hands. If you'd prefer, I could tell my own st –"

"It's fine. Now that the big secret's out, there's really no need to hide the little details."

Velvet stopped breaking down the cacti, but she was so far ahead that there was no risk of her falling behind.

Her hands reached across her tummy, gripping the opposite sides of the bottom of her shirt, and she lifted it, raising the shirt up.

"Woah!" Jaune shouted, holding up a hand to block his view. "Don't need to see your badonkas, Vel!"

Blake also averted her eyes as more and more bare skin was revealed. "If you could cool it on the rampant whorishness, that'd be great."

"Relax, you guys. I'd never flash you unless you wanted me to. I'm just showing you how far along I am. You can look."

Mmmmm…I really don't want to…

Against her better judgment, Blake peeked.

Velvet had stopped lifting her shirt when her stomach was exposed, thankfully keeping anything above the xiphoid process covered. Without the covering of her shirt's fabric to obscure it, the size of her bulging belly was now even more apparent. If there were any questions about the pregnancy's legitimacy, this quelled them all.

"I said four, but it's probably closer to five months now." Velvet lowered down her shirt and tucked it in. "I'm keeping it, and I'm going to be a mother. That's already been decided. As for maternity leave, I think I can keep working for a lot longer. As long as my aura doesn't break, it'll keep boosting me and preventing any complications, so there's no need for anything like maternity leave for months."

"But you do need regular checkups," Blake said.

Velvet nodded and started snapping the Grimm cacti again. "I do."

"And you will need time off to take care of the baby once it's born.

Again, Velvet nodded in agreement, though she was looking a little uncomfortable with where this conversation was going. "Mm-hmm."

"How'd it happen?" Jaune asked. "If you don't mind sharing. A-And, uh, leaving out the saucy details."

Velvet shrugged. "It's no crazy story or anything. My boyfriend at the time was Vytal student from Shade who'd come for the tournament last year but stayed at Beacon as a transfer until the year ended. We knew it would end when he went back home, but we both figured we could have a little fun while he was here."

"Have a little fun," Blake repeated aimlessly.

"Look, we didn't just fuck," Velvet harshly scolded. "We sparred, we went on dates at the tournament festival, we had picnics…and we also fucked."

There was a sharpness to the typically pleasant girl's tone that made Blake immediately regret how flippantly she'd phrased it. "I…s-sorry."

"I'm not a bad person or something," Velvet mumbled. "I always take care to make sure no one gets hurt. It was my dumb choice to not use protection, not his, so I'm the one who's handling this. My ex doesn't even know what's…what's become of me. He's older than I am, so it's not like I took advantage of an adolescent kid."

Blake wasn't sure if keeping the knowledge that this transfer student boyfriend of hers was to be a father was still ethical, but she did have to admit that Velvet was good for her word otherwise. She'd taken great care to make sure that Blake wasn't interested in Jaune before making any moves, and as promiscuous as she'd acted in the time Blake had known her, Blake could only recall it having been consensual. She did say that she didn't try to get a discount from the blacksmith, and she'd never said or done anything to make anyone she flirted with uncomfortable.

"My ex-boyfriend wasn't the type to get tied down," Velvet explained, pressing her boot onto a cactus and knocking it down by shifting her weight forward. "I know what you're thinking – he deserves to know. But I know him better than either of you, and I know that the stress of it would be worse for him. He had another girl lined up for himself back at Shade, and we agreed when we started that he and I weren't going to catch feels. If I saddled him with a baby, child-support, and all those responsibilities, I'd be ruining his life. He might have to drop out of Shade, and he's the leader of his team, and…" Velvet pressed a hand to her forehead and ran it along the top of her head. "It's better this way. Even if I sometimes resent that he gets to stay on Team Mascarpone when I had to leave Team Coffee."

"I'm sorry," Blake said again.

"It's not your fault." Velvet chuckled. "It's mine and mine alone."

"Not for that," Blake said. "For…For…"

It was becoming clearer and clearer why Velvet had gone to Jaune first. Blake had never done anything overt, but like the humans at the mercantile that had employed them for this job, she'd judged Velvet in her heart. It was little things, unkind words here or there coupled with judgmental glances whenever Velvet did something that Blake herself didn't personally approve of, that added up over time to make her feel less welcome.

I was the one that put up the barriers between us. Velvet might be jokingly crude at worst, but it's her choice who she dates or sleeps with, and I have no right to insult her for it.

At the time, she'd felt thoroughly justified – Velvet had flirted with Benson, and Blake had called her a freak. Velvet had revealed her pregnancy, and Blake had shamed her for it. Velvet had grabbed her shirt and showed her stomach, and Blake described it as…it was impossible not to cringe at her own words from moments ago.

Looking back, Velvet hadn't really done anything to warrant such toxic invective. She was a nineteen-year-old adult who went the extra mile further than most people to not hurt those she involved in her antics, and that wasn't Blake's place to judge. Not after some of the lines she'd crossed with Adam back when only one of them was underage.

Blake was still in the middle of an apology to Velvet, and she needed to say something to finish it.

"I'm sorry for…"

"It's fine," Velvet said, smiling faintly. "Let's get back to the cacti, shall we?"

It wasn't really fine, as a matter of fact, but dragging it out would only put Velvet on the spot for Blake's own closure, so Blake gave her an answer by raising Gambol Shroud and mowing down two Tubercules in a single swing.

"There's one thing I don't get," Jaune said, hacking at his own cactus from far behind the two girls. He'd evidently gotten distracted by Velvet's explanation of her backstory and lagged behind.

"What's that?"

"You dropped out of Beacon because you of scheduling, right?" he asked. "You couldn't do classes and be a huntress while also having a baby and all the responsibilities that come with that."

Velvet nodded. "That's right."

"But…how will you be a security consultant if motherhood has the same time commitments and scheduling issues?"

"W-Wehehell, uhhhh…I, uh…"

Blake wasn't sure why Velvet was suddenly so bashful about the topic. She'd been fairly bold regarding her life choices even when they weren't the best, and she certainly never seemed ashamed of her own actions, for better or worse.

"I, uh, may have gotten an insider tip from Ruby that it really was just you two, and I may have exaggerated just how big I thought the company was when I joined."

"What?" Blake asked.

She kept her face forward, facing the cacti ahead of her so that she needn't turn back when answering them. "So, I knew it was just you guys, but I pretended I thought it was bigger."

It clicked in Blake's head when she realized the implications of Team Job being a cozy little company of three, where everyone was everyone's personal buddy. Is she saying that she played us?

"Why?" Jaune asked.

"You see, the reason is…u-um. It's kinda difficult to explain without, uh…yeah. Honesty is a lot harder than they make it…mmm." Velvet gulped nervously and wiped her cheeks. "Whew, is it hot out here, or is it just me?"

Blake intervened to explain before the rabbit Faunus could stutter herself into an early grave. "She was counting on befriending us and taking advantage of our closeness to not be fired, Jaune."

Velvet bit her lip and squinted anxiously, finally finding the courage to turn and face them, albeit timidly.

"I-Is it working?" the rabbit asked.

Mission Complete: Hydrust Salt Flats

Client Review: They did a good job clearing the flats of the Grimm, but they finished at night and the notification that the mission was complete woke me, so I took off one star. Also, I took off another star for each of the Faunus that they sent, but returned a star because there was a human on the team. ★★★☆☆

Current Holdings (lien): Ⱡ 98,100

Current Holdings (assets): Job Hunter airship

Current Holdings (realty): Team Job office (Vale branch)

Employees: 3

Coming Soon: Want a Break from the Bad?

Repeat after me: I need a vacation.

Chapter Text

Velvet told them she was going to be going to another doctor's check-up the day after the mission to kill the Grimm cactuses in the Hydrust Salt Flats. Jaune would have found it peculiar that she was doing one so soon after her previous check-up, which was but three days prior, if not for the fact that he knew what was really going on.

I may not be well versed in the ways of the huntsman, but I'm do have decent reading comprehension, and Velvet was rather blatant in what she admitted.

Jaune had no idea if he was supposed to be angry, but he couldn't feel all that upset. It was probably wrong of Velvet to count on close friendship with her bosses to negotiate extra leave in the future, but he just couldn't find it in himself to be truly upset with the rabbit Faunus.

I guess her plan must be working.

If she'd been trying to scam them for money or something, he might have been miffed, but she basically just wanted maternity leave to birth and raise her kid, and he didn't see that as some great expense. Perhaps it was different and somehow worse in the huntsman sphere or in the world of start-up small businesses, but Jaune had merely adopted those into his identity, and he was not yet in the stage where he might feel aggrieved over what she'd done.

Really, the only inappropriate thing was tricking us. She didn't want Blake or me to know that she was originally (or perhaps still) intending to appeal to a camaraderie she intended to build up over time. I assume that the fact that she admitted to it when asked means she'd either giving up on manipulating the two of us or she feels like we've already been befriended sufficiently.

These were the thoughts that Jaune thought as he sat behind the counter of the desk in the brand, spanking new lobby of Team Job Security's Vale office. They didn't have a Mistral office or an Atlas office or a Menagerie office or anything, but Jaune figured that calling it the Vale office wasn't technically lying, and it would once again make them seem more esteemed in the eyes of the clientele, so he was going with it.

It was the fact that he himself so readily manipulated clients, saying whatever he felt like they needed to hear, that made him so easily amenable to forgiving Velvet's minor transgression and forgetting it. Blake, who was pouting in the back room, didn't share Jaune's forgiving nature and was angrily folding origami last he'd seen when checking on her, but he didn't doubt she'd come around in time.

As much as Jaune disliked the way Beacon operated things, he knew that they were typically good at what they did, and he also knew that they chose to operate their huntsmen and huntresses in an extremely team-centric way. Teams were supposed to be family according to these people who were the best in the business, suggesting there was great wisdom somewhere with it, and Team Job was no exception.

We'll be fine. Blake's just more hurt by the deception than I am and needs some time to heal.

When their day ended, with no new customers coming in and Jaune having watched several preliminary videos on how to pilot an airship to completion on his scroll, both Jaune and Blake were forced into the same space out of necessity. Short of locking herself in her room, they would have to interact, and even if Blake did try to hide away from him, she would still need to come out to eat.

In hopes of enticing her to stay, he cracked open the cans of tuna that he'd been saving for a special occasion and mixed them with some mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, and barbecue sauce for a simple tuna salad. It wasn't particularly amazing to him, but Blake loved fish something fierce (it had taken Jaune about a week of careful observation to make sure that it wasn't just a practical joke with the punchline being pretending Jaune was racist).

Perhaps it wasn't necessary to make her a favorite dish, but he did it just in case. Wrapping the tuna salad in flat flour tortillas to make it a meal, he called out to her, and she joined him in a few seconds.

Accepting the folded tortillas, she lifted one off her plate and took a bite. "Tuna wraps?"

"Yep. Figured you could use a treat."

"Jaune, I don't want to talk about Velvet."

"Talk about what, Blake? The fact that she thought she was going to need to ingratiate herself to us in order to score maternity leave? I think we might be breaking the law if we don't offer her that."

Blake finished the last bite of her first tuna wraps, one of three, and shook her head. "It's not just that. I…I'm annoyed that she felt the need to lie to us, but I'm also a little bit angry with myself."

"I'm all ears," Jaune said, reaching into the fridge to take out the carton of milk that was just on the brink of expiring. He tried to wiggle his human ears but lacked the muscles to do so. "So to speak."

In spite of saying she didn't want to talk about it, Blake wasted no time in slumping down onto their couch and sinking right into it. "I think I was a little too judgmental of her, and I could have used kinder words when discussing her…promiscuity."

As much as Jaune might have wanted to reassure Blake that she was fine, he did have to admit that Blake had jumped to slightly petty insults faster than he might have liked.

"You remember that vacation we were talking about?" Blake asked. "We wanted to take the airship for a test spin when we bought it, but now that that's done, I think we might want to all take some time off. You and I still have enough money that we can afford to withdraw some each without breaking the bank, and Velvet's cut of the profits was hefty as well."

Jaune wasn't sure he liked the suggestion; it sounded too much like running away.

"This isn't the kind of thing that'll just go away if we ignore it, Blake," Jaune said. "Velvet will be here when you get back from your break, and she'll probably still be just as…"

Jaune struggled to think of a word that could describe his lagomorphic companion's proclivities without falling into the territory of insulting. Blake had called it promiscuousness, but that tended to carry with it an implicit undertone of disparagement.

He had the vocabulary to describe it, but nothing in his repertoire fit due to the negative connotations. Profligate made her sound wasteful or careless, while libertine didn't quite capture the way Velvet chose to be responsible in her ways. Lecherous, sensualist, playgirl – all of them were words typically used to deride or humiliate the subject.

Perhaps the fact that all of those words are mean to be bad is a testament to how we as a society view sexuality as a whole.

"…just as liberal," Jaune settled on, just to not leave Blake hanging.

Blake finished another tuna wrap, meaning Jaune was potentially left with one third of the time he'd bought with the dinner. He considered offering her one of his, but that would be too transparent.

"I'm not trying to avoid her. I do want a breather from it all." Blake sighed. "It's not the team. I think I just need a reset. Too much has been happening in a short time, with a sudden deluge of lien and assets moving into our hands and Velvet being with child all of a sudden and now this. Some personal time off to unwind might help out a little."

"…okay. I'll also take some time off, since now would be the best time," Jaune said.

He had no intentions of going on some vacation to a far off place, not when he'd just ran off to see his family in Ansel just a few days ago, but he could do a stay-cation. Their apartment was sorely lacking in terms of luxuries like a television set or any videogame consoles, so some time to do a little personal shopping without deadlines or business expenses floating over his head might be nice. He could also enjoy the city of Vale – in spite of living here, he'd yet to truly explore much of it.

Blake didn't say anything, but he could tell from her expression that she gave her approval.

"Then we're decided," he said. "I'll let Velvet know."

"No, I should. If she gets the news that I'm leaving for a week or so, she'll take away the message that I'm avoiding her. A-And I'm not."

Velvet was actually avoiding them, as it happened, but Jaune had no objections. The team was in an awkward place right now, but not a bad one. Some time to themselves might actually be a good thing, especially when they'd had to spend all that time in close proximity back on the farm.

Things had been rather hectic recently. Maybe Blake was right. Maybe a simple break might be just what they needed.

Jaune had no idea where Blake went for her week, but he hoped it was relaxing and rejuvenating for her. As for himself, Jaune's staycation was a fairly calming affair, at least for the first half of it.

Those were the days he spent just shopping for himself. Blake had withdrawn ten thousand lien of personal spending money, meaning that according to their deal, Jaune was free to use the same amount as he wanted.

Having so much disposable income was certainly nice, and Jaune found himself briefly pleased with the fact that he hadn't gone to Beacon. Being kicked out so ignominiously would never ever be a blessing in disguise, but the life of a gainfully employed security consultant wasn't a bad one when he was given the chance to spend some of those earnings.

I think it might have been better if I'd just never applied to Beacon. Looking back in hindsight, I'm happy with my life as it is, and I can't imagine four more years of school, especially since I'm basically doing the work of a huntsman already.

On that note, he'd also spent a few of his days off training at their gym and getting his provisional pilot's license. Yes, it was technically work, but Jaune had actually started looking forward to learning how to fly when he'd stopped thinking of it as work and stepped back to actually see that he was learning how to freakin' fly.

By the end of his fourth day off, he wasn't legally allowed to fly the Job Hunter from anywhere but the copilot's seat, but in the event of an emergency, he could reasonably expect himself to take the helm and get them to safety without crashing and dying in a giant fireball, or whatever gravity well or black hole Gravity Dust made. His qualifications would change with time and lots more practice, but the majority of the hazards during flight were actually just during take-off and landing, and they'd thoroughly reviewed and rehearsed those two steps on the flight academy's simulators.

It was time spent being productive and enjoying himself, and Jaune actually had a really great time.

But all good things came to an end, and Jaune's relatively peaceful vacation couldn't last forever. It was when he stopped doing activities that felt purposeful and moved on to time spent on complete leisure that things went wrong. Jaune's mistake was telling Velvet his plans – to visit the aquarium on his fifth day off, the science center on his sixth day off, and the botanical gardens on his last day before Blake returned.

He'd only just mentioned it offhandedly after she'd called him socially, giving her a casual rundown on his plans for the next few days.

And she offered to go with him.

"I don't want to hijack your plans or something," she said to him over the scroll. "I'm just letting you know that I don't have other plans. If you want some company, we can spend the day together."

Thus began the end of Jaune's leisurely autumn break and the beginnings of his quite stressful problems, because he actually thought the idea of spending the next few days with her sounded nice.

Except Blake said we're all supposed to be spending time apart from one another! The whole point of her going on vacation was so that we could go at it alone for a little while and not be sick of one another when we get back!

But what difference does it make to Blake if I hang out with Velvet? It's not like she'll know or care, and I'm not the one who asked for a 'reset.'

It just felt like a betrayal of Blake, to go and spend time as Team Job minus the B. Even with only two members present, the absence of the team's final third was still striking. Jaune's big hang up that had stopped him from accepting Velvet's offer on the spot was the fear that Blake would get home, hear of how they'd spent their vacation together when she'd been alone, and feel left out.

Except she left of her own volition. I'm not Blake's babysitter, nor am I obliged to be her friend and her friend alone. I'm allowed to choose how I want to spend my free time.

Velvet turned out to be an excellent companion to chill out with. She brought her camera along, which Jaune hadn't realize could take pictures of things other than weapons, and actually even recreated a miniature octopus on the floor of the aquarium from a photograph she'd taken. It didn't move around a lot (Hard Light constructs tended to be rigid and lifeless), but it was still funny to see, especially when kids crowded around thinking it was real.

To Jaune's pleasure, it wasn't weird at all to spend three days together with her. Their whole boss-employee, younger-older, man-woman, human-Faunus dynamic didn't cause either of them any trouble. He'd been a bit afraid that Velvet might mistakenly think his acceptance was him requesting to date her or something, but she never insinuated anything of the sort, and Jaune once again found himself hiding behind the fact that she had been the one to initiate this.

Blake wanted time alone. Velvet wanted time together as friends. I'd like it if we could all get along, but I'm okay with this right now.

There were a few close calls throughout the day where Jaune had nearly outed himself as not having attended primary combat school, especially when his knowledge of biology, botany, or other academics had come from his high school education that was more focused on knowledge than fighting, but Velvet said nothing if she noticed, so Jaune considered himself in the clear.

Velvet talked about herself, as well. Her parents were from different kingdoms and hadn't actually ever gotten together; much like her own baby, she was the product of a 'summer romance' as she put it. Velvet didn't seem upset about it, though.

"If they'd gotten married, they would've been unhappy together," she'd explained as Jaune tried to identify a succulent by its rosette. "They liked one another, but in short doses. We'd get together and spend a month together as a family before each school year would start. Otherwise, I'd spend my school years in Vale and visit Atlas during the holidays and seasonal breaks. I didn't even know what we had was…different from nuclear families until I turned fifteen."

He wasn't sure he liked how much Velvet's description of her parents and their 'short doses' reminded him of Blake, who was currently taking a break from the team after less than two months of being together.

"I sorta know what it's like," Jaune said. "My mom and dad raised me…I don't wanna say normally, but…conventionally, I guess, for the first few years of my life, but then my mom died during childbirth. Dad raised me and my sisters as a single parent for most of my life. I hate to admit it, but I can barely even remember my own mother."

"The life of a single parent is tough," Velvet said, patting her own stomach. She smiled forlornly down at her own torso. "But I can do this. I know I can."

"Just remember that you're not alone," Jaune said, doing his best to say something heartwarming. Velvet's introspective words were probably directed more at herself than him, but he felt duty-bound as a fellow Team Job-ian to at least say something to support her. "We've got you back, and if you ever need babysitting, Blake and I are both still teenagers, so it's not weird."

Velvet openly laughed at that. The botanical gardens weren't well-traveled during the working city's weekdays, and Jaune and Velvet might have had the entire place to themselves if not for the two mothers with children that were also there.

"Me? Hiring my own bosses as babysitters? What, would I pay you, or would I just get a slightly smaller paycheck at the end of the next mission?"

The days actually went by a lot faster than he would have liked. People said that you never worked a day in your life when you did what you loved, and Jaune loved being a 'security consultant,' but there was something nice about having no mission goals to fulfill or whiny clients to manage. All he had to do was look at the fish or the exhibits or the plants and have fun.

Sooner than he could know it, the vacation period ended. Blake came back from whatever mysterious destination to which she'd walked, flown, or sailed, and the team as a whole knew that they were going to have to take on another mission.

I hope we're all good now, Jaune wished as he watched Blake and Velvet greet one another with a hug. No. More than that. I hope we're better.

Coming Soon: We're All Friends Here

Blake breaks and takes responsibility for her mistake for Velvet's sake.

Chapter Text

In spite of the fact that they actually had a brick-and-mortar office now, their next client still reached out to them from Jaune's website. He'd updated it to include a picture of the office, so perhaps it had had something to do with it, but they would never know. The client was from a remote village called Jkonna way out there on the border of what constituted Vale and Vacuo, and thus it was impractical for them to physically come in to Vale to hire them in person; thus, he'd digitally submitted a request for them to come on out and provide security to his town.

At Jaune's insistence, Blake was sitting in the copilot's seat next to Velvet rather than the Job Hunter's cabin. Apparently, he had grown a spine while she was gone and learned how to assert himself; Blake was one part proud of her pupil for his newfound courage and one part astounded that he dared talk back to the woman who'd taught him everything he knew about hunting.

But he's not exactly wrong about me and Velvet. I'm the one who treated her poorly, and I'm also the boss – there's no way she can take the first step towards reconciliation when this power imbalance between the two of us exists as it does.

Her excuse for joining Velvet in the cockpit was that she was interested in watching how flight happened, and Blake had been able to run with that line when Velvet had been doing all sorts of button-flipping and switch-turning during liftoff, but when they reached a safe cruising altitude and had nothing to do but keep it steady, Blake realized she needed to speak.

"H-How was your vacation?"

"Pretty great!" Velvet said, eyes still on the skies. "For the first few days, I tuned up Anesidora and had a little bit of fun making some baby furniture from raw materials I bought at the hardware store."

"You like to build?"

Velvet nodded. "I'm no Pietro Polendina, but I'm – oh, he's an Atlesian scientist."

"I know," Blake said before she could stop herself.

"Oh, great. As I was saying, I'm no Dr. Polendina, but the design of weapons always fascinated me. My semblance lets me become an expert with almost anything in an instant, so I've got experience behind the blade with tons of types of weapons. Dad works in Atlas as a huntsman, so I used to see a lot of different people there – I even got to take a picture of Due Process. I-It's General Ironwood's gun."

Blake had to suppress a shuddered as the conversation became a little tougher for her to hear, especially from a fellow Faunus. The reason that Blake knew Dr. Pietro Polendina was because he was a war criminal who outfitted Atlas with the weapons and technologies that they'd used to destroy the lives of White Fang brothers and sisters she'd fought alongside. Due Process was stained in the blood of their innocent kin, and Velvet had photographed it.

Except they weren't innocent, were they?

It was a tough truth for Blake to reconcile. On one hand, she knew these people, years spent together growing up alongside some of them, and it was almost impossible for her to not understand why they had to do what they did. On the other, she wouldn't have left if she hadn't taken issue with them at some level.

Adam's weapons have far more innocent blood on them. From our perspective, we are…we were defending ourselves, but from theirs, so were they.

It wouldn't be fair to dump all of that on Velvet for being Atlesian, though, so Blake just smiled and nodded congenially. "You said that was the first few days…anything fun happen later?"

"Yeah, Jaune and I joined up and went out to explore Vale. I mean, it was all places I'd seen before because a compact city like here only has so many attractions to visit, but it was fun to see them through new eyes. It was like going on a roller coaster you've ridden before but with a child who was enjoying it for the first time – it brought back memories of my own first ride, you know?"

Blake didn't really know, since she wasn't sure what a roller coaster was, but she nodded along once again. It did strike her as a little weird that they'd essentially gone on a date during the week, she'd been out, but Jaune had repeated time and time again that he wasn't dating Velvet. That didn't mean it hadn't changed in the time she'd been out, but he probably would have told her if it had. Hell, there would have been no way he would shut up about it if they became a couple.

"What about you? Did you go somewhere nice?"

An apology was going to be difficult if Blake couldn't even speak to Velvet, but again she found no words and merely nodded.

She hadn't actually gone anywhere nice. Vale was the only safe place for her, given the influence that Adam exerted in the other kingdoms. All it would have taken was a single spy of his noting her presence and he'd be on her like wildfire on a field mouse. As for Vale itself, she hadn't really know what to do on her own, so she'd just used her money to book a hotel and read for the full day. She'd gone through ten full books before the week had ended.

It was relaxing, for sure, but Blake had kind of been hoping to do more. Vale was an enormous city with so much to offer, but she just couldn't get into it for some reason. On her first day, she'd ventured out on her own and tried to find something to do, but her first attempt at having fun by visiting a historic cathedral that was a popular tourist destination according to the website on her scroll been a disaster.

Complete and utter boredom was all that had awaited her there. She looked at the stone walls and mighty pillars and stained-glass depictions of historic figures from Vale's monarchy, and she'd felt nothing. It had sapped all the joy out of her on the first day of her vacation, and she'd lost the will to try anything new.

It wasn't supposed to have been like this. As a child, Blake had never been hesitant to explore the world around her. She had many fond memories from her youth of being able to enjoy herself on the crowded markets and sunny beaches of Menagerie. Then, as she'd gotten older, the White Fang under her parents had taken her to the new kingdoms of Vacuo and Mistral, each full of their own rich cultures and vibrant lifestyles to explore. Blake had seen ancient ruins of bygone civilizations, grassroots music festivals so in touch with the ground that they were practically muddy, and even the majestic council buildings where the governments ran things, and she'd enjoyed all of it.

But Vale was worse.

No, that wasn't right. Vale wasn't worse than the other kingdoms; Blake had just changed.

There were two possibilities, and both frightened her an awful lot. Either the childlike wonderment at witnessing the new was something that she'd outgrown upon becoming an adult, or she had only truly enjoyed those places because of the company that she'd kept at the time. Mom, Dad, Ilia, Sienna, even Adam – a part of the fun had been sharing it with someone, much like Jaune and Velvet had in her absence.

Was Blake truly so empty that she couldn't find anything to do on her own besides read stories about other people living their own lives?

Did Blake even know how to enjoy herself on her own?

With those existential dreads at the forefront of her mind, apologizing to Velvet suddenly seemed less like a challenge and more like a welcome distraction. Blake cleared her throat and broke the silence that had ensued in the wake of her lackluster answer.

"V-Velvet, I want to apologize. Some of the things I said to you were really shitty, and I want to take them back."

"It's fine," Velvet said.

"No, it's not fine," Blake countered. Pleasant non-truths might spare them both embarrassment, but Blake needed Velvet to know that the things Blake had been saying weren't what was truly 'her.' "I kept wondering in my head why you told Jaune about your pregnancy first and not me. It bothered me for a while, especially since we're so similar in a lot of ways, and I just couldn't figure it out for a while. But what you said back at the salt flats about being responsible for your own actions and not letting your…actions hurt people…well, you didn't hurt anyone, but I did."

"Blake, it's fine. It's nothing I haven't heard before."

"But you shouldn't have to!" Blake said forcefully. "And even if you have, I shouldn't be slut-shaming you and adding another problem. Fuck's sake, I made things so bad between us that I had to run away for a week just to get over myself. I'm sorry, Velvet. As a boss, as a woman, as a person…I'm really sorry. I won't judge you, not ever again."

Velvet's fingers strummed the airship's stick. "You can judge me a little bit. Not gonna lie, it can get me going in the right circumstances. Heh…cir-cum-stances…"

"Velvet, I'm serious here. I was a bitch to you."

"And so am I," said the rabbit Faunus, smiling. "Blake, a few unkind words here and there aren't enough to negate all of the amazing things that you guys have done for me. I'm an academy dropout who showed up in the park with storebought egg salad sandwich bribes because I knew you were poor and would be hungry, and you hired me. I get to pay rent and eat and regularly visit the doctors because of you. That's not nothing."

Blake couldn't keep the truth hidden, for her shame was too great. "J-Jaune was the one to –"

"Yeah, and I mean no offense to Jaune, but it's pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that you make all of the serious decisions on this team. He may have campaigned for me, but you could have pulled the plug on my employment at any time. Honestly, when I told you I was pregnant, I thought that was gonna be it."

Blake remembered that moment. She'd called Velvet dumb for having 'spread her legs.' Bright red shame spread across her face at having to relive the moment again in her mind.

Velvet's arm reached across the cockpit and gently shoved Blake, a grin on her face. "Enough of that. If you're gonna think about something, think about your actions, not your words. If I recall correctly, you said that you would make sure I was okay financially, contract-obligated salary or not. That's not how a bitch would act."

Blake couldn't help but smirk a little. "S-So…s-so was this all just the next step of your master plan to guilt me into sticking by my promise of a higher pay for you?"

Velvet chuckled. "You caught me."

For maximum comedic effect, she let go of the stick and raised her hands in mock surrender, but the airship began to drop out of the sky, and Velvet frantically grabbed ahold of it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Jaune screamed from the backseat. "HEEEEEELP!"

When the airship was back on an even flight path, Velvet (holding the stick firmly with one hand) reached over to pat Blake's shoulder.

"I accept your apology, Blake. I don't think I need to hear it, but…I'm guessing you feel like you need to say it, so I accept. Thank you for making an effort."

"I…y-you're welcome."

Velvet's hand went back to the stick, but when it did, she stared at the rod-shaped controller that she was now gripping with both hands for a little too long. Blake couldn't help but notice it as well.

Velvet a grin on her face, giggled. "H-Heh."

Then, after just enough of a pause for perfect comedic timing, she moved her hands up and down on the stick rapidly.

Both girls burst into a fit of laughter.

It took landing on the ground and taking five steps out of the airship in the direction of the nearby village of Jkonna for Blake's positive mood to evaporate like a forgotten kettle's full of boiling water.

"You've gotta be fucking shitting me."

Velvet cringed a little bit at first, but then she noticed what Blake had instantly. "What's wrong?"

"Hunters," Blake seethed. "A team of them."

And the worst part was, it was even more Beacon hunters, or perhaps Shade ones, given the age. Memories of the mission that had put them head to head with Team LTUC of Beacon came back, and how Team Job had been utilized as a scare tactic akin.

"I don't get it," Velvet declared innocently. "What's wrong with hunters? Do you not like them or something?"

"No. It's not even them," Blake said. "We've done this before."

In hindsight, Blake might have carried a little resentment to the hunters themselves who had rejected her and then belatedly done their worst to shut down her company, but it wasn't that disdain that motivated her current state of anger.

"I really hope this doesn't become a regular thing," Jaune said to himself, having exited the Job Hunter and come to the same realization as Blake. "Team Job isn't a bargaining chip, you guys."

Blake agreed that that would be a disaster for them. They had only emerged victorious last time because Jaune had cheated. Should they find themselves regularly pitted against full-fledged hunter teams, especially the older years of Beacon like Velvet who could hunt circles around them, it could be the end of them.

There were two huntsmen and one huntress loitering around the gate of the village, but from the way they looked like they were waiting for someone to come out, she could imagine their fourth member meeting with the mayor of Jkonna to discuss terms and work out the details. That meant they might have had a limited time before a contract was negotiated!

"Jaune, get in there and get us a job." She slapped him on the back and gently shoved him forward. "Hup to it!"

He didn't seem at all offended by being manhandled, likely having already figured that he was going to have to break out his 'leadership skills.' She trusted him to either pull off another miracle or somehow handle it before they lost the upcoming mission to Beacon.

He knows what this is going to be after last time. I trust him to handle it.

Jaune rushed ahead, nodding a brief response to the greeting from the hunter team when he passed by them. The mayor's house's location had been given to them when they'd been hired, and Jaune made a beeline for it.

I'd like to go with him, but until we know for sure that us being Faunus isn't going to be poorly received, I think it's safer to stay out here.

That meant they were going to have to stand the presence of the huntsman team that was gunning to steal their jobs. One of them almost looked familiar…

"Holy crap, I think I might know those guys," Velvet whispered to her, a grin across her face.

I guess they're familiar to her too, as classmates up until a month or so ago.

"Don't get too friendly," Blake said to her in a similarly low voice. "This isn't the first time this has happened to us, where we get called out to a village in the middle of nowhere only to find a Beacon team that's doing our mission for free."

Velvet blinked. "W-Wait, was that –"

"Team LTUC." Blake nodded. "Our employer, Mrs. Corundum, was displeased with their performance and called in 'the professionals' to handle it if they didn't. We were a tool for her to threaten them into compliance, and it took 10% of our fee to buy their compliance into not reporting us." Blake scowled at the thought of it. "And they did anyways. Ozpin paid us a visit the next day."

"O-Oh. I…I didn't realize…I had no idea it was this…"

Before they got to the Beacon team, Blake stopped Velvet with an arm in front of her stomach so that they could finish this last bit in privacy. "Be honest with me. If you hadn't gotten kicked out of Beacon, would you have seen a team full of dropouts as anything other than a liability?"

Velvet's sad little frown got even sadder, and Blake rushed to reassure her.

"I'm not mad at you or something, nor do I hate huntresses. I tried to go to Beacon and become one. I'm just explaining what we're facing. To them, we're either civilians to be ignored, rivals to be quashed, or novelties to be –"

"OMIGOSHBLAKEIT'SYOU!"

Something crashed into her and nearly knocked Blake to the ground. Her hands tried to reach for Gambol Shroud as she frantically raised her aura, but whoever it was that had grabbed her like a vice and wasn't letting go.

"Velvet, help!" Blake shrieked, wriggling in the grasp of the mass of red and black that was too close to her to reasonably identify.

It was too tight to replace her body with a shadow clone; they were good distractions but did nothing to actually wrench her body free of the enemy's grasp. Blake was truly pinned, and she needed help.

"OMIGOSHVELVETIT'SYOU!"

"Hold your horses, Ruby," came Velvet's voice from Blake's right. "No hugs for me, thanks."

Ruby? Wait, wasn't that Jaune's friend from –?

Blake looked down at the human that was clutching her. Her face was furiously rubbing into Blake's shoulder from the hug, but the brunette head of hair with bright red tips was distinguishably unique enough for Velvet to recognize it.

"Blake, we get to do a mission together!" said Ruby Rose.

Coming Soon: Join Hands and Sing Along

Team Job breaks bread with the enemy.

Chapter Text

Jaune didn't dramatically burst into the office of the mayor of Jkonna, but he did rap on it quite zestfully before opening it without waiting for an invitation.

Inside was a woman who, based on her age, appearance, and the serrated scourge she carried on her hip all coiled up, was a huntress of Beacon. Jaune figured she would be the professor leading the kids outside, and the man to whom she was talking was the mayor of the village.

"Ah!" said the mayor, upon noticing Jaune in his open doorframe. "You must be the leader of Team Job! Come, come, please come in, young man."

Jaune stepped forward, one part wary and one part defiant, and just barely bowed in response to the same greeting from both the mayor and the huntress.

"Pleased to meet you, Mister, uh, J-Job. I'd like to introduce you to Profe–"

"Are you from Beacon?" Jaune asked, interrupting the mayor. It ran contrary to the manners his father had taught him, but Jaune was on the verge of rupturing a blood vessel at this point.

The woman, who had to be in her fifties, smiled and nodded. She was short and rather dumpy, if jaune had to describe her quickly, but he knew better than to underestimate a huntress because of their appearance. Velvet looked like a stuffed toy, and she was stronger than him and Blake combined.

"Alright." Jaune made a heel-faced turn towards the door. "We're not doing this. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but Team Job isn't just a bargaining chip to threaten huntsmen and huntresses who aren't performing up to your standards."

This wasn't like the Zaherite mines where Team Job was so financially destitute that they had to play by the tune of the client's fiddle. If they were going to be treated like disposable people by the mayor, they could just choose to walk and still have enough money in their bank account to sit pretty.

It's not sustainable, but neither is letting Beacon dance all over us.

Making a beeline for the door, Jaune shook his head in disgust. This was the second time they were being used, and he wasn't going to let it set a precedent. Call Team Job in for no purpose but to scare your 'real' hunters into compliance, and you could expect to be made the fool when they left you in the dust.

"No, wait, please! I-It's not like that!"

The mayor jogged forward in front of Jaune to block his path.

"Please, don't leave! I-I'll pay you up front!"

Jaune was about to move around the desperate-sounding man when the words registered in his head.

"Pay us…wait, are you…ahem." Jaune cleared his throat and decided to clear this up. "What exactly is going on here? Team Job has had adverse experiences where we were offered jobs in competition with Beacon teams before, and I'd like to ensure that this isn't a repeat of that."

"In competition? No, I'd never!" The mayor waved his hands rapidly in embarrassment. "Forgive me if I gave that impression, or if I cast any doubt onto my intentions of hiring you by failing to provide the appropriate information. It's quite the opposite, sir –"

"M'done with the bathroom!" called out a voice from the inner bowels of the house…a voice that Jaune thought he recognized for a second. "Sorry for making you guys – huh?"

Ruby Rose rounded the corner of a doorway in the mayor's house coming fully into view.

"Jaune?"

"Ruby?"

Both of them stared at one another for a moment, unable to speak.

"You two know each other?" the Beacon professor asked casually.

"The people of Jkonna needs this job done as fast as possible, but they aren't able to afford a professional huntsman team," Jaune explained to his Faunus teammates, detailing the agreement that had been reached behind closed doors. "Their mayor requested aid from the kingdoms due to his town's relative poverty, but they could only send first years doing their first missions."

"Ah, first missions," Velvet swooned happily. "I still remember mine. We smooshed a bunch of Grimm in the ruins of Mountain Glenn under Professor Oobleck…good times."

"Anyways, the mayor doesn't really trust four first years to handle his problems," Jaune went on. "He's worried that they'll see it as a learning experience, but for him it'll be the fate of his town. The stakes are just too different. Thus, he hired us…our reviews are good, and we're more motivated to do a good job since we're a company and not students."

"So why are they still here?" Blake asked angrily. She seemed to be the most upset by the presence of more Beaconites, which was nicely countered by the way Velvet wasn't really bothered by it. "Why didn't Beacon get sent home?"

Jaune looked over to Ruby explaining it to her own team and wondered if she was dressing up the absolute lack of faith that the mayor had in them as something nicer. He recognized her sister Yang among them, the bold blonde from before, but the other two men on their team were guys he'd never seen before in his life. One of them looked kinda chill, and the other was clearly trying too hard to have no chill.

"The mayor doesn't care who does the mission – he's willing to pay us in advance and sign Beacon's mission completion forms as long as the job gets done. The way he figures it, the more people on the job, the sooner it'll get done."

It was the opposite of last time; Team Job was the trusted combatants who were expected to actually get the job done, and the four from Beacon were the add-on afterthoughts that weren't expected to amount to much.

It's also much safer for us. I've had the money wired to our company portal. We'll have help on this mission, not to mention a full-fledged huntress watching over us. There's no reason to not be pleased with this aside from pride and pride alone, and the fact that it's Ruby and her team here takes care of that aspect.

"Paid in advance?" Blake confirmed, likely not having heard a word of Jaune's explanation after that line.

"Yup. It's been transferred already, and I double-checked that it was the right amount." Jaune nodded. "I'm not keen on any tricks after our last 'team-up.'"

"This…This is a good thing, you guys," Velvet said, sounding quite confused. "R-Right? I mean, why wouldn't it be? No huntress ever complains about back-up, and Beacon's the best in the business."

She didn't know, but how could she? Like Jaune had said to Blake before, one had to have been there in that moment when Ozpin forcibly dropped them out of Beacon to truly understand the hopelessness of it all, and the same applied to their competitive mission against Beacon. Velvet hadn't been in the room when Ozpin had walked in and declared them outlaws because he'd felt like it, not had she seen the looks Team LTUC had given them, like they were less than human. To some extent, there had been a Faunus angle to it (the U in their team had more-or-less openly admitted to it) but Jaune had also received a portion of their anger – perhaps even more than Blake, since he had been acting as their spokesperson at that time.

Velvet's time with Beacon had been as a member and as a friend to the school. They'd had treated her with nothing but the utmost respect and patience as they molded her into a huntress, but that was probably soon to change.

Not today, though. Ruby was in charge of the Beaconites this time, and they were all first years at that, still malleable in their impression of the civilians around them.

"If we're not being used as pawns, I'm okay with this." Blake glanced over at the hunters, who were now doing some sort of team handshake where they all put their hands in a circle and raised them. "And I guess I don't mind if it's Ruby. She's nice enough."

"She's more than nice – I've never met an ankle-biter so sweet," Velvet chirped. "Did I tell you guys that she was the one that referred me to you?"

She had. When they'd hired Velvet, it had been mentioned that Ruby had let it slip that they liked to practice in the park at the time. Jaune would have to thank her for that at some point, though he was sure he'd have plenty of time on their joint mission together. Speaking of which…

"The mission itself is a little bit more than routine Grimm eradication," Jaune said. "Apparently, the Grimm are all congregating in the prairies, but they're most dense in some specific spot. We're supposed to go there as a group, figure out why, and put a stop to it."

"Are there any people out there?" Velvet asked.

Jaune shook his head for no. "There aren't supposed to be, but Grimm don't go to random spots in the middle of nowhere for fun. If there are, we've been asked to rescue them and escort them to Jkonna."

"Sounds easy enough," Velvet said. "I think this might be good for you guys." She looked at Jaune, then at Blake. "You guys have had some negative experiences with Beacon, so maybe we can use this as a chance to show you both how good the school can be?"

Jaune highly doubted that, not when Ozpin had explicitly stated that he was gunning for Team Job Security to be closed down. However, for Velvet's sake and perhaps also Ruby's, he'd give it a try.

"Team Job," Jaune introduced succinctly. He patted himself on the chest. "I'm Jaune Arc, the team leader. Blake Belladonna is a founding member…" He nodded his head her way. "…and Velvet Scarlatina is our newest member."

"We know you guys, silly!" Ruby playfully giggled.

One of the guys on her team (who Jaune most assuredly did not know, nor vice versa) opened his mouth, probably to interject and state that fact, but he shut it before Ruby noticed. Since Jaune had just introduced himself, it wouldn't really matter if he hadn't know before.

I know Ruby and Yang, but the two guys are new faces. I wonder if Velvet knows them.

He looked over at her in time to catch her wiping the drool from her lip.

That's most likely a no then. Also, please not on a mission, Vel.

"Well, I'm Ruby, but everyone here already knows that." Ruby pointed over her shoulder with her thumb. "These are my dudes, and I'm the leader of 'em! Isn't that so cool?"

Jaune just smiled for her. She didn't really have the professionalism that he and Team Job had built up over their time working as freelancers, but she was also a fifteen-year-old and a carefree first year, so he supposed it was fair.

Ruby took a step back to join her team and threw her arms over two of them – one of them Yang, and the other the blue haired boy who'd almost interrupted. "We're Team River, and that's RYVR for Ruby-Yang-Vasilias-Ren! I don't know why only Neptune's last name got used when everyone else's didn't." Her arm around the blue-haired boy, presumably Neptune, patted him a few times. "They could have made it RYNR for Rainforest or RRYN for Rhinestone. Don't know why they had to shaft my boy Neppy when he's got such a cool first name." Ruby scratched her chin. "Or maybe it's Rose-Yang-Vasilias-Ren…or Ren-Yang-Vasilias-Rose…but no, leader's name has to come first…"

"Ruby," Yang said gently.

"Oh, right. Heheheh, sorry…anyways, you guys know Yang, my sister, but this is Neptune and Ren. Say hi, Neptune and Ren."

"Hi," said Ren.

"Hi, Neptune and Ren," said Neptune at the same time.

Ren's eyes shut, and he heaved out a pained sigh.

"Bro!" cried Neptune. "We were supposed to both…aww, you ruined the joke."

"Anyways, together, we represent the awesome Team River! Go Team!" Ruby threw her arm up in the air, and she was followed by Yang and Neptune immediately. Ren gave a halfhearted cheer shortly thereafter, though it was clearly perfunctory.

"Ren has a little trouble keeping up since he has the renergy of a sloth," Yang smirked. "I think his girlfriend sucked it all out of him by osmosis, which is why she's so upbeat all the time."

Jaune couldn't help but notice Velvet perk up at the word 'sucked.'

Of F-wording course.

"She's not my girlfriend," Ren bemoaned.

"Al-fuckin'-right," Velvet whispered under her breath. "Two for the price o' one…jackpot."

Jaune, as leader, shook hands with the two boys and Yang (and was pulled into a slightly aggressive hug by the elder sister). "Please to meet you. This is your first mission, right?"

"Yuppers! Team River's finally flowing," Ruby proudly declared. "Oh, but I forgot to introduce our chaperone."

"It's fine, Miss Rose," said the accompanying Beacon teacher, who'd mostly stayed silent while the kids introduced themselves. "Pleased to meet you, Team Job. I'm Professor XXX/CHOOSENAMEFROMWIKI/XXX. Team River will be completing their first mission under my supervision, in accordance with Beacon policy."

Jaune, unsure if he was supposed to offer, outstretched a hand to her as well, just in case. She shook it with a grip strength that made Yang's pale.

And yet, it didn't hurt. I could inherently feel that it was the strongest handshake I've ever felt, but I'm getting better at aura control and more resilient every day. The gap is closing thanks to Blake's training.

"I've run joint missions with multiple teams before," said the professor. "Would you folks like to run the ground before we go hot, or is your style more to stake separate lanes?"

Jaune really had no clue what the F-word she was talking about, and he wasn't entirely sure that this wasn't some trick to make him look like a fool. However, if it was a Beacon plot, Team River wouldn't be in on it, and they didn't respond to the lingo with any suspicion, so Jaune decided to play it normal.

"Velvet," he called. "You probably are more familiar with Team River than I am, having known Ruby and her friends in Beacon. What do you advise?"

"Separate lanes can't really work if the teams are different numbers," Velvet said. "Five vs. three would be unbalanced in a free stake, and we'd be cut off from the village in the event that we end up off the angle."

Jaune nodded. He still had no clue what they were saying, but Velvet did, and he would trust her on which option of the two was better. "Running the ground, it is."

Whatever that means.

Apparently, a part of it was walking on foot rather than traveling via airship. Jaune was used to trekking the landscape at this point, and the mayor had said the Grimm buildup was only about 6 miles away, meaning that could be there before nightfall if they didn't dillydally.

The two teams were roughly similar in age, save for Ruby and Velvet being two years off from the average in the lower and higher directions, so they congregated together as they walked in the direction of the increased Grimm activity, their professor lingering behind and tapping on her scroll.

The first impressions that he was getting of them was that Ren was extremely calm and tended to show no strong emotions, whereas Yang was the polar opposite. Ruby was the leader, and she seemed childish but beloved by her team. As for Neptune, he'd yet to speak, so Jaune couldn't get a read on the guy this early.

I'll probably know them better by the end of the mission.

Jaune cleared his throat. "Hey, so that was super weird how your teacher introduced herself, right? She just said the letter X three times and then 'choose name from wick-key,' whatever that means, and then three more X's. Like, that's a bunch of words, not a real name, right?"

"Oh thank gods, I thought I was the only one who noticed," said Ruby, sighing in relief. "I've just been calling her ma'am or professor all the time because I didn't want to mention anything."

Velvet scooched a little further away from Yang, who she'd been walking alongside, and closed to Ren. "So, what's all this I've been hearing about you not having a girlfriend?"

"We're not together," Ren said succinctly, his face and tone betraying nothing beyond the words he spoke.

"If you ever want to get a girl, then they say the best way is to make her jealous." Velvet's eyebrows wiggled.

"Good idea," Ren said. "Yang, please pretend to date me so that Nora will take interest."

Yang laughed and pulled Ren into a noogie. "Sly dog, you, joking around like that…"

"Joking?" he asked, not responding at all to the manhandling.

Velvet's teeth ground from side to side for a second, her smile not quite fading but definitely retreating. Then, she turned her head one hundred and eighty degrees and spoke.

"Heya Neptune."

Neptune gulped a little bit.

As he watched the interaction go down with a slight grin, Jaune felt a tug on his arms and saw that it was Ruby.

"I wanna talk to you for a sec. You 'n' Blake."

Jaune noticed that her other hand was tugging on the shoulder of Blake's shirt. "O-Okay."

Leaving the kids to play their games, Jaune and Blake broke off from the group and made a second, smaller walking party. They continued to travel in stride with the others, just a few feet away to give them some space to talk about whatever it was Ruby wanted to discuss.

"Is something wrong?" Blake asked immediately. "Is there a problem with the mission?"

"No, nothing bad. I just…I wanted to know how you guys were doing." Ruby began to wring her wrists nervously. "I know you guys were having a little financial trouble last time, and having a third employee has probably bumped up the costs a little bit since the same money's going three ways. A-Are you guys okay? Do you need any help?"

Jaune wasn't really sure how to best answer her question. On the one hand, seeing Ruby all torn up about his well-being wasn't pleasant, not when it was genuine. On the other hand, it wasn't like he could explain that a client had up and gifted them his entire life's savings, homestead, and hundreds of acres of land.

Plus, rumors can fly even if it's not intentional. If it somehow got to Ozpin that we're doing well, he might feel inclined to take some real action against us.

"We're doing fine, Ruby," Blake said. "Our prices have gone up a little bit, but we're not struggling. One of our jobs went…exceedingly well recently, so we've got some funds to fall back on if we ever end up in trouble.

"I just feel so bad for you guys," Ruby lamented. "Out there in the big city, alone and on your own at seventeen. I couldn't even imagine if my dream to be a real hunter got dashed before I even got into an academy."

Jaune bit back a smirk. "A real hunter?"

Ruby's head shot up like a missile in terror. "Oh my gods, I didn't mean –"

"Relax, Rubes. We're just kidding around."

"Oh. Oh, yeah, hah. That's good to hear." Ruby's eyes darted around, and Jaune felt pity for the little girl, having been in the same position himself at Velvet and Blake's hands earlier.

"Business really is doing well," Jaune said. "Well enough that we could even take a vacation in the past few days, just for ourselves." Jaune reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his wallet, taking out the freshly earned pilot's license. "I even got certified to fly a Class-A airship."

"Woah!" Ruby took the plastic card from his hands and began to look it over. "That's epic! Even I don't have one; they don't have us learn flying in Beacon until the second semester of year two!"

Jaune used that point to segue into the point he'd been hoping to make. "It just goes to show that there are some benefits to going freelance." He returned the card to his wallet as he spoke. "I get to move at my own pace, take the missions I'm comfortable with, skip ahead or slow it all down if I'm feeling it…not to throw shade at Beacon, but I actually kinda like it at Team Job."

"Do you guys take interns?" Ruby asked, her eyes bright. "When summer comes?"

Jaune hadn't been expecting that, and his face immediately dropped. Glancing at Blake for confirmation, he saw that she was just as unprepared. The look back she gave him said 'Why are you looking at me, I don't know either,' so Jaune turned back to Ruby.

To her credit, she seemed to have recognized her mistake in putting him on the spot and stuttered out some half-baked apology, but Jaune himself was more concerned with how he was supposed to answer.

My gut response is no. We haven't planned anything out, and I'd need to talk with the team before I do. Plus, hiring a real, potentially licensed huntress is way different from having dropouts. If we bring Ruby on missions, one might be able to make the argument that we'd advertising ourselves as a huntsman-huntress agency – and that 'one' would be Ozpin, in this case.

"I…I don't think so, Ruby," Jaune said. "I don't wanna say anything absolute, since the topic's never come up before and we haven't even really thought about it, but I think it's gonna be a negative, crater face."

"That's fine." Ruby brushed her wrist into her nose, rubbing it softly. "I get it. S-Sorry for asking, I shouldn't have asked."

Coming Soon: Chatter

A little conversation between friends gets out of hand.

Chapter Text

"My semblance?" Jaune repeated, when asked by Yang. "I don't have one."

Blake could have cringed at how foolishly that would be taken by the Beacon hunters. It was a known fact that any aura user could produce a semblance, and Jaune denying that would make him sound foolish in their eyes.

"Sure you do, champ," Yang said, knocking his side with her hips. Jaune nearly fell over from the friendly shove. "Everyone does."

"Well, obviously, but I haven't unlocked mine yet." Jaune said it like it was the simplest thing in the world, and Blake grew only more concerned with him and how he was making this sound. "I mean, I'd like to get a power-up, but it's shown no signs of appearing so far, so…yeah."

"But how can you not want a semblance?" Ruby nearly shouted, personally aggrieved at the thought of a huntsman eschewing their greatest power. To some extent, Blake felt the same, but she knew Jaune personally and how well he was progressing. A semblance might be nice, but what he needed first and foremost was great aura control and a better coordination between his sword and shield.

"I've managed," Jaune said, shrugging again.

The problem wasn't that he was wrong. It was that he wasn't normal, at least when surrounded by professional hunters. To someone who'd gone their entire life dependent on a semblance or at least surrounded by those who, it was absurd that someone would willingly spurn such a power. Most would either see it as arrogance, laziness, or foolishness.

But Jaune's new to this, and he's outing himself as such. He's been a civilian for most of his life, where most don't even know that semblances don't exist. Every mission he's run has been done without a semblance, and the idea of getting some random enhancement that might not even be combat-relevant doesn't appeal to him.

His mistake was in expressing his lukewarm insouciance in front of people – Ruby, Yang, and Velvet – who believed that he'd attended a primary combat school. Jaune wasn't saying anything but the truth at the moment, but the truth ran contrary to his prior lies, and therein lay the problem.

"I can't imagine not having Petal Burst," Ruby said. "It's practically who I am at this point. I've even got it in my name…which is, like, kinda weird when you think about it."

"Gotcha beat, sis," Yang said, pumping her fists and somehow igniting her hair on fire. "Burn's basically my entire fighting strategy."

"If it's a contest for semblance dependence, then I think I'm the queen," said Velvet, whose arms were tangled up in both Neptune's and Ren's.

I won't judge. Blake bit her tongue. I promised not to judge.

"My entire weapon and fighting style are based around my Photographic Memory. When I was younger, I was originally planning on using a missile launcher that mech-shifted into a mace and chain. I drafted the blueprints, named it, chose a color scheme – hell, I even got as far as screwing together a frame for the launcher-side. But then I unlocked my semblance and learned I could be as powerful as any huntsman or huntress, and the rest was history."

"So what happened to your missile-mace thing?" Jaune asked. "Did you just scrap it? Just like that."

Velvet nodded. "Yup. There was no place for Vayu in the hands of someone with a semblance to utilize other's weapons freely. I needed something looser, something with more flexibility. Sentimentality is nice and all, but it's never worth more than victory."

Blake saw Jaune's eyes tend towards Velvet's camera for a second, and then towards the sword that dangled from his hip. But he shook his head after that.

"I dunno, you guys," Neptune said. "I barely use my own semblance at all. Not because I don't like it or anything; it's actually a goated semblance that kicks major ass, and water's cool, I guess. I just never, y'know, need to." He flipped his hair and winked at Velvet, who winked back.

I know Velvet will probably bang him if he's willing and they can find a quiet spot on the mission, but I like to believe that he actually has no charisma and it'll only be because she'll bang anyone with a pulse.

"My own semblance is best used in brief spurts," said Ren, who'd taken the moment of attention on Neptune to sneak out of Velvet's grasp. "It's meaningful when deployed the proper moment, like a fateful sniper shot from Ruby, but a powerhouse it is not."

"Maybe there's a difference between guys and girls," Yang said, looking among them all.

"Don't I know it," Velvet hummed.

"I mean, Ren, Jaune, and Neptune all don't rely on their semblance, but the three of us do," Yang said. "I guess Blake's gonna have to be the tiebreaker."

All six heads turned her way, and Blake suddenly felt like now might be an ideal time to give them all a firsthand presentation of the powers of her semblance.

"I…"

Being the center of attention had never been Blake's strongest suit. That wasn't to say that she couldn't lead from behind the scenes, but having a face to stay behind, be it Adam's or Jaune's, had always been a source of her confidence.

Shit, I really don't want to talk about my semblance to some random people I've never mind. How can I get out of this?

Blake scanned her surroundings for a distraction, hoping to find something that might be able to take the attention off of her. They were mostly in an arid flatland with some tall grass, meaning there wasn't all that much to point out, but Blake did see something off in the distance…some dark black shapes…

"It's the Grimm!" she announced loudly. "Oh thank the go– I mean, oh no! We've got to stop them!"

"Grimm!" Ruby repeated fervently. "Team River, go! Let's put an end to their –"

"Hold up!" Jaune stepped in front of Ruby and blocked her path. "Wait, we're supposed to find out their deal, right? Before we go shout out our presence and lose the element of surprise, what's our plan?"

"But…t-the Grimm…"

The professor stepped forward, nodding Jaune's way. "He's right, Ms. Rose. Our assignment is not to mindlessly destroy, or we'd be no different than the Grimm themselves. Grimm tend to possess social structures or dominance hierarchies, be it a pack of Beowolves, a flock of Nevermores, or even a horde of Goliaths. If we remain unseen, control our emotions, and give them no hints as to our presence, we may yet be led by the stragglers ahead to a larger group, or even the source of their increased presence."

"We have the advantage of numbers," Blake pointed out. "We need to use it."

Their best bet would be to split off into multiple groups, perhaps two or three. One would stay close to watch the insectoid Grimm that were up ahead, and the others would break off to the north and south. They could go around the Grimm and inspect the territory up ahead for more. If they found that this was the only hive, they would need to watch like a clock. Otherwise, it would be less useful to them then a pack that was closer to the reported sightings of higher Grimm activity.

We're close to the target destination, but we're not there yet. Is this just standard swarming of the Grimm that we happened to have chance on, or are we seeing the build-up that Jkonna feared?

"Due to the mission parameters, I'm going to have to ask that we keep Team River together," the professor said. "As a first mission, I must oversee them all at all times. However, your team may distribute themselves as they see fit."

Well, that sort of put a sock in that. It was Beacon's five people that gave them their greatest advantage; Team Job was three-strong, so them breaking off into two smaller groups kind of defeated the point. They could still sneak around the Grimm as a whole, though.

"I have the power to mask my presence from the Grimm, professor," said Ren, bowing in her direction. "This would enable me to bypass the Grimm or obscure us if captured. We should be the ones to go ahead."

It took Blake self-control to not balk at his request. Him asking to go ahead and leave Team Job behind was sounding more and more like Beacon completing the mission while they stayed in the background, much like had been intended last time.

Remember that we already have been paid. Remember that keeping eyes on the Grimm is what you asked of them originally.

"Jaune, how about you go with them?" Blake said. "Velvet and I will be enough to keep eyes on the Grimm up ahead."

It was all Blake could do to keep Team Job at least relevant to the mission. Jaune was their least suited to combatting the Grimm, but he was an expert romancer when the time came to lie. It made the most sense to have Velvet and her stay behind to monitor the Grimm and to have him continue on with the other huntsmen and huntresses.

"Are you sure?" Jaune asked.

Blake nodded. "I'm sure."

The Grimm up ahead she could now make out as Sulfur Fish, relatively small insect variants that only proved dangerous when they grouped up in large numbers. Up ahead were about forty that hadn't seen them, which may have sounded like a lot if not for the fact that it took at least one hundred to typically endanger a huntress. Two huntresses could probably crush and entire hive if it came to it.

"We'll keep our scrolls at the ready if you need backup," said Ruby. "Alright, Ren. Do your thing."

Ren bowed once again, to Ruby this time. "To converse aura, I would recommend only engaging my semblance when Grimm approach. The tall grass should keep us sufficiently hidden if we remain low to the ground."

"Okay. Let's go, then."

The six of them got a little bit lower down and broke off to the left, entering a particularly tall patch of yellow stalks of the grass that grew out in these parts. Jaune shot Blake a look before he left, and she replied to it with a sharp nod. He nodded back and trudged after Yang at the back of the ground, leaving Blake behind with Velvet.

There was no cover out in the plains save for the grasses. The two kingdoms of Sanus were as different as they came, with Vale consisting of mostly lush woodland forests and Vacuo being the exact opposite in the form of the harshest deserts on Remnant. However, the space in between them was just enough of a mixture of both to support some of the more durable flora and fauna without crossing the line into inhospitable territory.

Blake knew from experience that most of the people of Vacuo were roaming tribes, whereas Vale preferred to stake permanent claims on the lands. Out in these parts, there was just enough water to justify the latter, but a hundred miles further west would make that idea unthinkable.

As long as she and Velvet didn't draw much attention to themselves, the Grimm would mostly choose to leave them alone. Blake kept her scroll on silent but in her hand, so that in the event that Jaune called for help she would see it on the display.

"Hey, Blake," Velvet said, at a regular volume. They weren't close enough to the Grimm to bring attention their way just by talking. "Can I ask you something? Do you, uh…d-do you hate Beacon?"

Blake looked over at Velvet, furrowing her brow.

"Why do you ask?" Crap, that could be misinterpreted as a 'yes.' "I mean, no, I don't."

"It's just that whenever you talk about it, you always have that same look on your face that you show when you're talking about the Grimm or some big expense for Team Job or Jaune doing something you find silly, like you're annoyed."

"I've had a few too many negative experiences with it to say that I'm fond of the school, but I don't hate it. Nor do I blame you for any of that," Blake added at the end.

"It's just that…o-okay, can I speak freely? I don't wanna offend you, but if I'm trying not to say anything that might set you off, I won't be able to ask what I mean to ask."

Blake gave her an uncertain nod. She really had no idea what was supposed to 'set her off.' At no point had she ever expressed anything passionate about Beacon; her worst was just a passive displeasure at the name, and even that was pretty tame.

"Jaune told me how you guys applied to Beacon and were accepted at first but then rejected."

Blake tensed up a little bit at learning that Velvet knew about that, and she could tell that Velvet saw it.

"I just…I worry that the reason you may dislike the school a little might be some displaced…" Velvet's long ears flopped down to the sides of her head. "…jealousy?"

Taking care to not give away anything, Blake kept her eyes on the Grimm and far away from Velvet's. "How much did Jaune tell you?"

"Just that the mistake in your files wasn't caught until you'd already arrived and were a day away from initiation. He didn't actually say what the problems were."

So he'd duplicated the lie they'd told Ruby. That was clever; if Ruby had told Velvet anything she'd heard, it would be consistent with Team Job's official story.

No. Not Team Job's story. Mine and Jaune's. Velvet is a part of Team Job, and I refuse to start excluding her, even in my own head.

"I'm not jealous of Team River, if that's what you're asking." Now confident that Velvet wasn't accusing her of anything, Blake could finally face her head-on. "I'll admit that I'm probably a little resentful over how the matter concluded, but I probably would have let it lie if not for Team LTUC and Ozpin's little excursion down to Vale the very next day."

Velvet sucked in her lips. "Blake, I…I chose to go to Beacon. It's a part of me, even after I left it. A-And it's where the hunters that keep the kingdom safe come from, so it's not like it's bad or something. I'm not trying to be rude, but I think you might be being a little unfair."

What was unfair was Blake having her history as a member of a civil rights group lead to her being turned away Beacon when Atlesian who'd done just as morally objectionable things in their military got to waltz right into their countries' history books as heroes and champions. What was unfair was Jaune never even having heard of primary combat schools until it was too late. What was unfair was the headmaster of one of the four academies almost declaring that someone who had nothing to do with him was a criminal just because they dared not cease and desist their entire lives at his very whim.

Velvet's partially right; huntsmen and huntresses weren't something we fought a lot in the White Fang, since the SDC preferred cheaper and more controllable alternatives like droids, but there's no doubt that we and they were on opposite sides at the time. I'm used to not liking hunters, and I only ever applied because I needed a career to put food on the table. I really don't think I'm jealous, but I do probably have a grudge against the academy as a whole when it's only the fault of a select few.

What Blake needed to do was reconcile the fact that Beacon wasn't just Ozpin and Team LTUC. Ruby and her fun little team were also from Beacon, as were the normal hunters who didn't decide who got to attend the academies. Velvet herself was a former student of Beacon, and she was probably Blake's second closest companion.

I just don't see her as such since I've only ever known her as a dropout.

"I'll…I'll try to be a bit more open-minded about it, then." Blake paused. "And I'm sorry if I've ever made you uncomfortable as an ex-huntress because of the way I acted, be it consciously or unconsciously."

"You don't need to apologize for this too," Velvet said. "You didn't, just for the record. Make me uncomfortable, that is. I just…I mean, eventually I'll probably revisit things with Team Coffee and see if we can get back together, and I'd like it if you all could be –"

Had Blake's scroll not been made out of an expensive poly-resin with enhanced durability that had specifically been designed for aura users, she might have snapped it in half right then and there. Even still, the screen cracked from how firmly she bent it.

"What did you just say?" she asked, the apologetic tone of her voice dying an ugly death as a venomous one replaced it.

Velvet recoiled a little bit. "I…I…"

"You want to go back to them?" Blake asked, gritting her teeth. "After everything?"

"Blake, I…see, this is what I was talking about!" Velvet pointed a fat finger right at her. "I knew that even mentioning Beacon was going to set you off."

"You're not wrong; I am set off." Blake pocketed her scroll.

I should have known she was going to do something like this the moment she admitted to having planned to manipulate us. You know, between this little betrayal of hers and all of the other interactions I've had with Beacon, maybe the really are the monsters she feared I saw them as.

"Blake, you're being unreasonable!" Velvet threw her arms down at her sides like a toddler having a temper tantrum. "Can't we discuss this like adults? It's my life!"

"You're right. It is your life. And firing you would ruin your life."

Blake could see Velvet suck in a breath. It hurt to wound her own former friend so much, but Blake knew she was immediately going to regress on the threat, so letting it sting for just a moment was some much needed satisfaction.

"But I'm not some monster. I'd never take the job away from a pregnant woman, and there's no way I can bear to keep working with you if you're just planning to run back to your old team after everything we've been through. So you can consider this my last mission with Team Job. After we finish up here, I'm quitting."

Coming Soon: Golem

Jaune does his best to be the leader no one knows he isn't.

Chapter Text

It was kind of infuriating to Jaune as Ren described the way he'd gotten into Beacon. Like, Jaune would never begrudge someone doing what they had to do, and he certainly didn't blame Ren, but the existence of another 'in house' huntsman secret was almost too much for him to bear.

"…passing the test, the proctor of the institution would personally inform Beacon's office of the headmaster. It is said that they are frequently close friends."

In lieu of a primary combat school, a dude could apparently take a specialized test that would prove he had the qualifications to become a huntsman. Of course, they didn't list that on the application form, because why would they? It was so clearly well known (among the people they cared to tell), so Jaune was screwed over yet again.

And of course the test-giver would be buddies with old Oz.

Beacon was beginning to seem like more and more of a private clubhouse as he learned the ins and outs. Jaune had to repeat in his head that Ren wasn't the one at fault here, over and over again.

"What did you list on the application?" Jaune asked, hoping it was something complex.

"I merely left it blank," he said neutrally, not at all bothered.

Jaune felt a blood vessel inside of his eye doing its best not to violently rupture.

They'd passed the Grimm a while ago and were now mere moments away from arriving at the supposed site of elevated Grimm presence. Ruby and the professor were leading the pack with Yang right behind the pair of them, while Jaune lagged behind them with the boys and chatting with one another. They were probably on the verge of a big fight, but until they actually reached that moment, it wasn't like they could do anything to prepare for it. All of them had their weapons drawn, and all of them were keeping their eyes peeled.

"I wasn't even aware that those kinds of things existed," Jaune said, brushing aside some grasses before they tickled his cheek.

"My father mentioned them to me when I was younger," Ren said. "As he could not spend time attending a primary combat school due to his duty to tend to his family lands, it was the method by which he matriculated at Beacon as well."

"I also heard about them in primary combat school," Neptune added in. He was always keen on giving his two cents and keeping himself at the center of the conversations. "Our teacher gave us a presentation on them one day so that we wouldn't be blindsided when we got to an academy and met people from different walks of life, yo."

So they teach how to skip the primary combat schools to the kids who are literally at the primary combat schools, but no one else. Typical.

It was beside the point now, since Jaune had already made up his mind that he enjoyed being a security consultant more than a student due to the freedom it offered, but the unfairness of it all still burned him up inside.

"Yo, heads up!"

The three young men turned to face forward to where Yang was calling them.

"Rubes says there's a big ol' horde of Grimm bugs swarming up ahead."

Jaune made his way to the front of the pack and stood alongside the professor and Ruby as they looked out of the patch of tall grass. True enough, there was a much larger grouping of Grimm in front of them, about fifteen to twenty times the size of the previous one. It was the same type of Grimm, the Sulfur Fish, but they were in much greater numbers, and far more active. The little, tiny Grimmlings were all moving about as fast as their little legs could carry them in no particular direction. Numerous times, they could be seen crawling right over one another in their haste to walk over some particular spot of land around which they'd congregated. At the edges of the swarm, the Sulfur Fish would loop back around and just trod the same dirt another time.

"I think we've found our oddity," Jaune said, stating the obvious. "But why would they be interested in this random patch of ground? There're no people here."

"Check again," said the professor, pointing out towards the clustering of the Grimm.

Jaune squinted as best he could to see what she was pointing to, but it didn't seem like there was anything to be seen. A squirming mountain of Grimm so voracious that they were practically crawling atop one another, sure, but that was so obvious that it couldn't be worth noting specifically.

Ruby looked down the scope of her sniper gun and let out a noise. "There we go. I see it."

"Lemme have a look," Jaune asked.

Ruby polished her lens and pulled her head back, making room for Jaune to move his head in and look. The magnification was so great that for a moment he nearly jumped back in surprise at the unexpected feeling that he was among the Grimm, but when he got his bearings, the outline became clear.

Still, he couldn't recognize what he was seeing. "What is that out there? It looks like a steering wheel sticking out of the ground."

"M'not sure," Ruby said. "But whatever it is, I'm betting it turns."

Jaune leaned back from the sniper and blinked at her. "What?"

"I-I'm betting it's what's causing the Grimm." Ruby turned red as a beet and tightly shut her eyes. "I was thinking that it looks like it turns when I said that, and I…I mixed the two up. Sorry."

Jaune let it go and took a step back to let the others have a glance down the scope. "I'll give the rest of my team a call. For that many Grimm, it wouldn't hurt to have our full forces."

Yang snorted. "We can take 'em. Heck, Team River alone could take 'em. Double heck, Rubes and I could probably –"

" – fail your first mission if you think that you should rush into danger the second you see it," chastised the professor. She looked at Jaune approvingly. "The young huntsman is right; there's nothing to be gained by moving in now, and plenty that could go wrong if we're overwhelmed. We don't know for sure if this is the entire Grimm contingent. There could be aerial Ravagers overhead, or another cluster of Sulfur Fish we can't see."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Yang rubbed the back of her head and stuck out her tongue. "It wouldn't be fair to jump into a fight and leave Blake and Velvet out of it."

"That's not…ugh, never mind."

Jaune had a feeling that Yang had gotten the point of the lesson and was just saying what she said to save face, but he had something more important to worry about.

"I'm not actually a huntsman, ma'am."

Three faces looked at him with incredulity, all wondering what that could possibly have meant. Ruby and Yang knew the spiel from last time they'd heard it, but the two boys on their team and the professor educating it hadn't.

"I…I don't follow."

"Minor misunderstanding, but I'm actually a security consultant of Team Job Security. We aren't huntsman, and while the distinction may seem minor, it's an important one to us." He dared not say that it was in a legal sense, as that might imply something tiptoeing the boundaries of illegality was afoot.

"O…Okay? My apologies for the mislabeling then."

The older huntress clearly didn't know why it was a big enough deal for Jaune to stop them dead in their tracks to correct it, but he was fain to let her go brag about how good a team of huntsmen Team Job was back at Beacon and in earshot of Ozpin.

She's probably only agreeing with me so much because she thinks I'm a pro-hunter and wants to use it all as a learning experience for the kids. I wonder if she even knows I'm a Beacon dropout who's no older than the others.

With that out of the way, Jaune stepped back and rang Blake. As the professor had said, time was on their side, so they could afford to wait for reinforcements before thrusting themselves into harm's way.

And wait they did, for Blake's scroll rang and rang and rang without picking up.

Crap. They might be in trouble.

Just to make sure that he'd exhausted all options, he hastily switched to Velvet's scroll number and called it. The rest of the group had noticed Jaune muttering curses under his breath and were watching with bated breath.

It picked up on the third ring.

"Velvet! Are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, of course. Why would I not be?"

"Blake didn't answer, and I was worried you'd been attacked by the Grimm horde in front of you."

"Blake didn't…oh, she set her scroll to mute and forgot about it. Fucking wanker…"

The anger in her tone didn't go unnoticed, but for the sake of appearances he didn't question it, not when Team River was watching his low-volume call. All they could hear was his voice, and Jaune knew better to lay out dirty laundry in front of an audience.

Another argument between those two is just what I need…

"We've found the source of the Grimm disturbance. I'll send my location to you from my scroll…could you two come here as quickly as you can?"

"Well, we might, but Blake's liable to trip when her head is so deeply stuck up her own –"

"Yes or no, Scarlatina," Jaune sternly demanded. He really wasn't in the mood for this when hundreds of tiny Grimm were congregating just up ahead.

"Yes. We'll be there, about two minutes."

Jaune ended the call.

"Everything alright?" Yang asked.

"They'll be here in two minutes. Can we hold tight until then?"

"I'll try to restraint my bloodlust in the meantime," she joked back.

Five minutes later, the duo of Faunus finally arrived.

"Hey, gals. Where ya been?" asked Neptune.

Jaune knew his partners well enough to recognize that they weren't going to respond well to provocation right now, so he stepped up and did his best impersonation of someone who knew what they were doing.

"Alright. Now that we're together, we can push the Grimm back. We're out in the middle of nowhere, so killing every Grimm in sight matters less than finding out what that steering wheel-like object is. I propose that we have our heaviest hitters form a perimeter around it when two people, say, Neptune and Ren using his semblance, trying to make sense of it. Ren can mask himself using his semblance to prevent any strays that get past us from bothering him and his partner."

Ren stepped forward. "I am actually the partner of Yang Xiao-Long, but that is immaterial. This course of action pleases me. Leader?"

"It sounds like a good idea, but how are we going to trip the tide and reach the birdie?" Ruby asked, once again slipping into huntress lingo that Jaune couldn't make heads or tails of.

He looked over at Velvet, but her arms were folded, and she clearly wasn't paying attention to the conversation. For that matter, neither was Blake.

Darn it, you two.

Jaune was going to have to handle this by himself.

Maybe if I just own it and don't react with any shame or embarrassment, I can get through this.

"I'm unfamiliar with the terminology you're using," Jaune said as stoically as he could. "As I mentioned, I am not formally trained as a huntsman, and as such cannot claim recognition. Please rephrase your request, if you could."

"Oh. No, I was just asking how we approach. Would we attack in a circle around Ren, or would it be better to start as a line and then wrap around the objective?"

Ruby didn't seem to put much stock into Jaune's lack of familiarity, which was a plus. "Starting as a line would probably be more fluid. The Grimm are smaller and more mobile, but we have the advantage of coordination. A circle would mean that half of us would start with our backs to the Grimm, and they'd just blindly charge their entire forces at whoever's at the front."

"Gotcha." Ruby glanced to the professor for assurance and received a thumbs up. "Alright, Team River – form up!"

"Team Job," Jaune said. Whatever argument the girls were having between one another, they didn't seem to include Jaune in it, and both responded to his command. Lining up next to him, Blake drew her weapon as Velvet cracked her knuckles.

"Move out!" the two leaders called at the same time, except Jaune said "Let's go!" and it overlapped with Ruby's words, and then Neptune and Velvet both stopped because they couldn't make out what had been said while the rest of them all ran into combat, and then Jaune said "Move out!" and Ruby switched to "Let's go!" but by that point it was obvious what they had been intending to say, so everyone joined the fight.

So, that was roughly where the joint mission was at this point.

Jaune felt a little undergunned when Crocea Mors could only split the tiny Sulfur Fish in half one at a time compared to Blake shooting them apart by the tens per second or Ruby twirling her scythe like a marching band baton to dice up the enemy, but he still did the best he could. At least with monsters this tiny, he could kill them without fear of being harmed or damaged, since if anything went wrong he could individually pluck them off his body and snap them in half individually, so light they were.

If it were something like a Leviathan or Goliath, the Beaconites would see I'm really not that good, but I can handle the Vacuoan insect Grimm.

Mowing them down at his own pace, Jaune made sure to keep up with the rest of the group as they steadily advanced towards the donut-shaped object that was out there beckoning them with its presence and bizarre effect on the Grimm.

The Sulfur Fish were truly persistent, for they refused to abandon their prize even as the huntsmen, huntresses, and security consultants mowed them down. Still, not much could be done by the bug-like creatures, and after only about fifty seconds, Teams Job and River had advanced to the object in question.

"Form a circle!" Jaune called out as loud as he could. He was mostly sure that the others couldn't hear his words over the ruckus of the combat and the clicking of the insects, but all they already knew what to do. The only important part of Jaune's message was that now was the time to act.

A roughly elliptic or maybe even rhomboidal shape was formed, with Jaune and Yang for some reason finding themselves on the tips, but it didn't matter, and Jaune wasn't sure he could order them to correct it if he wished. Ren broke from the group and made for the circle around them, with Velvet and the professor closing together to fill in the gap in their perimeter that his absence left behind. It may have been his semblance, or it may have been Jaune's imagination assuming he saw something where there was nothing, but Ren looked even less lively as he dropped to his knees and stowed his weaponry.

Is that his semblance, the power to hide from Grimm? Probably…

A Sulfur Fish dug its tendrils into Jaune's leg, blocked only by the passive aura control Blake had taught him, and Jaune realized that he needed to stay focused on the fight. One of them had nearly managed to get past him, so he bashed its carapace with his boot and resumed slashing as accurately as he could into the horde with his sword as he could.

The advantage of the enemy's numbers also negated Jaune's relative lack of skill, for he could pretty much swing anywhere and take down three or four Grimm in each hit. The Grimm had probably been carved in half by this point, thought it was mostly the others doing the bulk of the work.

"Ren!" Ruby called out. "What have you got?!"

"It's a portal of some sort," he called, his voice somehow still as even and neutral as always. Maybe it was his semblance that caused it; Grimm were attracted to negativity, so it followed that disguising oneself involved –

"Damn it!"

Jaune had to turn around and leave his back open to the Grimm to slice the Sulfur Fish that had slipped past him in his intellectual musings and begun to circle around Ren. Actually, as promised, it hadn't even noticed Ren, more likely interested in the object.

The pain of Grimm poking their legs into his back stung even through his aura, but Jaune was able to crush them all by throwing himself to the ground and rolling right over them like he was extinguishing a fire on his clothes.

"A portal?" Ruby asked, her voice so loud she was probably screaming herself hoarse just to be heard. "You gotta be more specific! Another dimension, a different planet, somewhere else on Remnant…?"

"Negative, leader. It is the rotating handle to open up a door that leads into the ground."

"Into the ground?" Jaune asked. "Something must be on the other side that's driving the Grimm wild! Can you open it?"

Jaune's squeaky voice didn't carry as well as Ruby's own squeaky voice, but Ren seemed to catch his drift from the context. Jaune was smart enough to keep his eyes on the Grimm this time, trusting his temporary teammate to report back as soon as he knew what they were dealing with.

"It's latched too tight. I'd need help – perhaps two or even three more sets of hands."

That wasn't going to be easy to arrange. Diverting between three and four of their eight people would leave dangerously few to keep the Grimm off of them, and the others wouldn't have Ren's invisibility to the Grimm.

We're going to eventually need to see what's down there at some point. Do we try our best and hope the others can hold off the Grimm? Should Ren keep trying on his own while we cull the Grimm? Do we retreat and reconvene once we've deliberated as a group?

There was no time for a lengthy decision-making process. In the moment, Jaune was one of their two leaders, so he made a judgment call and desperately prayed for it to be right. "Leave it behind and join us in the fight! We can probably take out all the Grimm and then open it!"

"Ruby?"

Ruby carved through three Sulfur Fish one by one like she was playing whack-a-mole. "What he said!"

With his leader's approval, Ren rejoined the battlefield, slipping in between Blake and Velvet like he'd never left. The Grimm were perishing in droves, and with Ren's aid, it only got faster. So far, not one of them had actually gotten past their lines save for Jaune's occasional slip up, and his aura had been enough to tank the hits.

Our greater worry is exhaustion, but I'm good, and I'd guess the others are too. We've got them down to manageable numbers. If we can just make this last push, we should – hey, they're retreating!

Seemingly out of the blue, the Grimm around them turned tail and fled the battlefield, all of them suddenly moving away at once. Jaune might have declared a victory if not for the fact that their abrupt coordination was too uniform and precise to be anything other than the beginning of some group attack.

"They're forming a body!" shouted one of the voices from Beacon. Jaune couldn't devote enough brain power to who of his new friends it was.

"A what?" Blake asked.

"Sulfur Fish group up and wrap their tails to become a singular, giant Grimm cluster!"

The speaker was right. Jaune could see the Grimm climbing on top of one another and shaping themselves into some sort of giant beast, roughly reminiscent of a Beowolf or Ursa in shape.

"But there aren't enough of them to…"

Whoever the naysayer had been was cut off as the already partially formed monster started to grow even larger. Jaune looked down to its feet to see that more Sulfur Fish that he hadn't seen from before were coming its way and joining the congregation.

"It's calling the other Grimm from the area!" he cried out and did his best to splatter them under his boot, but too many were getting by.

These had been the stragglers and smaller outskirt hives like the ones Blake and Velvet had been left behind to watch over. Now that their brethren were in need, they came running.

Jaune and his friends' biggest advantage over the Grimm had been their size. The tiny creatures couldn't inflict damage faster than they had been destroyed. Now, however, with its meaty round wrecking balls of fists and sharply clawed feet, the bulky ball of Grimm that stood a good twenty feet tall could quite easily destroy them if it scored a good hit.

"How are we supposed to fight something that big?!" Jaune asked, staring in disbelief.

Ruby raised her scythe. "If we go for the legs and try to slice as many tends as we can –"

"It's no use," Velvet said. "Any Sulfur Fish we kill will just be replaced. I've got something that might work, but I'll use up all of the Hard Light Dust I brought. Any chance any of y'all have some spare?"

No one in the group said yes, leading Velvet to grimace.

"I didn't think so. Damn it…alright, here goes nothing."

The rest of the two teams backed away from her as she took several steps back and shut her eyes. Jaune watched as she began to breathe deeply, likely calming herself before she had to do whatever big move she had planned, then began to run forward at a sprint.

One of Velvet's arms shot behind her back, and a giant sphere of Hard Light, probably four feet in diameter, appeared. She continued to run with the large orb behind her, thought it turned from a full tilt into a light, skip-like jog. Then, after traversing a distance of about thirty feet towards the Grimm, Velvet swung her arm underhand, releasing the massive ball onto the ground.

"FOUR!" Velvet shouted as her faint blue weapon rolled towards the Grimm masses at breakneck speeds.

It struck them with a cacophonous clattering, sending enough force into the Sulfur Fish pile to produce a shockwave that disrupted their weak tethers to one another and sent them flying. Many of the Grimm died instantly on the impact, and the few survivors sailed through the air on their own and crashed down, breaking into minute poofs of black smoke when the landed on the hard ground.

Velvet watched the results of her work keenly. When it was clear that the Sulfur Fish threat had been sufficiently routed, she clapped her hands together to dust them off and turned back to the group.

"Uh, f-four is for golf," Ruby said. "Not bowling."

Velvet shot her the stink eye. "Just let me fucking have this, kid."

Coming Soon: The Hour of Doom

How are you supposed to react when your entire world ends?

Chapter Text

Yang, her golden locks full of brilliant flames that light up the world as evening set in following their long day of trekking and fighting, gripped the wheel-handle of the door and rotated it. Even with her bulging muscles and highly above average strength, prying it open seemed like a struggle.

"We can help," Ruby offered, though how much her limp little noodle arms could help, Blake didn't know.

"No, I gotta do this alone," Yang grunted, straining like she was about to take a shit. "It's part of the job, y'know?"

"No, we don't," Ren said, speaking for all of them.

"Theeeeeere we go," Yang said at last, as the wheel began to turn. It was attacked to a hatch that was built right into the ground, resembling the exterior door of a submarine or old-fashioned airship, back when they'd been kept afloat by lighter-than-air gases. The metal on it was old and rusted but still quite durable, though none of that meant a thing to Yang.

She rotated it a total of eight times and was sweating so profusely Blake half expected her to melt by the end of it, but Yang just snorted victoriously and let her own semblance evaporate off the sweat.

"Woooh, that was a heckuva workout!"

"I'm sure," Blake said sarcastically. "Alright, if we're breaching this thing, we've got no choice but to enter one at a time. Jaune, your aura is the largest. Would you go first? Velv…I can follow behind you for protection."

Velvet scoffed at the clear change in plans mid-way through Blake announcing them, but she was quitting the team and so was Blake, so fuck her.

"I…sure, I guess. Human shield it is."

Literally, this time.

"We have no idea what's down there," said the Beacon professor. "Be on your guard children. Whatever it is, our only clues are that it's artificial and that it drives the Grimm insane."

The hatch opened up into a vertical tunnel that led about fifty feet beneath the surface of Remnant, with a ladder that they had to climb down one by one. Ruby offered to go right after Blake, but Blake declined, pointing out that if they had too many of their fights stuck in the tight space as they climbed down the ladder, they could be vulnerable to a counterattack with no means to defend.

It's not the first time I've had to breach a potentially heavily defended location. Perhaps I should make some slip-ups so that my White Fang training isn't too obvious.

But then if something went wrong and Jaune died, Blake would be at fault.

I…this is gonna be the last time I see him. Oh my gods, I didn't even think quitting Team Job through. He and I are roommates, and he needs me on the team for my leadership and training. And I don't have another job lined up beyond this.

But the alternative was asking Velvet to leave and raise her kid on the street. Hate her though she may, Blake would never be that cruel. She could never be that cruel.

When Blake reached the bottom of the ladder space with just Jaune, shield out, at her side, she signaled for Ruby to start coming down.

Jaune whispered, "What happened?"

"I'll tell you later," Blake whispered right back.

Five minutes later (Neptune got his goggles tangled up in the ladder somehow and had to be cut free by the professor), all eight of them were down at the bottom of the structure, which was a small room lit only by the light coming from the open port above. As the professor had pointed out, it was clearly man-made, as another door was placed in front of them. This one, however, had a standard metal handle in place of some outdated hatch design.

"Is this some kind of military outpost?" Jaune asked Blake.

"I have no clue," she lied.

It wasn't, but Blake wasn't supposed to know what military outposts or bases looked like, being a non-White Fang militant. Jaune seemed to get the memo after a pointed glance and shut himself up right then and there.

"Through the next door?" suggested Ruby.

Jaune raised up his shield once more and nodded. "Blake, Ren, you guys have the best guns. One on each side of me. I'll push in first and soak any attack that come our way while you two counterattack. Get in as quickly as possible, so that the others can follow after us. Velvet, can you cover our flank?"

Blake did her best to ignore the weird looks everyone gave Jaune as he failed to realize he'd mistaken flank for referring to a unit's rear. Velvet just shrugged, which Jaune took as acceptance of his plan.

"Alright. On the count of three. One…"

"Wait!" Ruby shouted, louder than desirably. "On three or after three? I always mix it up."

"On three. So, one, two, and then-we-push-when-I-say-three."

"C-Can we do it the other way?" Neptune asked nervously. "Where it's one, two, three, and then go? I'm more used to it from rock paper scissors tournaments with Sun, and I don't think I can unlearn that."

"Neptune, you aren't even going first," Yang pointed out.

"Neither was Ruby, though none protested her asking," pointed out Ren, playing the God of Darkness' advocate for some reason.

"Okay, how about we compromise and do it half a second after Jaune says three?" Ruby offered.

This was getting them nowhere. The enemy, if it existed, had almost certainly heard them from the other side of this flimsy door and was potentially planning a defense as they bickered.

"Three," Blake said, pushing the door open and shoving herself, Jaune, and Ren in.

"AAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAH! AAAH!"

"IT'S THE GRIMM! THEY'RE HERE TO KILL US!"

"GET TO THE CYANIDE PILLS, EVERYONE! HURRY!"

The large room into which the two teams entered was filled with people, which was roughly what Blake had been expecting (as opposed to something like more Grimm), but they all were scrambling around like rats on a sinking ship. Too many to count in the confusion, Blake kept her firearm raised and ready to gun down any threats as they came, but the humans and Faunus turned out to be rushing to escape from the huntsman and security consultants, not attack them.

"WAIT! WAIT, IT'S NOT GRIMM!"

"IT'S PEOPLE! OH, THANK THE GODS!"

"PUT DOWN THE – oh, my throat, I really shouldn't yell…"

The panic-induced frenzy of the zone's residents ceased rather rapidly, as did the yelling. Jaune, like the sweet summer child he was, dropped his shield, but Blake gently nudged him with her foot to tell him it was too early. They may not have been visibly aggressive, but that didn't mean these people were friendlies.

"Who are you?" Blake asked. "Why are you people down here in this…place?"

"We're fellow survivors," said one of the people, a human woman who looked about as old as Sienna Khan if Blake had to guess. She, like everyone in this place, was wearing dark blue coveralls and an equally dark blue baseball cap on top. "Are you from the above-above?"

"The…The ab…I suppose?" Blake said unsteadily. "We, uh, came from the hatch on the surface that led down here."

"The above-above! It's habitable! Oh, praise be to the gods."

"Habitable?" she asked. "What the hell do you mean?"

The woman stepped forward and offered a hand for Blake to shake. "I'm Marnie, the community leader of Bunker #8. Are…Are you a huntress?"

Blake was about to say no on instinct when Jaune spoke right over her. "Aye, we are. Huntsmen and huntresses of Beacon."

He was thinking faster than her, in this case. Team River knew clearly that they weren't hunters, and while it might have been important to clarify to these people, what mattered more was making a good first impression with this skittish and potentially hostile crowd. The word 'hunter' carried weight no matter where in the world you were, and they did have actual Beacon hunters with them.

As Blake looked around, she noticed that everyone in the room was fairly old – at least thirty, and mostly much further on in their years.

"Who are you people?"

"We're Bunker #8. We've been down here since the fall of Vale."

The fall of Vale? Had something happened in the past 24 hours that Blake hadn't heard about since she'd last seen her home city?

The woman cleared her throat. "P-Please, if you could clarify: are you roaming survivors from the above-above, or do you hail from one of the other bunkers?"

"To what bunkers do you refer?" asked Ren.

"Roamers it is, then," the woman decided somehow, nodding. "It makes sense based on your age; bunkers weren't meant to house babies."

"Ma'am, what are bunkers?" Blake looked down at the concrete beneath her feet and decided to rephrase that question. "Why are you people living in a bunker? What is going on here?"

"Well, huntress, we can't all survive in the above-above with Grimm roving about unchecked. Since the fall, we've survived by staying down here and living off of our supplies. The bunkers have water reclamation centers, oxygen distribution systems, and temperature controls. As for what's going on…well, we ran out of nonperishable foods eight years ago, and the harvest of crops didn't grow this month. I-I can show you our farming rooms, if it'd help."

Blake had no idea if it would or wouldn't but she nodded to signify her assent either way. Any clue these people willingly offered that might explain the mystery of their very existence was a welcome one.

The Beacon professor sifted through the dead soil and nodded. "You've been growing on this same land for all this time?"

Marnie, the leader apparent of these people, nodded. "We reused our waste as fertilizer, but it still failed."

"Soil only lasts so long. A limited supply of nutrients means every scrap of it that's lost doesn't come back, be it as dead skin, food waste, or any other avenue of waste."

Well, it was great that they'd solved the least important mystery of all, but Blake really wanted to know who or what these people were. The Beacon professor had temporarily taken charge, as she was the eldest in their group, but burning daylight like this on plant sciences seemed to be a misuse of time.

"Our plans were to send up a hunting party to the above-above," said Marnie. "It can't be a coincidence that our hatch opens up and you folks come down literal days and hours before we were planning to breach the vault door for the first time in one and a half decades."

"We're not divine intervention, if that's what you're suggesting," Jaune stated. "We noticed elevated Grimm activity above your hatch and came to investigate."

"Didn't think you were," she chuckled. "We may be a little stir crazy in 8, but we aren't kooks yet. I'd wager it was our growing fear that summoned the…wait, what…what is 'elevated' Grimm activity?"

Blake exchanged a glance with the professor. Even she seemed unsure here. It was just the four of them in the farming room, as much of the floor was covered in dirt, and there was only limited space on which to walk without standing in the soil. The professor, Blake, and Jaune were the only ones there, representing Beacon and Team Job respectively, while the rest waited outside.

"Uh…more than usual?" Jaune offered.

"Yes, but the Grimm have taken over the surface. How'd you know they were congregating above this very spot?"

"Okay, I'm just gonna ask," Blake said, losing any and all patience. "You keep referencing this 'fall of Vale' and now you're saying the Grimm are taking over. Is this some sort of emergency survival bunker? Some doomsday shelter?"

Marnie nodded. "It is, but we were all glad we signed on when doomsday came."

"Doomsday…"

"When Vale fell to the Grimm," said the lady.

"Vale…Vale hasn't fallen to the Grimm," Jaune uncomfortably explained. "It's still there."

"Did they rebuilt the city?" Marnie asked excitedly. "Oh, that's a grand relief. I'd no idea there were that many roamers above ground to retake the land."

"No…No, it never fell. The city…heck, the entire kingdom is in the same state it's been for the past few centuries. It's fine."

"No, that's simply not true," Marnie said. "We saw it happening on TV, fifteen years ago."

"It is, ma'am."

"Not, it's not. The above-above is a wasteland. The Grimm's playground."

Her voice didn't rise, nor did she show signs of anger, but Blake could tell this conversation was agitating her. It was minute things, like the tilt of her head or the stiffness of her fingers, that gave it away.

"What did you see on TV?" Blake asked, before it could turn from a conversation into a shouting match between Jaune and this woman.

"No need to answer," said their professor, lips twisting downwards. "It was the fall of Mountain Glenn, wasn't it?"

"The…T-The…Mo…." Marnie stuttered and stumbled in her words. "It was the fall of Vale."

"Mountain Glenn fell, but Vale endured thanks to the tunnels being sealed."

"Nah, that can't be right. The tunnels were chock-full of Grimm, and they were closing into the city, and –"

"And they sealed the tunnels," explained the professor, placing a hand over her heart. "Killing thousands but saving millions."

"W-Wait, you're telling me…V-Vale is…it didn't…n-no, it can't be. No, it's not true! It was doomsday, what we'd all prepared for!"

That might have been a bit of a stretch. Blake knew a little bit about the history of Mountain Glenn, enough to say with confidence that Vale had stemmed the flow of Grimm using extremely cold methods that proved effective at keeping itself safe.

But there are the people who'd built a doomsday bunker to survive in for the end of the world. They were probably looking for it to come, and the first sign of trouble was all it took for them to scurry below ground and declare the 'above-above' a lost cause.

Jaune pulled out his scroll and unlocked it. "I have some pictures from my most recent vacation that I can show you, if you'd like to see."

He handed it to the woman, who seemed wholly unfamiliar with the technology. Blake leaned over and swiped to the right, which got a small gasp from her.

I don't know if she's surprised that we have digital devices that outclass the media of fifteen years ago so greatly or if it's the fact that she's seeing recorded proof of Vale's existence.

"I-It can't be…you're only a kid, and these pictures look fresh." She thrust the scroll in front of Blake. "T-Tap it. Show me more. I-I need to see!"

Blake took the scroll from her, held it out at an arm's length at angle they could both see, and started to swipe through the slideshow of photographs.

And as she did, her heart began to break.

It was Jaune and Velvet, enjoying themselves in front of some stupid looking fish and plants. The backgrounds were clearly of a civilized society, confirming this woman's worst fears, but they couldn't have mattered less to Blake. All she could see was how close Jaune and Velvet looked in the photos. How happy they seemed together…

It's going to tear him apart. A-And I'm also planning to leave…gods, this could be the end of the team that we all worked so hard to build.

Blake had to remind herself that it wasn't her fault. Velvet was the one who'd chosen to leave the sword hanging above all their heads by announcing her intention to quit and go back to the original team of hunters of hers, and all Blake had down was begin sawing the rope faster.

"I…I…"

"Vale still stands," said the professor. "As does Beacon."

"And the other four kingdoms," said Jaune. "Plus their schools."

"F-Four kingdoms?" asked Marnie, tears in her eyes. "Did they build another?"

Jaune looked baffled for a second, then gulped. "S-Sorry, I…th-there are four kingdoms total, and I'm so used to saying it – you know, 'four kingdoms' just sorta became the phrase, and I slipped up. The other three kingdoms is what I meant."

The woman seemed to have figured out how the swiping of a scroll's screen worked, so Blake let her take it from her hands and operate it herself. It had to be traumatic, to learn that the world you'd thought you'd lost was still out there, going on without you.

And not only that; she chose to miss out on it. Did she have family in Vale that she thought lost? Do the other people in the rest of the bunker? Are they all just missing people, presumed lost in the chaos that followed the fall of Mountain Glenn?

"We can take you to Vale," said the Beacon professor, placing a hand on Marnie's shoulder. "It's not uncommon for huntresses and huntsmen to have to relocate the survivors of villages that fell to Grimm. The channels for relocation and induction into the city exist."

"I…I…no. No, I don't think that's a good idea." Marnie sounded resolute, and the sudden change was jarring.

Blake's hand instinctively went for her gun, just in case, but the older woman just returned the scroll to her. She, in turn, handed it back to Jaune, for it had been his in the first place.

"To learn that we spent fifteen years down here for nothing…it'd break us. The community of eight is a close one. Most of us are already approaching the ends of our natural lives anyways, and the younger few don't know a world outside of these walls. Telling them would be too much."

Blake didn't like that. "We have to–"

"Young lady, I am the community leader of eight." Marnie's eyes flared. "I will decide what we have to do. And you lot are roaming hunters who tracked a large horde of Grimm to our bunker. You were hoping to find more survivors to barter with, and praise be to the Brothers, they led you to us. We're willing to trade clean water in exchange for protection for a mission to the above-above to gather more soil." She looked down at the failed patch of farmland. "And this time, we'll get more than enough to last."

"We don't need clean water," Blake said, but Marnie just shook her head.

"You do. You're roamers, and roamers'll need water to survive on the limits of Vacuo. It's logical, and the people of eight will believe it."

Blake could have argued it more, but Jaune nudged her with his foot this time, and the message was clear.

Right now, I'm the sweet summer child who's too being naïve.

No one in the bunker really seemed to notice when Jaune, Blake, and the teacher all discussed the situation with their hunters. To them, it was presumed to be a discussion on how negotiations for water had gone, not an explanation of the ruse and cover up.

"We're lying to them?" Ruby had painfully asked. "We're leaving them here?"

"What we're doing is not disrupting their lives when we don't need to," Jaune explained. "It's not our call to make."

"But we're hunters! We're supposed to save people!"

"Save them from who? Themselves? Their own elected commander?" The professor shook her head. "Hunters are servants of the people, not leaders above them. Too many of us forget that nowadays, falling victim to the craze of their own power. If there is one lesson that your learn from this first mission, let it be this: we must never consider ourselves above anyone."

It was obvious that Team River, a young and idealistic lot, didn't relish the idea of leaving these elderly folks down here to rot, but they seemed to defer to their professor much more than Jaune.

If only this professor had taught that same lesson to Ozpin before he paid us an unannounced visit. He certainly looked down on us at the time.

I think Velvet was right, from before. There are good huntresses and huntsmen; I just hadn't met them.

"Okay," Ruby choked out. "But I…I don't think I can be a convincing liar."

Jaune just shook his head. "Then don't speak. Leave the talking to us."

He didn't explicitly say it, not in front of the kids, but Jaune clearly meant for everyone to leave the talking to him. Blake knew that he was probably the best liar among them, given that he'd taken on that roll on so many of Team Job's missions, and she knew that he could fall into the role of a roaming barterer if he tried.

Marnie and a handful of the sprier bunker-goers came up with them out the hatch to gather more soil. Team River stood guard at a distance while Jaune deftly bullshitted his way through any questions they had about the 'above-above.'

It was a touching sight, Blake thought, to witness some of these folks see natural sunlight for the first time in fifteen years, even if it was nearly dusk already. Several of them performed little personal rituals like running their hands through the plants or basking in the fresh air. Under better circumstances, Blake might have been moved to tears.

These were not better circumstances.

This sucks but telling the people that their lives were wasted would probably only be crueler, especially if we also have to reveal to them that their leader tried to cover it up. There's no right answer here; only the least wrong one.

After hauling several crates full of dirt down to the bunker, the people inhabiting it said their goodbyes, shook hands and whatnot, and went back down to live the rest of their lives in the darkness.

"They're going to die down there," Ruby had said. "Not immediately, but they don't plan on coming back out."

"It was spacious enough, and they seemed happy," said the professor. "Had it been some sort of torment or squalor, we might have fought harder to extricate them, but not when they all had peace and simple comfort. Make no mistake, this is a tragedy, but not one we can fix."

"Unless we had a time machine," said Yang, grimacing as she sealed the hatch from the outside, ensuring it was tightly wound to keep them safe in there.

"Unless that," said the professor. "As hunters, you're going to have to learn how to witness the horrors of the world without being able to fix them all, children. Thick skin is an essential, but not so thick that you lose the compassion you have for the world…"

The professor began some sort of teaching moment for her charges, and Blake took the moment to pull Team Job aside so they could have their own little intra-team meeting.

"We need to have a talk."

Velvet's scowl implied that she wasn't in a particularly talkative mood, but Jaune needed to be told, and there was no way that Blake was taking the fall for this when the blame wasn't on her.

"Okay, something's wrong between you two," Jaune said. "I'm not blind. I won't force you to tell me, but I need to –"

"Blake's quitting the team," Velvet said without hesitation.

Blake could have killed that little bitch. It was only the fact that she was pregnant and Beacon was watching that stopped her from taking any retaliatory action.

"Don't act like this is my fault," she hissed, ears flat against her head. "You're the one talking about going back to your old team. I can't be blamed for your actions."

"It wouldn't even be for a while, and I can't see why you'd care." Velvet folded her arms in front of her chest. "It's my life to live, not yours."

"As leaving Team Job is my choice," Blake said.

Jaune looked shell-shocked from Blake's confirmation of the accusation Velvet had levied, and it was almost enough to change her mind. He'd done nothing wrong, and she was punishing him because she couldn't be mature enough to deal with Velvet declaring an eventual end date on her time with Team Job Security, even if it wasn't yet set.

Maybe…Maybe when Velvet goes back to Team Coffee, he could join me? I…I don't really know if that's going to work, though. Who knows how long she'll vacillate like this? What really irks me is that she chose to join us in the first place when she probably had her mind made up about this.

"You're…You're quitting?" Jaune asked incredulously. "After everything? Blake, you practically made the company, and you're most of our management."

"I'm sure you can do fine without me." Blake addressed Jaune directly, not even acknowledging Velvet's existence. "You can have the airship and the office. And you'll have your other Faunus, for however long she decides to play around with us dropout losers."

"Stop it, Blake," Velvet choked out, hurt in her voice. "Don't act like I'm some…some…some outsider. I'm no different than you."

"Different enough that you're running back into Beacon's arms," Blake matched, unwilling to show her own fear or pain. All that remained was the anger, and that was something she was more than willing to let loose. "Not all of us have that choice. Some of us were kicked out of Beacon with no way back in. So yes, Velvet, you are different."

"Fuck you, Blake. They're my best friends; you can't tell me avoid their existence for the rest of my life because you're an obtuse alley cat who hates hunters."

The Beacon squad were finished with their life lesson and were passively observing the argument from Team Job at a distance. None of them were looking their way, with most of them fixated on their shoes or some nearby grass, but it was clear they were listening in as best they could from the distance.

"If you'd like, I could stay on the team," Blake said. "Of course, you'd have to be fired effective immediately, because I'm not working with someone who isn't committed."

That one got through Velvet's shields. Blake knew how to hit her where it hurt, and rubbing her own self-sacrifice in Velvet's face was a cathartic moment. For all that the rabbit bitch claimed to be some good person, she wasn't good enough to turn down being gainfully employed.

"Guys, you…I…c-can't we…"

"No," Blake said to Jaune. "We can't."

It was hard to hurt him like that, but none of them were kids anymore. Blake wasn't in the care of parents, teachers, mentors, or boyfriends anymore; the only person who would look out for her own interests was herself. She was going to have to make tough choices in her life for herself if she wanted to be a functioning adult.

"You're making a big deal out of nothing," Velvet complained. "If you could just curtail that pride of yours and admit that Beacon isn't the scourge of the common Faunus, you'd see that –"

"I told you before, Velvet. I don't hate Beacon. I don't even hate your team. How could I, without even knowing them? No, what I hate is that they matter more to you than me. You could choose to stay with us instead of them, but you won't. That's why I can't work with you for a day longer, not because I hate hunters or something absurd."

"Hold on a second," Jaune said, holding out a hand to them both. He closed both eyes and blinked a few times. "I…I'm confused. Is Blake quitting, or is Velvet?"

"I'm quitting," Blake said. "But only because she's insisting on going back to her old team."

"Okay, again, I'm still confused. Going back…does that mean she's leaving Team Job to rejoin Team Coffee as a huntress, or is she just meeting up with them for, like, lunch or something?"

"She's leaving us for them," Blake said, raw spite in her voice.

"Just meeting up with them every once in a while, that's all," Velvet said at the exact same time, equally embittered.

Both Faunus just stared at the other in complete and utter silence for a moment. Blake's brain was desperately trying to compute the new information it had been given, especially in the context of everything else she'd heard earlier today and in this very conversation, but there was too much.

She…but she clearly said…going back to them means…she heard me say…

Velvet seemed equally spellbound by what was apparently the realization that Blake had thought she was traipsing back to her old team with the goal of taking back her post, not whatever she'd actually been planning.

What she's actually planning…what even is that? I can't…I don't know anymore.

Blake opened her mouth to speak, but to her great surprise, Jaune actually covered it up with his own hand. "No. Don't speak."

In spite of his command to the contrary, Blake immediately tried to speak. Specifically, she was trying to ask, "Why the fuck not?" but it only came out as a garbled, "Whmmfffnnnaaau?" due to the hand of the human against her lips.

"I've had enough misunderstandings and mix-ups with my own sisters to know that arguments like this don't just go away when you clarify it. Anger takes time to dissipate, and you two are probably so pissed at one another that you'd say things you'd regret if given the chance. Even if you're both on the same page about the team thing, I'm guessing you'd find something else to argue about just 'cause you're stuck in an 'angry at one another' mindset."

"I don't –" Velvet tried to say, but another hand clamped over her mouth just the same.

"Take some time apart," Jaune suggested. "Calm down. We can all walk back to the airship and talk about things there, when our tempers are refreshed and we're not so worked up. It should be about an hour, and then we can acknowledge that this was all a big misunderstanding."

Blake pulled her head back and pushed his hand off of her. "What is this, time-out?"

"Yes," Jaune said.

"You can't –"

"I can. I'm the leader of this team, and what I say goes."

Slimy son of a bitch…he knew Beacon was watching. Maybe it wouldn't be the end of the world if they saw Blake ignore an order from Jaune, but it might fuck things up later on if they saw Team Job openly arguing even more than they already had.

"Just back to the airship?" Blake confirmed.

Jaune nodded. "Just back to the airship."

She turned to look at Velvet to see if she would agree to his terms, and a sudden swell of hatred overtook her.

Maybe Jaune's not wrong about this.

She logically knew that…that she might have been operating without a complete understanding of the picture, because Blake wasn't wrong here, but the lingering rage that she was feeling didn't just go away. She'd been spending the better half of the afternoon picking apart Velvet in her head, watching her and finding fault in every little thing she did. Learning what she now knew didn't settle her boiling blood instantly.

Without another word, Blake turned and walked away from the group. She could see Jaune and Velvet joining Team River and their professor, probably giving some bullshit explanation about why they were splitting up that the hunters weren't going to buy but would pretend to believe for propriety's sake, but Blake didn't care.

The second she was obscured from them by the grasses, she immediately took out Gambol Shroud and began to hack apart as much of the shrubbery as she could manage in as short a time as possible.

It was tempting to scream, so Blake did, as loud as she could. Who cared if the Beacon brats heard? If Velvet heard? Blake needed to scream her lungs out.

A stupid, mindless, idiotic, three-word misunderstanding had nearly taken apart Blake's entire life in Vale, all because she'd jumped to conclusions and hadn't bothered to clarify what Velvet actually meant.

She was still royally pissed at that stupid whorish rabbit Faunus slut who'd…who'd…she was at fault here too, just as much if not more. She deserved the anger that was being directed her way.

But Blake was probably just as angry with herself.

Mission Complete: Jkonna Village, Vale-Vacuo Border

Client Review: Grimm activity ceased over the following days after a newly formed Sulfur Fish hive was located and destroyed by the security consultants and hunters. Team Job and Team River both did excellent work. I would highly recommend both. ★★★★★

Current Holdings (lien): Ⱡ 91,830

Current Holdings (assets): Job Hunter airship

Current Holdings (realty): Team Job office (Vale branch)

Employees: 3

Coming Soon: Toxic

Jaune struggles to patch up the wounds that infighting has left on the team without overstepping his own boundaries.

Chapter Text

The pride Jaune was feeling at keeping the team together during what could have been their darkest hour was tempered only by his own fears that he hadn't yet pulled them out of the worst of it. Blake was walking separately from the group with her head down and her eyes glowing of bloody murder. Even though Jaune had ordered her to keep her distance from Velvet (or at least ordered them not to be together), he couldn't help but worry about how far she was from them.

She's doing what I asked. It doesn't mean anything bad.

The distance between them was rather large, and Jaune couldn't help but see it as some sort of omen.

Even though she walked with the main group, Velvet also opted to be silent, so it was up to Jaune to keep up appearances with Team River. They clearly knew something was off, as some of Velvet and Blake's more intense insults and accusations had been loud enough for them to hear, but they were polite enough to buy Jaune's BS about Blake having gotten her period and calling Velvet fat, hence the tension. It was sort of believable, as Velvet was beginning to grow in size as her stomach and the baby inside took shape, but everyone knew that an insult like that wouldn't lead to such vitriol and clashing between two girls who'd been thick as thieves just hours before.

"I think I get it now," Ruby said. "A-About the people in the bunker thing. I wish we could have helped them, but it was fifteen years ago when they needed it. There's nothing we could to do go back in time and pull them out of their bunker when Mountain Glenn fell no more than there is anything we can do to stop the people in that colony from having died. Even if we took them out of the safehouse now, it wouldn't really be fixing the heart of the issue."

"That's all true, but I see it as something simpler," Jaune said. "The leader, Marnie, knew her own people better than we ever could, and she's more suited to gauge how they'd take that knowledge. We don't have the right to undermine her leadership, not when she's the one who's kept them alive for all those years."

"I'm inclined to agree with Mr. Arc," said Ren. "There could be unforeseen consequences to removing an isolated population from a confined space of containment and relocating them to a city center. Their immune systems have most likely been unused for their entire time in their bunker; exposure to the outside world could kill them."

Jaune hadn't even thought of that.

"It may not have been a happy ending for our first mission, but I think we all learned something," Yang said, putting her arm over her sister's shoulder.

Jaune looked over at Velvet, half expecting her to comment on the use of the phrase 'happy ending' by Yang, but she didn't acknowledge it whatsoever.

Dang. She really is torn up about this thing with Blake.

It seemed like every ten seconds, there was some argument between the two. Blake didn't want to hire her at first, then she was apologizing for slut-shaming Velvet, and now it culminated in this. Weren't they supposed to be unified over their shared struggles as the ethnic minority on Remnant…or…or something? Shouldn't Jaune be the odd one out more often than not, as the human and the man and the actual fake huntsman?

Please don't let this become a regular thing.

"Is…are you guys okay?" Ruby asked Jaune tentatively, and he realized that he'd also been silent for a while, just as Velvet had.

"It's fine, but I appreciate your concern." Jaune looked over at Blake, who was a mirror image of Velvet – sullen, arms at her sides, trudging along without any emotion on her face aside from brief flickers of negativity. "We're hopefully through the worst of it now."

"I can put you into contact with counselor for huntsmen," said the professor, watching Team Job with concern. "Their focus is mission-related PTSD, but –"

"I don't think that's necessary," Jaune said. "Again, thank you for your concern, but we're quite alright."

The lie was one of the most blatant Jaune had ever provided, but he doubted they could afford counseling even with their recent upturn in fortunes. Plus, Jaune was rather hoping that he could handle this.

I'm supposed to be Team Job's moral support/mascot. Mending the wounds between Blake and Velvet falls under my purview. We all have our roles within the team; Velvet's the muscle, Blake's the management, and I'm…I'm…

I'm making this about myself, aren't I?

But to some extent, it was about him. Maybe not focused on him, but about him as the third member of Team Job, and the only one without a stake in the horse.

"I'm going to go walk with Blake for a little bit," Jaune said. "Just to keep her company."

Velvet looked up at him but said nothing. Jaune gave her and Team River a small nod and departed from their group.

It had been a lack of reason not to that compelled him to walk with Velvet at first. She'd stayed with Team River, and he'd just sort of tagged along. Blake herself had chosen to wander off and scream for a while (that had been fun to pretend to not hear), and when she'd returned, she'd kept apart, so he'd mostly just let her be, but he now realized that doing so might have been making Blake feel even more isolated.

They'd completed just over half the walk back to Jkonna, so Jaune decided he would travel the rest with his original partner and teammate. Moseying over to her, he caught up to her stride and walked alongside her.

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

"Nope." Jaune didn't elaborate further.

He hadn't engaged Velvet, so he didn't engage Blake either. Even without looking her way, he knew she was watching them, but all she would see was Jaune walking with a fellow member of Team Job in silence, just as he had for her.

They're both my partners. I have a duty to look after Blake and Velvet, without favoritism or preference. That's my role within the team.

"It's been fun running with you guys," Velvet said to Team River as they prepared to part ways. With the mission marked as complete and payment having been placed before they'd even started, there was nothing to keep them in Jkonna, and it was time to roll out.

Blake nodded from behind Jaune on the other side. "Nice seeing you, Ruby."

The dissidents of Team Job, for the sake of bidding Team River farewell, had reached some unspoken truce to not acknowledge one another until they were parted and going their separate ways.

"Working with you guys was a blast," Jaune said, shaking Ruby's hand as the delegated leader of Team Job. "I don't know how often we'll see each other again, but I wouldn't mind teaming up with you lot anytime."

"Perhaps we shall, as Velvet requested my scroll number for 'smashing with the boys.'" Ren reached forward and handed her a slip of paper. "Here you are. I look forward to numerous fruitful collaborative efforts in Grimm destruction and eradication."

Velvet took it and slid it right into her pocket. "I'll look forward to it."

"Think about that internship thing, won't you?" Ruby asked before they left. "Summer breaks can be really long and really boring."

"We'll consider it," Jaune promised, waving as the five Beaconites went back to the village.

The goodbyes had been held at the Job Hunter, so Jaune didn't have to lead his team very far in order to get them some shelter from the darkness. Sliding the door closed and flipping on the interior lighting of the airship, Jaune let out a sigh.

They were finally alone, and it was probably midnight by this point. Jaune wasn't particularly tired in a physical sense, having only had to handle a scant few Sulfur Fish by himself (the horde was large, but he'd probably only had to chop up less than a hundred of them). However, the mental tax of fearing a repeat of Team LTUC, several probing questions from Ruby and her friends, the blake-up break-up, and the ethics of their actual mission was starting to get to him, especially since everything had gone down on the same day.

"We'll talk it out before we fly home." Jaune said, sinking down into one of the seats in the passenger hold.

Velvet sniffled. "Who made you the –"

"Blake did, when she founded this team."

Jaune really didn't have the energy to handle having to stave off anger directed his own way. He had a feeling that mediating the argument between the girls would be difficult enough as it was without some second or third dynamic thrown into the mix.

"Let's make sure we're all 100% on the same page before we hash anything out," Jaune insisted. "Velvet, you said you wanted to go back to your old team, Team Coffee, but you only meant that you wanted to meet them and reconnect as friends, not rejoin them as a huntress. Right?"

Velvet nodded, opening her mouth to speak.

"And Blake," Jaune said swiftly. "You thought she meant that she wanted to eventually leave Team Job and 'go back' to Team Coffee, which was why you got mad."

"Exactly. If she'd –"

"Okay." Jaune held up his hands. "So we're all clear on what we actually meant, right? No more second meaning behind odd, awkward phrasing?"

"I can't believe you, Blake," Velvet said, ignoring Jaune altogether (much like he'd done just moments ago). "After everything we'd been through, you'd be that quick to turn on me?"

"You were the one who brought it up! It's on you if you didn't make it clear. I mean, saying you wanted to 'go back to your old team' is pretty damning if you ask me."

"I didn't say that…those exact words!"

Blake rolled her eyes. "Well excuuuuse me for not writing it down. I was more busy with the fact that you were needlessly poking and prodding me in some attempt to get me to say I hate Beacon."

"Yeah, well, the second you were inconvenienced, you didn't hesitate to slander all of Beacon!"

It was enough to give Jaune an aching migraine. He had been right to separate them, as this would have been hundreds of times worse if they'd started up straight after the bunker, but this was still pretty harsh.

They don't even have anything to be angry about. Neither wants to back down, and they're trying to justify their feelings from before even though they know they're both wrong.

"Can I say something?" Jaune asked.

"No!" both girls shouted to him at the same time.

Jaune didn't know why he even bothered asking.

"Okay, Blake. We'll have you go first. If Velvet had clarified that she just wanted to meet up with her friends, would you have snapped at her?"

"No! Of course not!"

"And if she phrased her intentions better and you did still snap at her, do you think she would be justified in being as mad at you as she was today?"

"I…what?"

"Velvet," Jaune began, moving right on. "If you'd informed Blake that you wanted to quit Team Job and –"

"But I don't!"

"But hypothetically, if you did, do you think it would be okay for her to be a little miffed about that? Rather, a lot miffed? As miffed as she was?"

Velvet's eyebrows sloped dangerously. "Where are you going with this?"

"You're both so mad about how the other quickly turned on you, but I ask you this: do you really think that some anger wasn't warranted her, if it hadn't been a misunderstanding? Blake, you would be right to be mad at someone who told you they were quitting the team if you'd bent over backwards to open up a spot for them on it. Velvet, no one has the right to tell you who you can or can't be friends with if it doesn't impede your job. Do both of you agree with that?"

Blake frowned. "I…"

"Blake, can you honestly say that Velvet's reaction would have been inappropriate if you'd insisted she could never ever see her team again?" Jaune asked. "Can you?"

Begrudgingly, she shook her head.

"And the same for Velvet, hypothetically. Blake thought you were going running back to Team Coffee and leaving us in the rear view mirror, after we'd written up a contract for you, bought a multi-person airship, and reworked our rates to accommodate your presence. And from what I understand, she didn't try to expel you from the team. With the limited knowledge she had, was that an unprofessional response?"

He got the same response from Velvet as he did from Blake; she agreed with him, but it was only just barely willing.

"I think you guys are so upset because you were the recipient of each other's anger, and you feel like the other person was unfair to you, but you have to remember, they weren't actually upset with you. They were upset with an imperfect mental image of you that had screwed them over. No one really hurt anyone, and I don't think either of you meant what you said about the other when you were besides yourselves."

"She called me a wanker! An alley cat!"

"She doesn't think I'm loyal! Her first instinct was to assume I wasn't committed!"

"Alright, alright." Jaune struggled to keep his calm as he began to feel more and more like a relationship counselor between squabbling toddlers. "You don't have to say anything, but I want both of you to think about the insults you said in the heat of the moment. Did you actually mean that about the other person? Do you actually think that of them?" Jaune paused for a second to let it sink in. "Probably not. Now, if you don't actually believe what you said, what are the chances that the other person was also not speaking from the heart?"

Blake glared straight at Velvet. "I'm not gonna just let this go."

"WHY?" Jaune shouted. "Why can't you let it go, Blake? And you, too, Velvet! It was all a misunderstanding, and there's literally no reason to quarrel other than quarrelling for the sake of it. Alright, tell me. Tell me why you're angry, and I'll…I'll…but I bet you can't. I bet neither of you can think of an actual reason to be cross without taking at least ten seconds to come up with it."

Jaune waited for them to speak, counting in his head to ten as he did.

Is this some huntress' pride thing? Or is it just two stubborn girls who are too afraid that backing down could mean they're wrong here? I swear to the Brothers, we never had anyone this obstinate back in Ansel. My sisters could be annoying, but they knew when to let it go.

Blake was clearly still in a foul temper about this whole thing, and Velvet had crossed her arms and was staring out one of the airship windows, refusing to even look at the others. If they were hellbent on not making up with one another, Jaune wasn't really sure what more he could do. Perhaps a good night's rest after a stressful day might improve everyone's spirits, but Jaune didn't exactly trust Velvet to fly at the moment.

Too much temptation to crash the plane. It'd kill us all, but 'us all' includes Blake, and I think that's enough for her.

This was probably the worst time and place to do this. Well, mid-mission had been pretty cruddy, but maybe here in a cramped airship in the dead of night earned a close second. If things continued to deteriorate between the team, they might have to camp out on the border for the night.

Groaning, Jaune rubbed at his eyelids, which were starting to droop. "Look, can we just –"

"I'm sorry."

That got his attention. Jaune looked up at Velvet, but she was still averting her eyes and glowering like they'd shot her pet dog.

Okay. It's not great, but it's progress.

It was tempting to say something and hopefully prompt Blake to reciprocate, but Jaune knew that now wasn't his moment. If he got in between them, it would only muck things up; Blake needed to be the one to take the next step herself.

And take the next step she did. "Apology accepted. And I'm sorry too."

Alright. Alright, that's that. Probably not perfect, and things might get frosty for the next few days, but I think it's onwards and upwards from here. And on that note…

"Velvet, I think now might be a good time for me to test out that provisional license of mine," Jaune offered. "I'll need you in the copilot's seat, but I don't think you're in any condition to be at the helm right now."

To be honest, neither was he given how long it had been since he'd last eaten or slept, but emotions and high-altitude, Gravity Dust-powered airship didn't mix all that well.

"I'll just stay back here," Blake said. Jaune wasn't sure if she was trying to guilt trip them by implying she'd be lonely, but he doubted it. Right now, she probably wanted a little solitude.

None of the three said anything more as Jaune and Velvet climbed into the cockpit and latched the door shut behind them. From a legal standpoint, he wasn't exactly supposed to be piloting himself, but from a practical standpoint, Jaune wanted to live to see tomorrow. Velvet was still barely responsive, probably consumed by complicated emotions about Blake and her apparent betrayal.

Was it a betrayal, though? I've done my best to get the two of them back on good terms, but I really didn't even think about the possibility of one of them leaving the team. Is quitting Team Job some ultimate knife-to-the-back, or is it something we just…get to do?

Velvet had a contract that stated how she got to quit, but Blake had no such paperwork. If she wanted to leave, all she needed to do was collect her final paycheck and walk.

Now's not the time to worry about such things, Jaune thought as he powered on the airship and lifted it off the ground. I don't want to distract myself and render both of our pilots emotionally compromised.

"Did you power on the compressors?" Velvet asked Jaune as they rose up.

"Yup."

"What about the stabilization systems? Are they online?"

"Uh-huh. As are the engines, the air intake manifolds, the emergency backups…everything."

Velvet's brow scrunched up. "This is your first time flying?"

Jaune nodded. "Outside of the simulator. The course I took went over the pre-takeoff checklist, and I've got a good memory."

Velvet snorted. "I'll say."

Jaune was utterly mortified the next morning when he found himself fumbling with the keys to Team Job Security's office as a potential client patiently waited next to him.

"I'm so sorry, sir, one of our missions ran into the night…a hive of Sulfur Fish, it just so happened to be, which are easily dealt with but take so long due to their excessive numbers –"

"No need to rush, young sir." The gentleman who'd been waiting there when Jaune arrived just smiled and followed in after Jaune. "I've got all day; I shall not skirr."

It was difficult to balance an appearance of contrition without making it sound like they'd run late on a mission due to ineptitude. The truth was even more embarrassing; he'd slept in after the late night, as Team Job had only gotten back to Vale at 2am, meaning they were in their beds by 3am. Jaune had thought it safe to come into work a little bit late, still not having gotten over his little moment of self-realization where he'd come to terms with his own self-employment after buying the airship. He'd been sure that no client would be there at 11am in the morning, but fate had made him the fool.

Blake was still at their apartment, and Velvet had texted saying she would join them after lunch. It was unfortunate that both of them would miss their first in-person client, but such was life. Jaune was the spokesperson, so his presence at the office was the only truly necessary one.

Speaking of in-person clientele, that means he's a Valean or that he traveled to Vale. That negates far-flung villages needing dire aid. He doesn't seem to be in a rush. I wonder what he even wants?

It wasn't beyond the realm of belief to think that someone might be hiring Team Job as a regular security guard, unaware of their hunter-level competency. Their prices were significantly higher than the average private security group, and they clearly advertised themselves as Grimm-wranglers by proudly flashing customer reviews on the front of page of the website, but it wasn't impossible.

"Come in, come in." Jaune ushered the dude into their front office and took a seat behind his desk. "Once again, I'm so sorry for an inconvenience."

The client was a young Faunus, probably not much older than Saphron if Jaune had to guess. He was clad in one of the nicest looking suits Jaune had ever seen, without a spot, wrinkle, or crease to be seen. "I assure you that it's no concern, for I've simply got time to burn."

Okay. So this guy liked rhymes?

A lot, apparently, since he spoke with them exclusively. Jaune mentally took note of that little quirk and moved on, not keen on seeming emptyheaded in front of a man who intended to hire them.

"Now, how may I help you, Mr….?"

The Faunus smiled pleasantly. "Tyrian Callows – no mister, doctor, or esquire. And it's you, Team Job, I seek to hire."

Coming Soon: The Stealer of the Rye

The master of disaster, Tyrian Callows, does the unthinkable, forcing Team Job into action.

Chapter Text

"I've heard many great tales of your tremendous skill," said Mr. Callows, taking his seat and setting down his briefcase next to him. "Word spreads of Team Job's courage, wit, and will."

"I'm pleased to know that our works have been so well received," Jaune said amicably and honestly. To know that their reputation as a nascent quasi-hunter team was good news indeed, and he was happy for Mr. Callows to be the bearer of it. "Now, what can I do for you?"

"It's quite the simple mission premise." Tyrian flicked the latched on his suitcase, letting the top fall flat onto the floor. Out of it, he pulled a medium-sized rectangular object and plopped it down on the table. "I'd appreciate it if you brought me to justice."

Jaune's lips quirked as he inspected what Tyrian had set on the counter before him. It was a loaf of brown bread, still wrapped in plastic to ensure freshness. The logo identified it as the same in-house brand of the grocery store from which Jaune tended to buy groceries for himself and Blake. He had a half-used loaf of the very same bread in his fridge back at home (and yes, refrigerating bread was quite beneficial and made it last much longer).

"Bear witness to my admission; 'twas I who nicked this provision."

Looking down at the break, Jaune tried to make sense of what Mr. Callows was getting at. "You…You stole this bread?"

The man was still all smiles. "A heinous sin. Please, bring me in."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Callows, but I'm afraid I don't understand. Y-You seem to be under the impression that we're police or perhaps, uh, hunters, but we have no actual legal authority beyond that of a regular concerned citizen. I can't…arrest you, if that's what you're looking for?"

"Arrest, nay. Pursue, yay."

Jaune stared blankly.

Mr. Callows leaned in closer, beckoning Jaune to do the same with a single finger. Jaune ignored his own nerves and inched his chair forward.

"I seek a challenge, to put my own mettle to the test. That your talented troupe may suffice is mine hope dearest."

The scorpion Faunus produced a blade from somewhere Jaune couldn't discern, for it was already in the man's hand before he could even process it. Tapping it against the back of his wrist, he allowed purple aura to pulsate against the skin before letting go.

"Oh! You're a huntsman, then. And you want to test your abilities by having us…arrest you?"

He shrugged. "The theft of a loaf is my grand treason. In doing so, I provide the reason."

Okay, now it was starting to make more sense to Jaune (even if it still made absolutely no sense at all). This Tyrian guy had heard about Team Job being great 'huntsmen' and wanted to see if they measured up, likely out of curiosity and a professional desire to train that most if not all huntsmen and huntress' Jaune had encountered exhibited. He'd stolen something cheap from a store to give them a legal justification for trying to arrest him, but it was an action that had no genuine consequences.

Why he'd stolen the bread instead of just offering to spar with them beat Jaune (as did the poetic prose), but who was he to complain about a quirky client's wishes? Hunters could be weird like that – Blake chased laser pointers, Velvet was kinda horny all the time, and Ruby had a weird weapons fetish that still unnerved Jaune.

Jaune smiled and interlocked his fingers. "A couple quick questions, before we begin."

"Ask away. Answer, I may."

"Our current rates are 25,000 lien, with a limit of one week of service maximum or the completion of your mission. Do you find this acceptable?"

Tyrian answered by handing Jaune a debit card and offering him another sing-songy riddle. "Funds are something I do not lack. I'll pay your fees if you attack."

Ringing up the card in the machine Blake had gotten for them, Jaune found that it did have the account balance available to hire their services. Tyrian politely accepted the card back and spirited it off to somewhere unseen, perhaps the same place he'd kept the knife.

"And just one minor thing, that's more of a pre-emptive security measure. As a huntsman, are you in any way associated with Beacon Academy?"

Mr. Callows just shook his head and retrieved the loaf of bread off the desk. "Nary a relation to the institute of education."

"Alright, then. I'm happy to announce that you, sir, are Team Job's newest client."

"A cause for elation; a great celebration." Mr. Callows rose up from his chair and outstretched a hand to Jaune, which was taken and shook. "I'll inform you of my whereabouts when your team is convened. May you all have the best of luck in stopping the bread archfiend."

"So…why didn't he just do the normal thing and ask to pay for a spar?"

"Far be it from me to judge a client's choices," Jaune said to Velvet with a wry smirk. "But in reality, this dude was weird. You know how some hunters get really quirky with the outfits and weapons and mannerisms? Well, this guy had put all of his stat points into the last one. Every other sentence he said rhymed with the one before it."

"I dunno," Velvet said. "A lot of folks I knew back at Beacon were oddballs, but none of them were straight up insane like that. And he stole bread? Why? He's hired us to stop him, and we would even without the bread."

Jaune shrugged unsurely, though he did have a bit of a guess. "I'm not 100% on this one, but I think this is part of the game to him. For whatever reason, he sees himself as this daring rogue, throwing down the gauntlet to his enemies in the form of a bread loaf. He doesn't want a fight; he wants a chase, and he wants it to be a flashy, showy performance. If a thirty-year-old huntsman pays three teenagers to 'bring him to justice,' I'm guessing he's in it for fun, not for actual improvement."

Jaune had no idea if Velvet had zero clue what he was going on about or if the weirdness of Mr. Callows' request wasn't vibing right with her, but she didn't ask any more questions after that, at least about the job itself.

"When's Blake coming in?"

"She's going to refuel Gambol Shroud on Dust and bring some spare Gravity for you and the airship," Jaune explained. "We bought in bulk for the farmstead for that time-traveling bro or whatever he was, and she's been lasting off of that for the past few missions, but it ran out on the border of Vacuo, so now we've got to start refreshing out supplies."

Jaune proudly patted Crocea Mors on his hip, silently thanking it for not ever costing them extra lien for refuels. Maybe swords were just better like that.

He had yet to even test out the new weapons Velvet had bought for him, though it had only been two missions since then, so no real opportunity had arisen. The cacti Grimm fields really required nothing more than any standard blade, and the Vacuoan Sulfur Fish had been handled easily enough with Crocea Mors.

Maybe I can, I dunno, coat the arrows of my crossbow in pufferfish venom and stun Tyrian to get us that win. Or, wait, would he not like it if we won? Does he want to be challenged, or is he looking to inflate his own ego? I know he can pay us, but I've no idea what he actually considers a 'Mission Accomplished' from us…crap.

It also dawned upon Jaune that his new weapons needed suitable names. Crocea Mors had one, so his dirk and crossbow deserved to be known as more than just 'Jaune's dirk and crossbow.'

"So, about Blake." Velvet gripped her right elbow with her left hand, the arm in front of her pressing against her now visibly enlarged tummy. "I…I wanted to…well, thanks for getting us through that, Jaune. I look back, and I have no idea why I was so obstinate when she had a genuine reason for being mad at me. I brought it up, so it should have been my responsibility to make sure she – th-thank you. It's Blake I should be telling this to, not you."

Jaune patted her on the shoulder. "Chin up, Vel. I'm sure she's just as torn up about it as you."

"Heh. Vel." She smiled brightly. "I'm glad no one's quitting, not when I'm finally starting to feel like a real member of the team."

Mr. Callows had said that he wanted an advanced warning when Team Job was assembled, sort of a notification that the game was afoot, so they couldn't actually start hunting him down, but Velvet did have plenty to explain to Jaune about the apprehension of rogue huntsmen, dangerous criminals, and aura-enhanced bandits. Jaune knew a lot about Grimm after having read the book Blake gave him on them cover to cover, but he was a tenderfoot when it came to anti-human or Faunus combat. Sure, he might know how to swing a sword someone's way, but the actual aspects of tracking, creating a perimeter, and de-escalation were utterly new to him.

Velvet explained some of the basics as best she could in the limited time they had, going over topics like how to determine your opponent's aura based on visual cues and what information was available to the public that could be used to follow someone. When people said paper trail, they usually meant it in a digital sense, as one could crack open a commercial search engine and find out a lot of information on where someone was solely based on a scroll number. It turned out that area codes weren't the only clue, as the rest of the numbers weren't randomly assigned either.

"There's no way to get an exact address based on the number, but landlines, those that still exist in the modern day, will end in 1-4 for private addresses, 5-8 for registered businesses, and 9 for other government businesses."

"Huh, I never noticed that." Jaune's own personal scroll ended in a 5, but it wasn't a landline. On the other hand, the Team Job Security office phone ended in a 8, so Velvet was right on that count. "We have no way of knowing if Mr. Callows' scroll number is a landline."

"No, but –"

"It's still useful to know," Jaune finished for her, nodding. "I get that."

"A lot of people don't," Velvet said, tucking a lock of hair behind her human ear. "Back at Beacon, if you told people something wasn't going to be on the test, they'd forget it faster than a moth under a lightbulb."

"A moth under a…"

Velvet's cheeks started to turn red.

He couldn't help but chuckle a little. "I take it your metaphor game isn't all that strong?"

Velvet's eyebrows slanted slightly. "Meta…wait, i-it was a simile…hah! Who's the fuckboi now?!"

"It was a metaphor," Jaune calmly reiterated. "And I don't recall calling you an eff-boy."

"Simile! A comparison using like or as or than! Get got, biatch!"

"All similes are metaphors," Jaune stated. "One's an umbrella category that encompasses the other, much like rhombuses and squares. Or rectangles and squares. Parallelograms and squares, quadrilateral and squares…"

Velvet sucked in her cheeks. "Man, sounds like squares are the real bottom bitches. I guess the student has become the teacher."

"I think I'm still the student when it comes to anything hunter-related," Jaune admitted. It was difficult to be ashamed of his inexperience when he'd never really had a chance. In his eyes, he'd done nothing wrong, so not being a pro-hunter off the bat was no fault of his own.

"You're learning fast, though," Velvet said. "Are you and Blake still training?"

Jaune nodded. "One hour every night after work at the gym. If you'd like to join…"

Velvet smiled forlornly. "Not at the moment. I think we're both still raw from last mission's disagreement, and we need some time to cool down. At the very least, us intentionally spending time together in our free time is the opposite of productive."

When Blake arrived with a large case of Dust, so big she had to hold it in both hands, Velvet made herself scarce in the back room of their office space. Jaune repeated the idiosyncrasies of Mr. Callows and his bizarre job, making sure to remind her that it all paid the same no matter what.

"It's probably not the weirdest thing we've done, letting some rando huntsman test himself against us," she admitted when he finished. "What's weirder to me is the idea that we're so popular that people are talking about us."

"It's been, what, ten missions so far, that we've completed? And none of them have even had a tint of failure. We've been running all over Vale and its settlements. If he's a hunter who frequents those places in his own time, it's reasonable to believe that he'd have heard the name mentioned here or there."

"Is he a huntsman, then?" Blake asked.

Jaune nodded in assent. Then, he paused for a second.

Mr. Callows never actually said he's a huntsman. In fact, when I asked him point blank, he made some rhyme about the bread theft. He had aura, so I just sorta assumed, but maybe he's just a warrior or something? Local militia, or a traveling sellsword? A…heh, a 'security consultant?'

It didn't really matter. The guy was too polite to be something scary like an axe murderer, so Jaune didn't really mind whatever line of work he got up to in his own time.

"I guess I'll go ahead and text Mr. Callows to let him know that we're ready," Jaune mumbled.

"Yup."

"Velvet's here, by the way. She's just sorting papers in the back." Jaune really had no idea what she was doing back there, or even if they had any papers. In all honesty, the only space they needed was the front lobby to discuss things with clients; their single back room was more of an avenue of escape or a place to go when they needed to pretend they were doing something.

Also a place for the Faunus to hide if I need to be the human face of the company, but I prefer to not have to think about that.

"Yup," Blake said. "Yeah…"

Jaune lowered his voice, given how Velvet was barely ten feet away. "You…wannna, maybe, go talk to her?"

"Um…maybe. Is that really a good idea, right now?"

It was rare to see the normally stoic Blake so phased by something. There was nothing blatant like tears or puffy red eyes, but her composure was cracking in little ways that only he noticed with his eye for detail and above average memory. The bow behind her ears was improperly folded, with the left side having been tucked in the wrong order, leading to a crease that stood out. Furthermore, her wrist-glove-ribbon things were on the wrong arms, and the fingers that they nearly covered would fidget every ten seconds or so.

"I just think you guys will eventually need to bury the hatchet. I mean, are you still mad at her?"

"No, but she's probably still mad at me."

Jaune desperately wanted to tell her that Velvet was pretty much calm as a cucumber at this point, but that felt like overstepping. If they both asked to avoid each other, then it was unfair of him to relay secret messages to one side or the other about how their teammate was faring.

He did have one trick left, though.

Taking out his scroll, he texted Mr. Callows to tell him that Team Job was ready to begin chasing him. No sooner than he'd tapped the button did a set of coordinates appear in response to it.

I guess that means he was just waiting with his finger on the send button with a pre-typed up message? That or he's a tech wiz who could schedule a DM, but I didn't get the vibe from that dude.

"Well, I guess we're on the clock, so…VELVET!" Jaune called out. "Come on out here."

The mission was an override, as there was no way for them to keep avoiding one another when they were on the job. Short of Velvet wearing a mask, they were going to have to work together for this, since Jaune alone wasn't going to be able to challenge a full-fledged huntsman, or whatever Mr. Callows was.

Jaune and Blake's little Faunus minion popped out of her rabbit hole with a bashful look on her face, the same one that Blake seemed to have on her own face.

"So, how was the eavesdropping?" Jaune asked. He had no idea if Velvet were actually listening in, but the idea of her not trying to spy a little bit as they talked about her just one room over was unrealistic.

"I…I…I…"

"V-Velvet…"

Jaune watched as they continued their little back-and-forth for a minute or two before giving up and losing his patience.

"Let's play a little game," Jaune said. "Since neither of you are ever going to actually get around to it if I don't literally force it, let's have everyone who ISN'T sorry raise their hands."

Neither girl raised her hand.

"There we go. You've both admitted that you're sorry, so there's no more pride or ego to get in the way of actually talking it out." Jaune stepped towards the front door and unlatched his crossbow. "I'm gonna go buy some pufferfish venom. I expect you both to have kissed and made up with one another by the time I'm back."

Coming Soon: The Huntsman Store

Team Job's going to need more than blood, sweat, and tears to complete their latest mission, and there's only one place they can get it.

Chapter Text

"I shouldn't have jumped to the assumption that you were planning to betray us," Blake said, about a second after Jaune had left. "I should have at least given you the benefit of the doubt and heard out an explanation. Even if you were leaving, I owed it to you to hear you out."

"It's my fault, too," Velvet said back. "You got angry at me, and instead of even trying to clarify what I meant, I just assumed that you were hating on Beacon unfairly and got angry right back. It was me who shouldn't have assumed that you'd just go aggro on me without there being a serious cause. I mean, we were on a mission with our friends from Beacon, so it should have been obvious to me that you weren't prejudiced."

"How about we just oblige Jaune and agree to put this one behind us?" Blake offered, putting out her hand.

Velvet shook it and grinned. "Are we also gonna make out like he suggested, or…?"

Blake backed off a little bit, but Velvet just chuckled.

"Kidding. He said make up, not make out." Velvet scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Though he did say kiss…"

"In the future, let's promise one another to never jump to conclusions without at least trying first. It's impossible for us to not have some problems, between you, me, or Jaune, but we're practically adults, and we ought to behave like them."

"Well, practically might not be right in my case. You know, nineteen and pregnant and all."

It still didn't sit well with Blake how close they came to destruction merely on a few misinterpreted words. She would have to make sure to do something nice to thank Jaune for his oblivious intervention preventing them from utter ruin.

For the time being, though, her brainpower was probably better spent if devoted to focusing on the weirdo who'd hired them. Jaune would appreciate a job well done more than a thank you cake (or, given Blake's culinary expertise, more likely a thank you cupcake).

"So, what exactly do we know about our Mr. Callows?" Blake asked, smoothly changing the subject with the grace of an angelic being. "Jaune mentioned he was a scorpion Faunus, that he carried a blade, and that he has aura, but we know next to nothing else."

"Not nothing," Velvet said. "Apparently, he's a bit kooky. That's something we might be able to use to our advantage. Half of a hunt is knowing one's enemy."

They had a week to learn more about him, so that should be enough time. Blake didn't expect to be taking down a pro-huntsman on the first try, but hopefully she'd be able to get a good enough read on him then to at least devise a strategy to stop him.

Jaune had his last known coordinates on his scroll, but if Tyrian truly wanted a challenge, he'd be in motion already.

I doubt that I won't be able to track him once we've got a trail, and I'm sure I can pick up a trail once we start actually chasing this man. If Jaune makes contact and flushes him out, I could keep eyes on him while the others prepare a trap. Then, I just push him into it.

When they stepped outside, Jaune was there waiting for them just around the corner.

"I thought you were…"

"…getting pufferfish venom?" Jaune finished for her. "Yeah, I don't exactly think it's for sale in this city." He paused for a moment, then faltered. "Or, like, is it? Is this a huntsman thing, where you can go to the huntsman store and buy it?"

"Ah yes, the huntsman store." Blake shook her head. "I find myself preferring the huntress store, because everything sold there is in pink, but both suffice when I'm in a pinch."

"Hardee har har." Jaune pulled out his scroll. "But, no, I wasn't actually just sitting around. Mr. Callows sent us a latitude and longitude set of coordinates, so I converted those into an actual street address. According to his message, his last known location, which is our starting point, is a seemingly random house in a downtown housing complex."

"Seemingly?" asked Velvet.

"I dug into it a bit…apparently, a lot of the houses are on sale for really cheap after there was a child trafficking ring caught operating out of the neighborhood." The scroll went back into Jaune's pocket. "Sounds like the perfect place to get a disposable home you don't care much for without investing in too much cash."

Blake had to hand it to him, Jaune was being clever today. If Tyrian wanted to booby-trap the location, it would stall them when they visited it to search for clues. He could have even theoretically rigged it to explode if he purchased a house with no nearby neighbors.

"Before we barge in, let's hit up the huntsman store," Velvet said, holding up her hands. "I know, I know, it's not actually called that, but there are equipment stores with specialized material for people in our line of work. It's the same place they sell durable scrolls. Our one advantage is time, so we should make full use of it. I'm thinking portable trackers, high focus binoculars, tranquilizers if we can get it, handcuffs, that sort of thing. Our two goals are finding this Tyrian and then subduing him nonlethally, so we should stock up on the kind of stuff for that. It'll be a business expense, but there's no way it's more expensive than the reward for a successful mission, and we can reuse it on future missions."

Velvet led the two of them to her favorite gear place, which was a neat little store called 'High-End Materiel" nestled in between a smoke shop with so much neon that it would probably light up brighter than the city of Atlas and one of the last remaining brick and mortar videogame retail location in the entire world. Honestly, given its location, Blake half suspected that the place may cater to hunters but not exclusively.

It reminded her much of a mom-and-pop Dust shop, but the items lining the walls looked more like they belonged in an outdoor goods shop, only aided by the dark, e̶a̶r̶t̶h̶e̶n Remnanthen tones of dark green, brown, and black that made up the walls and ceiling. Not all of it was offensive tools; much of the interior of the store was just conventional camping goods. Tents, ready-to-go meals, wilderness survival kits, first aid packs – all of the things that a huntress might need out in the field in a dire situation could be found here.

True to her word, Velvet pointed out that they did have what Team Job was looking for. Further in the back, more obscured from the front windows, included a section labelled Capture. Given the nature of the implements for sale, the fact that this store didn't require a hunter's license to buy from or even peruse alarmed Blake a little bit, though it was also her salvation since she wouldn't have been let in if it had.

The clerk at the register, a young human with a purple-tipped orange mohawk, greeted them as they walked by, but his eyes lit up when he noticed Velvet. "Hehehey! If it isn't my favorite bunnygirl, in the flesh. Though, I do gotta say, the rest of Team Coffee doesn't look too right."

"This's my new team, Bronte." Velvet patted both Blake and Jaune on the shoulder and gently jostled them. "My bosses, Blake and Jaune."

The man raised an eyebrow at her with what appeared to be genuine concern. "New team?"

"Beacon didn't exactly work out, so I'm now part of a new team." Velvet shrugged. "You know how it goes.

"Switching teams…never heard that one before. That said, if you switched teams, Vel, I'd consider it a sad day for the male race but a joyous occasion for the female one."

His eyes slipped down to her midsection, but he made no suggestion of shock at seeing her pregnancy.

Velvet patted her baby bump and smiled. "Yup. It was bound to happen eventually. Nothing I can't handle, though."

"It ain't mine, is it?" he asked, leaning over the register to get a better look.

"Good one, Bron," Velvet laughed. "Nah, this little bundle of joy is from five months ago, and you had that girlfriend back then, what-was-her-name – started with a 'mee' sound. Mimi? Mindy? Can't quite remember."

"Mina," said the clerk. "I guess this means your tied down?"

"Nope. I am still on the market."

Blake was starting to get very self-conscious about the way this conversation was heading and the way that Velvet was looking at this guy. She wasn't going to judge Velvet for her interest in men, but that didn't mean she had to be an active witness to it.

"I'm gonna go and browse the gear in the back," Blake announced, grabbing hold of Jaune's arm and taking him with her. "You two keep catching up…we'll just be, uh, over there."

The two founders of Team Job departed just as Velvet offered for the shop attendant to feel her stomach.  At least, Blake hoped it was her stomach that she was offering to be felt up.

"What's our budget?" Jaune asked, picking up random items off the shelf and looking at them one by one.

Blake took one of the radio communicators out of his hands before he could break the antenna by twanging it. "Well, we have over 90,000 lien in our bank account, but for the sake of not overextending, I think it'd be better if we don't go over 25,000."

Gear for huntsmen and huntresses tended to be expensive, hence their high pay, but it was also reusable, especially the stuff in this back aisle. Breaking even or actually making something on this mission would be nice, but it was also important that they succeed here and not let down Mr. Callows, and that would require them to bring the right tools.  Better to spent half or even three-quarters of the profits on a guaranteed victory and walk out with the gear, if the alternative was failing and coming home empty handed.

To some extent, this was something they should have done long before today. As pretend hunters, it was only a matter of time before someone asked them to do something like track down a missing person, bring in a bounty, or something else requiring the ability to locate and capture a human or Faunus target.  They were supposed to be security guards, and it was even possible some mall or something would hire them to actually be security guards around the holidays. The fact that they didn't even own a pair of handcuffs was slightly problematic.

Had we stopped an assassin trying to kill Mr. Alizarin back when we thought they were actually real, we would have had no means to transport them. And on Velvet's second mission, the one where we stopped that band of bandits, we struggled to capture them without using overwhelming force.

Blake had brought a small, fold-up duffel bag with which to carry the purchases they planned on making. Taking care to leave the top open just in case the owner mistook them for stealing, she handed it to Jaune for him to hold and started to place some of the c̶h̶e̶a̶p̶e̶r̶ more affordable items inside.

Handcuffs, certainly, as they would need a means to transport Tyrian or any other captive they caught into custody. Since they were only 100 lien a pair, she got four pairs for each member of the team, just so that there was no risk of them running out. Going any higher seemed wasteful, as it wasn't like Blake could reasonably expect one person to transport more than four people at a time. Even four was pushing it, but Blake would rather be down a few hundred lien than down a handcuff in a time of need.

Something to stun the targets and give them a chance to apply the cuffs came next. They had bargain stunning taser guns, but Blake decided that it would be better to splurge on these than cheap out. If the handcuffs failed, someone would be left with sore wrists or maybe a sprained hand at worst. If the tasers broke, it could conceivably stop a non-aura-user's heart. Team Job had no intention of killing someone with a weapon that was intended for nonlethal use, and without the protection of hunter's licenses they would be liable for any injuries they inflicted on criminals. The tasers ended up costing a total of 4,500 lien, at 1,500 lien per unit.

The tracker was where the prices got steeper. The lowest cost Blake could find was 15,000 lien, and that was for something that looked like it was made of cheap plastic that would dissolve in the rain. Plus, the app that was required to be downloaded to actually use the tracker was from some website that Blake was almost sure would give her malware and sent her private data to a call center in Vacuo. For an upcharge of only 2,000 lien, they could get a much nicer one with its own console, so Blake got that one instead.

That was basically everything they needed from the Capture section of the store, so Blake moved on with Jaune in tow. There was no particular need to buy a tent, but they were on sale for only 400 lien and could easily fit the three members of Team Job with room to spare, so she grabbed one to make long term missions slightly more bearable. The ration kits were also a bargain, but Blake felt it would be better to grab those on an as needed basis.

"How much are we at so far?" Blake asked Jaune, knowing he was counting it up in his head from the way his eyes rolled back a little every time she read a price aloud.

"23,100 lien," he answered back. "Basically most of our reward for this mission. Technically 1,900 left to spend, but you refilled on Dust, and that was 2,700. We're actually overdue."

Well, that wasn't what Blake had been intending, but they had the money in their bank accounts, and it was no different than the airship. Investing in the company was how a company stayed afloat.

Velvet had mentioned binoculars, and they were only 75 lien for a high end pair, so Blake also threw three into the bag - one for each of them.

That's it. No more. I'm not going to tempt fate and start going on spending extravaganzas that'll lead us to financial ruin.

"We're going to check out now," Blake said to Jaune firmly, partly as a way to lock herself in, because everything on the shelves just looked so darn useful. Perhaps spending frivolously would be a mistake later on, but it was just as likely that not having the right gear could be the mistake.

I never got to buy whatever supplies I needed in the White Fang, and we actually lost people on some missions because of low ammunition. I guess I'm making up for some of that now.

Velvet was still rizzing up the cashier when they returned from Blake's cathartic shopping spree, but she was still fully clothed and so was he, so Blake considered it a win.

"Find everything you need?" he asked.

More than what we need, Blake wanted to say.

Seeing Velvet and Jaune's reaction receipt was a little bit painful, but Blake wasn't the one who'd asked to come here, nor was she the one who…who…who held the bag. Yes, that was Jaune's contribution to this avaricious endeavor.

"That's probably the biggest order I've seen in a while," said the clerk, apparently feeling the need to rub it in for some reason. "Bronte's gonna be eatin' steak tonight! Thank you kindly for your business, folks."

Oh, come on. I bought us tasers and stuff, not frivolous purchases.

Jaune zipped up the duffel bag and hoisted it over his shoulder. "All set?"

"Yep," Blake said. All three of them made for the exit door.

"If you're still interested, call me in seven days," Velvet said, waggling her fingers as she waved goodbye.

Blake waited until they were out of the door and a considerable distance away from the store before bringing up the question that was on her mind.

"Why seven days?" she asked of Velvet. "Why not, I dunno, tomorrow or the next day?"

"Because we're might be on the job for up to seven days, and I don't leave people hanging," was Velvet's only reply.

Team Job may have owned an airship, but they didn't yet own a car, so that meant it was walking from place to place for the three. It was 4:30pm by the time they'd stopped at their office and dropped off the nonessentials, meaning that Mr. Callows' trail would almost certainly be cold by this point.

"Our primary goal should be finding whatever breadcrumbs this guy left us," Jaune explained.

He wasn't their best tracker by any means, having literally zero experience compared to Blake or Velvet, but it wasn't like the city was going to leave a whole lot of clues behind like broken twigs or muddy footprints that could give away Tyrian's location.

"How do you know he left behind a trail intentionally?"

"Because he wants a confrontation. That was what he paid us to do, what he wants. The texting us of his location and making us jump around like monkeys in chase is just his elaborate way of throwing down the gauntlet. Mark my words, there'll be a clear indicator of where he's going."

Blake thought he was making this whole thing sound like a scavenger hunt, but Jaune was the only person who'd actually met their client, so he may have known best. Blake knew better than to assume herself an expert on someone she'd never even seen, let alone encountered.

"Oh, that reminds me – if we do see him, how can we recognize him?" Blake asked. "I mean, Scorpion Faunus, obviously, but he'll probably hide that. Could you describe him to us?"

Jaune scratched at his chin as he thought. "He was wearing a suit, but I doubt it'll still be on when we see him. The tail's big, and I mean big. Whatever clothes he does wear will have to be either baggy enough to fit it or a color brown-ish black color it blends into. As for the man himself, it's chestnut brown hair, same color as Velvet's, and it goes down completely flat. His eye color was similar to Blake's, but not identical; it's hard to explain color.  His aura was a royal purple. I'd describe him as a gaunt man, and his face was kind of long, like it might've been rounder as a kid but got stretched out. I looked down at him, so he's shorter than me, but not by much – nowhere near Ruby's height. Probably closer to Ozpin, if I had to guess. He wasn't really muscular, but I'll bet that he's strong enough; no one would spend 25 grand to test their strength if they weren't."

"Did you see any weapons?" Velvet asked.

"Just a standard knife to show his aura. And a briefcase, but I don't think it was some zany huntsman briefcase that mechshifts into a T-shirt gun or something; he literally opened it up to get the bread out of, and it was otherwise empty."

"I wonder if he's friends with Coco," Velvet mused. "Her minigun folds into a briefcase."

Given how late it was when they arrived at the vicinity of the coordinates, Blake informed her teammates that they would only be scouting today.

"We don't know this guy, and it'll be dark by the time we find enough clues, assuming we even do find any. Darkness and unknown enemies don't mix, so we'll stick to observations for now. Tomorrow is when we'll actually follow the trail he might have left."

Jaune shook his head. "Oh, he'll have left a trail. I'm sure of it."

They'd brought with them the trackers and binoculars, but there was no need to lug around handcuffs or any of the other stuff, so they'd left it at the office. There was no reason to weight themselves down when their weapons were already that heavy, not when they would need to keep their strength for tomorrow.

The neighborhood in which Tyrian's house was located was a fine-looking one. It wasn't particularly ostentatious, but the houses were nice enough, in a cookie-cutter sort of way. Each one was basically the same as the next one over, aside from minor exterior cosmetic differences, so they'd needed to use Jaune's exact coordinates to locate their target.

"Stay at a distance," Blake ordered, taking out her binoculars. "We'll break and form a triangle. Jaune, you stay in the front. Velvet, keep eyes on the backdoor. Watch it for a few minutes for signs of activity – if this guy is as bonkers as you make him sound, I wouldn't put it past him to send us on a wild goose Faunus chase into some else's house and call it a test of wits or something."

If they couldn't visibly see any signs of an ambush or trickery, Blake would approached from the front door, but she would drop a shadow clone and fall back every few steps. That would hopefully trigger any traps. Once she'd swept it for obvious hazards, the others would come in, and they would go through each room with a fine-toothed comb for clues.

I doubt this man would leave anything lethal like explosives rigged to blow inside a residential neighborhood, but he hired us because he thinks we're the best of the best. Anything could be possible, as there's no telling what he could believe.

Either way, Blake would keep her aura raised when she approached. There would be no chances taken with this one.

"Heya Blake," Jaune said, looking down his binoculars. "You know how you asked what he would look like if you saw him?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, have a gander," he said breathily.

Jaune removed the binoculars from his eyes and held them in front of Blake's.

Blake looked through the lenses at whatever Arc wanted her to see. "Jaune, I'm staring at a bush."

"Oh. Uhhh…"

The binoculars shifted upwards and to the right, passing right by a window, and inside that window was a figure…a humanoid figure.

Jaune had already passed him by, so Blake snatched the binoculars out of his hands and held them up for her own viewing. "Is that…?"

"Yup."

Tyrian Callows was standing in the window of the house, staring right at Blake and the others. And, with a broad smile on his face, he was waving his hand at them all to come on in.

Coming Soon: A Date with the Callows

Dinner with a madman turns out to be a surprisingly tame affair, until it doesn't.

Chapter Text

"What do we do?" Jaune asked.

"Why are you asking me?" Blake said back. "You were the expert on this guy just a second ago."

Jaune had been all intent on promising just how sure he was that this guy wanted to be found; well, now he'd been proven right, but Blake was certain this wasn't how he'd imagined it happening.

"He's waving us over," Velvet said, looking down her own binoculars at the man. "Do we…maybe this isn't a part of the mission? Maybe he wants to discuss the terms of the arrangement."

It was Blake's first time seeing this man, and he wasn't at all what she'd been expecting. For whatever reason, in spite of Jaune's descriptions of his appearance, she'd still personified him as some grizzled, white-bearded huntsman riddled with scars in her mind's eyes. The actual man was much more palatable, arguably even handsome for his age.

Jaune had done him justice in his reporting on Mr. Callows' looks (he even still wore the three-piece suit), but there was no way he could have explained the manic look in the man's eyes. Even at the distance and with the aid of the binoculars, Blake could see the rank glee Tyrian was exhibiting upon their arrival. Still waving, he stepped out of view from the window. A moment later, the exterior front doorknob twisted, and the door opened up.

"I guess we go in?" Jaune said, not sounding all that sure.

"I thought he said he wanted us to start hunting him as soon as we were convened," Blake said to him.

"Yeah, but he's clearly put that on hold if he's just waiting for us at the door to his place," Velvet said. "Someone who wants a fight with three hunters doesn't just wait at the front door for them to jump him; he'd be preparing for our arrival or at least armed if he still wanted a fight."

Blake didn't like it, but even her paranoid ass had to admit that approaching head-on was basically their only option to resolve this mystery. Besides, Tyrian hadn't wasted any time in locating them, so it wasn't like they could even surprise him if they wanted to.

They'd been ever-so-slightly hiding behind a thin-barred metal fence, not having expected to need any cover given the distance at which they stood from the house. Their binoculars were rather nice pairs, and they had to be at least 800 feet away.

How did he even locate us? Has he got cameras set up in the neighborhood, or perhaps motion sensors? But we're such a great distance away from his house; unless he rigged the entire suburb, there's no way…

As they exited their 'hiding spot,' Blake led the party with Jaune to her right and Velvet to her left. Tyrian continued to await their arrival, utterly unperturbed by the grand distance between their two parties as they moved in the direction of his house.

The rest of the neighborhood seemed like it really was abandoned. Blake saw no movement or light in the windows of any of the homes on either side of the street, and there were no signs of being lived in like cars in the driveway, well-kept grass, or children's toys on the lawn. It felt something like a ghost town, especially as the sun got closer and closer to setting and dusk approached.

"My friends, please, come right on up," greeted Team Job's host as they finally got close enough to him to speak. "I cordially invite you to join me and sup."

"Uh…" Blake wasn't exactly sure how she was supposed to respond to that. "Uh…"

"We'd be delighted," said Jaune, not as disturbed by the weirdness of Mr. Callows' speech habits. "Though, I feel like I ought to ask: do you still wish for us to pursue you?"

"Why, but of course," Tyrian said, moving aside to allow them entry through the doorway. "I've no buyer's remorse."

The house, in spite of what Blake had assumed about it being some trap rigged to blow at a moment's notice, was actually fully furnished with everyone one would need to live. In the front foyer was a coatrack and doormat, and the living room to which it entered had a meditation mat that reminded Blake in its style of Mistral mixed with Menagerie. Through a hallway she could make out a kitchen and a dining room with all of the expected accoutrements. She noted that the dining table also seemed to be fully covered with a sumptuous spread of food and four table settings.

Are we expected to have dinner with him? He mentioned supping; that means eat, right?

"It's a lovely place," Jaune said, speaking on behalf of the full team since Blake and Velvet were momentarily spellbound.

"A handsome abode in a distinguished sector," Tyrian said proudly as he moved into the kitchen, running one hand along the walls. "Some would call it cursed, but I fear no specter."

Blake leaned into the doorway to catch sight of him opening up the oven, mitts on both hands, and remove an herb-encrusted roast bird from it.

Okay. That's clearly a pheasant. I don't really know what I was expecting, but I'm just glad it's not a person's head.

"I left it in the oven to stay warm," he explained upon catching her peeking. He smiled gently. "My little trick to keep the heating uniform."

Blake slowly backed out of the room and rejoined her team in the front of the house.

Velvet was kicking off her shoes and adjusting the strap on her camera as Jaune looked around like a lost lamb as though he expected an explanation for their bizarre circumstances to be written on the back of a piece of furniture.

"Alright, Mr. Expert," she said pointedly. "You know our guy better than anyone. Why's he cooking us a meal instead of sharpening his pitchfork and loading his machine-gun?"

"I…I think we might get a straight answer if we just ask him."

Blake fixed him with a glare.

Jaune immediately recanted. "I mean, not a straight answer. A rhyme-y, twisty, turn-y, one, but…look, I don't think Mr. Callows is trying to deceive us. He's a straightforward guy, just a bit weird. He may speak in rhymes, but he doesn't speak in riddle. Let's just sit down and see if he might tell us when he wants us to fight him."

Blake somehow doubted it would be as easy as just flat-out asking. If their dude wanted them to know and was willing to say, he would already have before going through all this rigamarole.

Still, it was possible that Jaune had merely misinterpreted Mr. Callows' original request, and this was all on his shoulders. Maybe it was just a spar he was after, and the coordinates were just a polite invite to dinner with his newly hired security consultant firm.

I guess we have nothing to lose by asking.

"Don't eat any of the food," she ordered her team.

"Why?" Velvet asked.

"It could be poisoned," Blake said. "Or drugged."

"Yeah, but if he wants to fight us because he wants to test himself, wouldn't handicapping our side sort of –"

"We don't know what he wants," Blake said.

"I dunno," Jaune said. "It just sounds like we're being rude to our client out of an outlandish fear."

Blake was tempted to keep the argument going, but she had to let it stop there, because it was on the word 'outlandish' that Mr. Callows entered the room they were in.

"Ah, sir. We were just…ah." Jaune cleared his throat. "We were hoping to discuss the terms of our –"

"Please, let's not start the business talk until supper has begun." Tyrian slipped behind them and ushered them in the direction of the dining room, oven mitts still on. "You're a tad later than expected, and I'm hoping to dine before the setting of the sun."

Once they were finished saying grace for Velvet's sake (Blake hadn't even been aware than she was religious), Tyrian wasted no time in distributing the foods around the table and generously offering them to the members of Team Job.

"I insist you try the cardamom rice and enjoy its richly tangy spice. Oh, do serve yourself a scoop of devilled egg. The secret to bring out the flavor is a pinch of salt and a dash of nutmeg. And be sure not to miss the main course, my pheasant. I'm told the rub I use is most deliciously pleasant."

Jaune chuckled a bit. "You were just waiting to use that one, weren't you?"

Tyrian carved a piece of the bird's leg and placed it on his plate. "I'll admit, I am a bit of a poet, nor am I ashamed to show it."

Blake could only cringe as her teammates actually took bites of the dinner, with Jaune nibbling on a cob of corn and Velvet sipping her sparkling cider. At least they waited until Tyrian had already sampled those foods, but still…

Is no one a paranoid wreck but me? What if he administered the antidote to himself in advance? Come on, you two.

Tyrian placed his hands together. "Now that our mouths are zesty and our stomachs crammed, the talk of the table is at last at hand."

Blake looked at Jaune expectantly. If he was so confident with his and Mr. Callows' rapport, he could be the one to do the talking.

"I think we mostly just have a single question, sir." Jaune put down his food and folded his hands together, elbows on the table. "A minor point of clarification, that would be."

"Ask away, young consultant. To answer and feed you is my only intent."

It was almost frightening the way that Tyrian could rattle off the rhymes on the fly like he'd planned them out in advance. Blake clandestinely angled her head to check his ears for an earpiece, curious to see if someone might be feeding him lines – nope, nothing.

"When we last spoke, I was under the impression that our mission – which, as I understand it, is to engage you in combat so that you may test your skills – was to begin as soon as Team Job assembled and informed you. Now it seems that we're having dinner when we're supposed to be fighting…I think you see my confusion."

"I do see the origin of our misunderstanding," Tyrian said as he cut apart his cut of pheasant with a fork and knife. "You clearly expected me to be much more demanding. Good lad, you and your lasses may launch your attack at your discretion. Dinner was a courtesy, not diversion nor digression."

Jaune tilted his head to the side. "You want us to fight you…now?"

"I'm ready when you are. I do so hope you're up to par."

Blake had to intervene at this point, for she was bursting with confused curiosity. "If you want us to start fighting immediately, why did you cook us a meal?"

Mr. Callows shrugged his shoulders. "Call it a healthy professional politeness, coupled with the desire to meet my antagonists. Until you launch your strike, I see no reason why we cannot –"

The table flipped over, and a Hard Light minigun underneath it opened fire no less than a millisecond later.

BLATATATATATATAT!

Even as a frightened Blake and a far more terrified Jaune dove for cover and fell over in their seats respectively, Velvet continued to rip the room to shreds. There seemed to be no limits to how much that huge blaster of hers could fire away shots or how fast they could come out.

At times like this, Blake wondered why the biggest possible firearm could be called a 'mini'-gun. The force of the blast was so strong that the spray that came out of the angle was enough to fracture the table in two without even aiming at it.

BLATATATATATATATATATATATAT!

As for where the gun actually aimed, which was where Tyrian had been sitting, the empty chair was reduced to splinters and sawdust almost instantly. The Faunus himself somehow had a sixth sense to avoid danger and was already in motion by the time the rapid fire rain of bullets had begun. Just narrowly, he kept himself ahead of the line of fire, nimbly leaping about the room as Velvet rotated in place to keep aiming at him.

Blake, from her crouched position with her arms covering her head and vital organs, could see the rabbit Faunus' tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she laid waste to the Callows household. Her intangible bullets were destructive enough to tear a literal line out of the walls of the room around them like a long, wide sword was being used to carve the top and bottom of the house in two.

BLATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!

It was only when the gun finally ran out of Dust and disappeared did Blake wait a full three second before scrambling to her knees and nearly fainting against her chair, which had now been reduced to a stool.

Blake tried to speak, but her voice was completely gone for some reason. Velvet noticed her mouth moving silently and began to silently move her own lips.

Wait, why is she – oh, it's our hearing that's shot, not our voices.

Bits of destroyed food was splattered about the room, and Blake's jacket was full of holes – not from the bullets, in this case, but from the fragments of high velocity wood that had been dislodged from the table, chairs, and frame of the house itself. Jaune looked like he was dying of a heart attack on the other side of the room, but as Blake looked around, she could find no sign of Mr. Callows or his lifeless corpse.

Blake massaged her human ears and tried out her voice again. It was far fainter than desirable, but she could just barely hear her own words.

"…Velvet, what…?"

Velvet let another ten seconds pass as she too surveyed the room for signs of life.

When she spoke, it was at a regular volume, but she looked like she was shouting from her movements. "I think I missed him."

"You missed…! You literally hit everything inside this house!" Blake looked around the room and was amazed that the second floor and roof hadn't already fallen in, given how little was holding them up. "You've destroyed our client's home!"

"Not his real home," Velvet said, creating a buckler shield and long, curved blade out of Hard Light from her camera. "Remember, this is some pedo neighborhood where the houses are cheap and the neighbors are nonexistent. It's a façade. He doesn't actually live here – the whole dinner thing was a charade, but I called his bluff and nearly got him by surprise."

"On the contrary, my fellow Faunus child," called out Mr. Callows' voice from some other room. Velvet immediately hunched down into a defensive posture, thrusting out her shield. "This castle was, in fact, where I used to reside."

"Slant rhymes?" Velvet mused with a grin. "I got you on your toes."

"The lengths to which you'd go impress me so. I'm quite curious just how far you three will go."

Blake helped Jaune up to his feet and draw Gambol Shroud. As much as she hated Velvet for the irreparable damage her imitation minigun had inflicted on her four eardrums, Mr. Callows had more or less confirmed that this was what he desired.

I guess he cares less about his house being demolished than he does getting a good fight out of us. Well, I guess we'll just give the man what he wants.

"He's unarmed, but we don't know what weapon he has stashed away in this place," Blake said.

Tyrian was in his element, and Team Job were the foreign invaders. They needed to push him out of the house if they were to win this three-against-one duel.

The dining room had three exits – one window that was currently a safety hazard, one doorway to the kitchen, and one path that led to the stairs. Blake hadn't seen which way Tyrian had gone in the confusion, so she went back to back with Velvet. Jaune joined them once he'd gotten his head back into place, allowing each of them to get eyes on a means of egress.

"Okay. On the count of three, we slowly walk to the doorway and then to the front entrance, without breaking formation. We're too exposed here."

She couldn't see if Jaune and Velvet were nodding, but she trusted them to heed her orders without question. Their backs were pressed against hers, so she knew they were still there.

"Alright. One…"

There was the flash of a shadow moving past the window, which Blake was watching. It was difficult to see in the near darkness outside, and the lack of lighting from Velvet's initial blitz attack disrupting the power made it only more difficult.

Blake decided to ignore it and keep counting. "…two…three…go!"

They began to move step by step out of the room. Jaune was the closest to the doorway and walked through it first. Velvet went through next, and Blake was the rearguard as the trio finally entered into the main living room.

This room was even more open, but the absence of tight and constricting walls meant that they would be able to see Tyrian coming if he tried anything. Blake knew from the fact that he'd evaded a Hard Light magazine's worth of bullets without even losing a drop of blood was a testament to his agility.

If he does attack us, I don't think I could outpace someone that fast. Jaune certainly wouldn't. Velvet…maybe.

"Jaune, switch to your crossbow and give us ranged support," Blake ordered. "Move to the front door and press your back against it. If someone tries to get in through it, don't let them."

Velvet twirled her scimitar and scanned the room. "I don't have enough ammo to pull another minigun out of Anesidora. For the time being, I'm gonna be stuck with melee."

Not taking her eyes off the doors, Blake nodded to let Velvet know she'd heard. She couldn't say for certain, but someone as physically talented as Tyrian would almost certainly use his own melee weapons. If Blake could disarm him, even sacrificing herself to do so, Velvet could beat him to a pulp in hand-to-hand while Jaune covered her with crossbow shots.

The three of them waited in a tense silence for about five minutes before it became apparent that Mr. Callows wasn't going to be making himself known.

"He probably wants us to come to him," Jaune theorized. "Same with the whole 'I'll give you dinner until you're ready' thing. He's somewhere in here, waiting."

"Right you are, Jaune Arc," called a voice from the walls, or perhaps it was the ceiling, or maybe the floorboards. "Dead on the mark."

He was toying with them. In the comfort of familiar territory, Tyrian would always have an advantage over them while they search the house for him. It was superior numbers vs. home turf.

That doesn't mean we can't make up our own fog of war.

Blake switched Gambol into a gun and lowered her voice. "Alright. He can hear whatever we're planning, wherever he's hiding. Here's the plan." Blake's finger pointed towards the door to the kitchen. "Move 90 degrees clockwise one time for every month Velvet is pregnant. That's where Jaune and I will look."

Five months would mean a full rotation and one more right turn from there, pointing them in the direction of the walk-in bathroom. Blake couldn't say where they were moving when Tyrian was potentially listening, but only Team Job would understand her code.

"Velvet, watch our six. Jaune, I'll count to the number of days we spent at the Alizarin farm, and then we move. Keep your crossbow ready, and shoot anything that moved. Everyone clear?"

The three all nodded in unison.

Blake braced herself for combat as she stared towards the kitchen, just in case Tyrian was somehow watching them.

"One…two…three…four…five…six…seven…"

She couldn't shout the last number, as that would give away their presence, but Jaune was already moving when she enunciated the first syllable. His crossbow raised, he immediately turned to the right, leaving the left side of the room to Blake as she followed in after him.

No one was there. The bathroom was –

CRRRRTHNK!

Startled, Blake turned around to see a crossbow bolt stuck right through the mirror, fracturing it into hundreds of shards of glass.

"What was that?" Blake asked, trying not to sound terrified. "Was it Tyrian?"

"N-No…sorry, my finger was on the trigger and my own reflection moved when I…s-sorry, Blake."

She tried to steady her heartbeat as Jaune retrieved his arrow. Velvet called out to let them know she was okay, and the group gathered together once more in the main living room.

The bathroom had no other doors, so it was effectively cleared. With the kitchen having been where they came from, that left only the upstairs and a closed door behind which Blake had no idea what lay.

"If Jaune and I ever dated, we go for the door," Blake said. "If not, we try upstairs next."

It was an intentional tactical blunder to leave the door unchecked, and Blake was counting on Tyrian to fall for that. He would assume that they were going to be for the door first, and that would mean he was operating on the wrong intel.

"On the count of the number of rooms in –"

The front door of the house opened up, and Blake froze up and fumbled with her sword from sheer shock.

"He's…the, the, the…the door!" She pointed vehemently, as both Jaune and Velvet had their backs to the front entrance of the house. "It's him! The door!"

Tyrian was already upon them by the time Jaune even had his crossbow raised. He went down first, a single punch to the throat knocking him out in one hit.

Idiot! Raise your aura! How could you not – Gods, I'm gonna kill him when we're done here.

Velvet slashed her own blade into Tyrian's arm as Blake began to fire at him with Gambol, but he kept leaning from side to side faster than she could aim, so only about a quarter of her shots actually landed the mark.

His tail flipped out from between his legs and wrapped around Blake's leg. Blake turned her gun downwards to shoot it, but the Faunus trait constricted, and Blake felt pain right through her aura.

How…he's bypassing aura? What?

Her leg snapped, and Blake tumbled down to the ground, screaming in pain. "AAAAARRRGGHH!"

"Blake! Shite! You'll pay for that, fucker!"

Velvet kept doing her best to fight Tyrian one on one, but even unarmed as he was, he was clearly beyond her. Her buckler faded out of existence when Tyrian smashed his right knee into it, and the sword she was waving only just managed to land a scratch on his thigh in exchange, cutting his pants and his aura minorly.

Throwing the sword his way, Velvet abandoned the use of weaponry and switched to her area of expertise, martial artistry, but Tyrian was faster than her, and his ability to go right though aura made the scorpion far more likely to triumph than the rabbit.

Every punch she threw his way was dodged with relative ease, but Velvet didn't let Tyrian go at her freely either. Falling back when he tried to land his own chops, she raised her arms in a boxing stance and let her arms take the bulk of the hits as she shielded her vitals, swatting away that tail whenever it got close. He was landing blow after blow against her, but nothing truly debilitating, whereas she just couldn't keep up with him.

All Blake could do was watch as the two of them danced back and forth, exchanging ground and then immediately ceding it to their opponent when they went on the offensive.

It was inevitable that Velvet would eventually fall. Though Tyrian couldn't penetrate her defenses and fell her in a single blow as he had with Jaune and Blake, the torment she was putting her arms through eventually added up, and it got to a point where she seemed to be struggling to raise them.

In a desperate last stand, she leapt up into the air and tried to go for a spinning kick to his torso, but his arm and its nearly full aura absorbed the blow. Velvet lost her footing and toppled to the floor without Tyrian even having to knock her down. She twisted midair to land on her shoulder and protect her stomach.

With her only hope for victory now down, Blake finally took her eyes off the fight and crawled towards Jaune to see if he was alright. Last she'd seen, he'd been gasping for air before abruptly stopping.

Well, he had a pulse, so that was good. However, he was down for the count.

"Gods-damned dicksucker!" growled Velvet, groaning in pain as she knelt at Tyrian's feet. "Motherfucking assfondler!"

"All in all, I'll call it decent. Still could use some improvement."

"I'll shove my fucking sword up your shitter!" she raved, in spite of the fact that she had neither have a sword nor an opening in Tyrian's defenses to assault his posterior at the moment. "I'll jizz in your grandfather's mouth!"

Tyrian's only response was to pat Velvet on her head, his fingers coming dangerously close to the rabbit ears that identified her as a Faunus. Then, he turned his back to them and stepped into the kitchen.

Blake waited for him to return with an edged weapon or firearm to deliver the killing blow, but he never did.

"W-Where did he go?" Velvet asked after nearly a minute had passed. "Where's that bitchwhore gone?"

Blake tried to reason it out. He went into the kitchen, which had been utterly destroyed. The only thing left of value in there was the stairs to the second floor.

What's on the second floor that's not on the first? We've got a living room, dining room, bathroom, and a kitchen. All that's left is the…

The bedroom.

"He…He lives here," Blake realized at last. "He's gone to bed."

"What?" Velvet asked.

It was impossible for Blake not to laugh at the stupidity of the situation. "He hired us for a week, and he intends to get his money's worth. We're defeated, so he's letting us go to heal up and try again. It's like before, both times – he wants us to come to him when we're ready."

"Well, whatever his reasons, I'm not gonna let the opportunity go to waste." Velvet grumbled in pain as she hoisted herself upwards, using a lamppost for aid. "Let's get the hell outta here."

Blake felt bad asking Velvet for help walking after everything she'd been through, but with her leg in shambles, there was no way she could even get out of the house without aid.

She's also going to have to hoist Jaune. Damn it, losing really does suck.

"I'll call us a rideshare when we're out of here," Velvet bit out. "Fuck me backwards, I don't like losing. I…I'm sorry for losing, Blake."

"Don't apologize to me, not when I went down first." Blake looked down at Jaune's unconscious body. "Erm, second."

Doing her best to balance on one foot with the aid from Velvet's arm around her shoulder on one side as she hoisted up Jaune in the other, Blake trudged out of the half-ruined house and into the street, the shame of Team Job's first defeat burning up within her.

Coming soon: Remodel, Renovate, Retry

It's time for Team Job to get right back up and eat that horse.

Chapter Text

Jaune woke up to a stinging pain in his eyes and a tight throat that he had to manually suck in and blow out of to breathe.

"Ugh, what happened?" he groaned, checking his surroundings. The last thing he could remember was going to…dinner?

That doesn't sound right. Was I dreaming?

Blake and Velvet had been there, and so was their latest client, a peculiar man who wanted to fight them and had stolen a loaf of bread to incite them to do so. As Jaune tried to sift through his own discordant thoughts, more and more details from the night prior emerged.

We were…Velvet started shooting everything, and then we tracked him through the house, but I can't remember what came next.

Did Team Job win? Did Tyrian get the slip on them? Given how he'd apparently passed out after checking the bathroom for Mr. Callows, the latter was likely.

If they had fought, Jaune could remember nothing of it. He knew that head trauma didn't usually cause amnesia, and his memory was normally better than this, so it was most likely over before he could even process it.

We…We were in the bathroom. Blake's eyes lit up and she started shouting, but it wasn't sensible. If she was trying to warn us of a surprise attack from behind, it would make sense.

He looked around and realized that he wasn't actually in his bed, as he'd been assuming. In fact, he was currently seated in a chair in the back room of Team Job's office.

"Guys?" Jaune called out. "Yoohoo? Anyone here?"

It wasn't painful to actually rise out of his seat any more than sitting around had been; the discomfort was limited to his neck and jaw area. Jaune figured that must have been where Tyrian had gotten him. Massaging his chin, he grimaced and flared up his aura, hoping to heal the damaged spot.

To his surprise, the pain was number, and in no insignificant quantity. It went from being the severity of slamming one's head onto the underside of the sink to slamming one's head onto the underside of the sink with a helmet on.

"Jaune?" called the voice of Blake. "Are you awake?'

"Yup," he said, moving towards the front area of the office. "What exactly is going on, you guys?"

He arrived to see that the sign on the glass door had been switched to the 'Closed' side. Blake was sitting in the chair he usually occupied in their office, and Velvet was seated across from her in one of the client's seats. Neither of them seemed particularly cheery.

"I take it we lost?"

They filled him in on the missing pieces, but he'd mostly hit the nail right on the head. Blake had seen Tyrian coming but had been utterly powerless to stop him. According to her, he had some sort of anti-aura semblance that made him intrinsically overpowered against the average hunter, meaning that the girls had gone down shortly after Jaune.

"He let us leave, so I assume we're expected to try again," Blake explained. "Vel and I have been throwing around ideas to even out the odds, but nothing's really stood out so far."

"Right now, our best idea is to buy bulletproof armor and see if we can use it to tank his punches," Velvet explained. "He didn't use weapons, so thick metal sheets should be enough to guard us from fists."

"The only problem is that we can't exactly afford three full suits of bulletproof armor," Blake replied.

Velvet scoffed. "That isn't the only problem. Those things weigh a ton sometimes, and I couldn't even touch him when I was fully unburdened. The goal is to win, not to take hits without dropping like flies"

Jaune scratched at his chin and looked down at Velvet. Strung over her shoulder was a literal camera that could manifest any physical object as long as it had a picture of it. "Would Hard Light armor work?"

Blake's eyes widened, and a smile crossed her face, but Velvet stomped out her optimism before it made it out the front door of her face.

"My constructs with Anesidora only last two to three hits. We'd bankrupt ourselves and have to sell the airship before we could buy enough Dust to last. It'd be more financially prudent to just sit here for the rest of the week and lose the contract with Callows."

The pain was starting to come back, so Jaune flared up his aura and massaged his neck muscles a little bit. If there was one upside to being annihilated instantly by an enemy with an aura-skipping semblance, it was that you were left with a full tank to ease the pain and heal up any wounds afterwards. The fact that Blake was still walking after having sustained a broken leg last night was a testament to that fact.

"The same goes for any insane, high-end weaponry to stop him," Blake said. "No paralyzing neurotoxins, no expensive weapon upgrades, no more. We're already overextended on this mission as it is."

"Quick question," Jaune said, rising a finger in the air. "Just to clarify – Mr. Callows is still there at his house, right."

Velvet shrugged. "We assume."

"And one of the big problems we had when fighting him was that he was in his own home turf, right?"

Velvet nodded, cautiously regarding Jaune. "Where's this going?"

"Well, no one else lives in the neighborhood. We saw the insides of his house, and we know that the kitchen was destroyed and that there weren't any other emergency kits or stuff like that. Could we just, you know, cut the power, shut off the water, and smoke him out, so to speak?"

It wasn't a guaranteed victory, but if they could force Tyrian to flee his abode, it would at least give them a slight advantage. He would be on the run, in equally unfamiliar territory, and they might be able to herd him in the direction of a trap or something. Plus, he would be hungry and thirsty from going days on end without food or water.

"We don't know that he hasn't restocked since last night," Blake complained.

"We could just check," Jaune suggested back to her. "As I understand, Mr. Callows is defending himself when we approach him, but he made no aggressive overtures and didn't stop us from leaving. There's nothing inhibiting us from keeping eyes on his house and watching to see if he goes in or out."

"What if he attacks us?" Velvet asked. "He saw us coming from a mile away last time…"

It was possible, but every indication he'd given them so far suggested that he wanted them to be at their best. He could have easily captured them or even stopped them from fleeing, and it would be trivial for him to chase them down now. Heck, they were in their office, and he knew where that was.

"I don't think he will. If you'd like, I can go alone."

That way, if Jaune was captured, nothing of value would be lost. Blake and Velvet could keep plotting against him from the partial safety of their office, and they were more likely to be able to rescue him should he fall into Mr. Callows' clutches than the other way around.

Blake rose to her feet. "I'll go with you."

"You sure?" Jaune asked. "I think your time might be better spent here, scheming with Velvet."

"I'm quite capable of scheming by my lonesome," Velvet sniffled, slightly offended.

Blake just nodded in the direction of the door. "Let's head out, Jaune."

"I think she took the loss kind of hard," Blake explained as they walked. "Pride is common among the more successful huntresses, and you remember how Velvet was when she applied."

He did. She'd behaved as humbly as one might expect from a job candidate who was boasting about her amazing skill and undefeated record in hand-to-hand combat.

Make that previously undefeated.

On that note, Jaune had determined that bringing his sword and shield would be an absolute waste of time and would only slow him down in the very real chance that he did need to beat a sudden retreat. Thus, he'd left them back at the office in the tender care of Team Job's aggrieved bunny Faunus. It would've taken a crowbar to pry Gambol Shroud from Blake's grip, so he hadn't even bothered suggesting the same thing to her.

It was fairly early in the morning, with Jaune having spent the better part of last night unconscious and recovering. The sun was only just beginning to rise by the time they'd walked into Mr. Callows' neighborhood for the second time. In spite of the fact that they'd been here less than 24 hours prior, things looked drastically different now.

The house in which their client lived stuck out amongst the others like a sore thumb, with the outside walls looking like they were halfway through being demolished. Velvet's onslaught had really left the place in a state of disrepair.

And yet, as Jaune looked through his binoculars, he could see Tyrian gently resting on a mat on the second floor through a gaping hole in the wall.

It might have been a temptation to try and sneak in and get him in his sleep, but Jaune knew better. Someone who was so light-footed that he could evade a minigun barrage and still have the energy to fistfight three aura-users to defeat or exhaustion wasn't going to just let them handcuff him in his sleep.

Even if we did, he would be strong enough to break the cuffs. Our problem is that we may as well not have aura compared to him, whereas he gets to enjoy the full benefits of healing and super-strength until we break him.

Blake was keeping her distance and watching the neighborhood around them as Jaune spied on their mark from afar, so Jaune filled her in on the situation.

"I guess he really does live there, then," Blake said. "I'll text Velvet and let her know we're going through with your plan."

It ended up being much easier said than done to turn off the house's utilities. Jaune's scroll told him that most modern examples of Valean architecture had little meters on the side of the building that had both a water usage meter and a Dust consumption gage in wattage that also contained valves in the same manifold. To turn off these valves and starve the house of power and water, they would have to get close and flip both themselves.

"I should do it," Blake said. "I'd be better suited to flee in the event that he wakes up."

"That means I have to be the one keeping a lookout," Jaune said as a counter. "You're more likely to be able to get to me in time to warn me if he does."

"Jaune, he took you out in one hit."

Jaune looked down at her slightly discolored leg. "I don't wanna sound mean, but you didn't really far much better. Let's be honest here – if Mr. Callows does try to attack us both, it's not like either one of us or even both would really be able to resist. Send me, so that if the person who goes ends up with another broken limb, we don't lose our best huntress."

"Velvet's our best huntress."

Jaune rolled his eyes. "You get my point. Besides, I'm the one who actually read the webpage on how to turn it off."

Blake winced, liking knowing that he had her there. As much as she might have wanted to shield him from danger, he felt the same protectiveness for her, and he also had the aid of facts and logic on his side.

"Alright, but the second I signal you, you turn right back around, okay?" Blake sternly glared at Jaune. "I'm not kidding around here. No heroics – you get to go, but I get to be in command here."

Throwing a little mock salute her way, Jaune handed her his scroll and peeked out from behind the hedge they were using as cover. They hadn't approach from such an obvious angle this time, but Tyrian had been asleep when they arrived, so there was no way to tell whether it was their success as evasion or his failure at detection that granted them their temporary invisibility to his eyes.

Through his binoculars, he could see that Tyrian continued to rest on the top floor. There was no rush, so Jaune waited until his hands were fully steady before giving the twin lenses to Blake and stepping out into the street.

It would be impossible to camouflage himself or obscure his appearance with cover all the way to the house, so he instead elected to play the part of a normal passerby. Making no sudden movements, he calmly strolled towards Tyrian's broken-up home with all the casualness of an early morning jogger.

Jaune's blood vessels were pounding so hard from his heart's frantic pumping that he might have been able to see them under his skin, should he look. It wasn't so much the fear of bodily harm was it was nerves over the prospect of being caught. Even if Tyrian didn't lay a finger on him and merely spooked him off, Jaune would be equally shaken.

As he got close up to the house, he redirected his course, curving his way onto Tyrian's pristine lawn. The house itself may have looked like Mountain Glenn's ugly cousin, but the lawn was at least well kept and undisturbed by the flood of rounds Velvet had unleashed.

There was no sign of Tyrian, so Jaune circled around the house until he caught sight of the shutoff valves and the readout meters.

Unfortunately, they were on the opposite side, meaning that Blake wouldn't be able to see him when he made the rest of the jaunt and closed them.

Jaune tried to look back and see if he could get a sign to go ahead or to bail from her, but he couldn't see her. They'd been a great distance away, and unlike Tyrian, Jaune's eyesight wasn't precise enough to hone in on her position.

She mentioned a signal, but she never said what it was. It can't be my scroll – dialing the number would make it ring loudly and give me away. I guess, whatever it is, she hasn't done it yet?

Rather than spend more time in Tyrian's house's shadow, Jaune elected to bite the bullet and dash around to the rear of the lawn and just do it as quickly as possible. It was a simple procedure to actually shut it down – all Jaune had to do was trace the pipes from the meter that read PSI and Gal/Wk (Vale used the most idiotic units) and locate the only valve that was in line with the pipe itself. All others were turned perpendicular, meaning they were already shut off.

Jaune twisted the water off and looked around.

Nothing was there. No Tyrian drawing daggers, ready to bleed Jaune. No Blake, frantically giving the signal.

One down, one to go.

Dust was even easier. Since it wasn't a pipe that actually carried the materials to the house, all he had to do was flip the switch that was attached to the wattage meter and cut off Tyrian from the electrical grid.

Now let's get the heck outta here.

Jaune's heart nearly burst when he turned the corner, but once again, the lawn and streets were empty. With nothing left to keep him tied to subtlety, Jaune slowly picked up his feet until he was sprinting and fled back to another hedge. Blake wasn't there, but then Jaune was pretty sure he'd mistakenly picked the wrong hedge in his haste.

His scroll rang almost immediately. It was Blake, so he answered it.

"Jaune, you fucking numbskull! I gave you the signal to retreat, like, three times!"

But I didn't see any signals!

"D-Did he wake up?" Jaune asked frantically, eyes darting back to the house.

"No, but he shifted in his sleep and even scratched his nose twice! TWICE, JAUNE!"

Jaune and Blake kept watch on Tyrian for a few hours, just to see if he would wake up and figure out their ruse. If he did, they would probably need to do something more drastic. If not, they might just be able to count on him being starved and dehydrated when next they stormed his house. Either way, they needed to see how he reacted to best plan their future moves.

The only problem was that he remained in a state of light slumber for the entire time they watched him.

"Why isn't he waking up?" Blake asked, looking through her binoculars. "What's he doing?"

"Maybe he's tired?" Jaune asked. He checked his scroll – nearly a full 18 hours had passed since they'd joined him for dinner. "Or maybe his semblance makes him exhausted? That would be a good tradeoff for ignoring aura."

"If semblances were fair, then the world would be a much more boring place, Arc." Blake lowered her binoculars, turned around, and leaned against the hedge. "They're purely random, and some people get shit ones while others get godlike powers to telekinetically move objects with their minds or summon moonstrikes for instant knockouts."

That was kinda true, Jaune supposed. A lot of the semblances he'd seen in person – Team River's, Blake's, Velvet's – seemed fairly balanced, but Deputy Headmistress Goodwitch's ability to move literally anything (including people) with just her mind made it seem like the power to move fast with rose petals was more of a party trick.

Also…

"Moonstrikes?" Jaune asked belatedly. "What's that?"

"Adam's semblance," Blake said, her fingers tapping against the dirt.

That didn't clear it up, but Jaune was pretty sure Blake had intended it to be a prompt for him to ask the obvious. "And Adam is…who?"

"The second highest ranking officer in the White Fang," she murmured. "My former mentor, the one I talked about who wasn't a nice person. My…My ex-boyfriend."

Coming Soon: The Emu Wars

omg Menagerie = Australia confirmed?!

Chapter Text

Jaune looked back at Tyrian's household.

"He isn't moving, and it's unlikely that'll change anytime soon," Blake said. Now was as good enough time to tell him the story she'd been keeping private this far. She couldn't remember just when she'd decided that she wanted him to know everything, to truly understand who Blake Belladonna was and where she'd come from, but she did know that she'd been waiting for the perfect moment, and this might as well be it.

Stowing his binoculars, Jaune gave his partner his full attention and gestured for her to continue.

"I'm telling you this, not Velvet, so don't go blabbing, m'kay? She doesn't even know I'm White Fang, and I want it to stay that way."

Jaune nodded. Blake heaved out a long sigh and slid down along the hedge into a sitting position to get comfortable. Jaune remained standing, his eyes checking Tyrian's abode every now and again; that was good, since Blake wasn't going to be much use once she started getting choked up in her own sob story.

"How much do you remember from the last time we talked about this?" she asked.

As far as Blake could remember, they'd only ever discussed the topic once, but she wanted to know if Jaune even recalled the details from back then. She'd admitted to a lot of things that day.

He started counting the points off on his fingers, making the dark subject matter seem childishly comical. "You never killed anyone, but he – this Adam guy – did. You were in a noncombat role at the end of it. I think you mentioned something about being born in the White Fang?" Jaune scratched his chin. "I never gave it much thought, but it really doesn't make that much sense. I read that the White Fang was founded twelve years ago, but you're seventeen."

His problem was that he was interpreting it literally. She and the White Fang had both been the child of Ghira Belladonna, and she'd been there to watch it grow up at the same time as she had turned from child to adult.

"It's more than that. If you want to know about Adam, you need to know about the White Fang, and if you want to know about the White Fang, you need to know about Menagerie. It goes back a long way, really. The island had been given to my people as a reward for triumphing over Atlas in the Faunus Rights Revolution, according to the Treaty of –"

"I know the history," Jaune said, sounding a little bit offended and a big bit proud.

To be fair, if he did know about Menagerie, it was just cause to brag a little. Most humans didn't care much for the Faunus' story, and fewer still actually knew the true facts.

"Alright, smarty pants," Blake said. "The floor is yours. Impress me."

"Menagerie was granted as a boon for the Faunus, intended to be their own homeland with full sovereignty, an academy, a council – the works. Mantle was planning to honor that and send agreed upon annual resource deliveries the Faunus' way, but then it was discovered that the Dust reserves in Menagerie were far lower than anticipated, making the Faunus' position no longer one of absolute power. Around the same time, Atlas took over and declared themselves the new administration of Solitas and exempted themselves from agreements that their predecessors had made. The few weak coups that tried to stand up to them failed due to their superior technology, and both Menagerie and Mantle ended up screwed."

Blake shook her head. "Nothing's wrong there, but it's Atlas-centric. I'd more or less expect it's how they teach it in schools. There was a lot more going on, especially inside the Menagerian government. Maybe a third of their loss of power was due to the lack of Dust they could cough up on short notice, but the big thing that ended the Faunus' military dominance was the demilitarization efforts by Maharani Lukannon."

It was a painful topic to bring up, but this ancient history wasn't nearly as tangential to Blake's torrid romance with Adam as it might have seemed. Either way, Jaune seemed interest in the history lesson, so she went on with it.

"Menagerie was home to new and exotic types of Grimm that had never been seen before – thin, python-like snakes that could stretch for hundreds of feet, solitary Sigma Beowolves that were the size of houses, amphibious spider-crab hybrids that could climb sheer walls and chase a Faunus anywhere they wanted. It was almost impossible to live there, and the population was actually going down in spite of the post-war baby boom.

"Lukannon was the Maharani at the time (the early chieftain title), and her island was in a state of disaster. Atlas was giving her people trouble, but Mantle intended to follow through on its bargain, so she made the call and diverted resources from the military to hunters. It was a controversial decision at the time, and it remains one to this day, as it saved the island at the cost of it its future. The novel Grimm were entirely eradicated, making Menagerie safe to live on; it was the first time in history that species were known to go extinct in their entirety. However, Menagerie had no means to defends itself from foreign powers by the end of the Grand Grimm Campaign, and Maharani Lukannon never even tried to build up the Faunus' might again. Some claimed that she had always wanted demilitarization and took advantage of the Grimm to push her social agenda."

"Were those 'some' right?" Jaune asked.

Blake bit her tongue. "Maybe."

That was the official Belladonna family line, but Blake knew the truth from verbal histories. The answer to his question was yes.

"The Maharani had been an opposing voice at each stage of the escalation of the conflict that led to the Faunus Rights Revolution," she said, hoping to move on from that topic as quickly as possible. "Anyways, Menagerie was powerless for the better part of the previous century because of this. It took two generations for the island to stabilize, but by the time it did, my own father, Ghira Belladonna was in command, and he founded the White Fang."

"Your…Your father?" Jaune stared blankly at Blake. For some reason, he chose that moment as the time to quickly check on Tyrian for signs of movement. "Wait a sec. You're the daughter of Mr. White Fang?"

"Yup. Daddy Dearest made the White Fang." Blake put a hand over her face and slid her own eyelids closed at the slightly embarrassing family history. None of the Belladonnas were particularly proud with how things had turned out, but her father probably had the most regrets. "It ended up being so ineffectual that it became a laughingstock before the schism, but at the time, he advertised it as the influence of the Faunus spreading out across the world to save our brothers and sisters who'd never joined us on the island of Menagerie and still lived among the humans."

Jaune's jaw had dropped. He probably thought she was some sort of crown princess of Menagerie and heiress of terrorism.

I mean, he's not strictly wrong.

It wasn't like she was some rich bitch intentionally slumming it up with him and Velvet. That life of what she now realized was immense privilege was lost to her, but it was still a part of her story. Nothing could erase her Belladonna last name, nor could it wash away the stench of White Fang criminality of which she reeked.

I have to tell him the rest. If he's to truly understand why I did it all, he needs to know.

"It's more than that," Blake said, burying her face into her hands. "Lukannon was Ghira's maternal grandmother. The White Fang was meant to be him righting our family's wrongs."

That was the big kicker that most people who knew Blake weren't aware of. She hadn't just been dissatisfied with her own father and run into the arms of militant terrorists, nor was it teenaged rebellion that was 'just a phase.'

Blake had felt the full weight of her family's failures on her shoulders. Her ancestors had lost the Faunus their status as the dominant military superpower, and her father had promised change and delivered nothing. Thus, when the White Fang started to get results by way of aggressive action…

"You liked the change at first, didn't you?" Jaune surmised.

Blake didn't try to hide it. "The Belladonna name became a curse word in the White Fang. Call someone a Belladonna and you'd just branded them a coward. Two generations were famed for their inaction, and I wasn't going to be the third. When the new blood came to power, I was all for it. I embraced it with everything I had, becoming the picture-perfect Belladonna poster child for Sienna. I did her bidding without question, I worked harder than anyone, and I never hesitated to present myself as a future candidate for succession when she retired. Blake Belladonna, she was going to be the first among the new Belladonnas, the ones who got shit done no matter the costs."

It hadn't felt like brainwashing at first. When Sienna took Blake out to kill Grimm and lavished her with the praises that her own parents had been far more frugal with, it was just her proving her worth as a good subordinate and earning deserved commendations. When the Fang had needed her to turn those blood-earned skills on people in increasingly violent mission, Sienna justified it as avoiding the waste of Blake's unique and exceedingly special talents. Blake had given herself away to the White Fang, but Sienna was the one who took and stole her

"It was when people started frequently dying on missions that I changed my mind," Blake explained to Jaune. "The odd self-defense kill didn't bother me, but when we began to bring body bags with us, I told Sienna I wanted out. And she caved instantly, charging me with handling our resources efficiently instead. I thought I was getting my way, but she just saw that her precious little pawn was breaking and decided to let me bend instead. It was all the better for her, as she could now let Adam kill freely without risking my delicate sensibilities being offended by being there to witness it. A-And Adam, he…she…"

Jaune was waiting for her to finish at her own pace. That was nice of him.

It was tough to talk about this. Not because it made her upset or saddened her – no, she'd already shed ever tear possible over her own stupid choices long ago. What made this so difficult was admitting the truth out loud. Opening herself up felt like revealing her most vulnerable side to Jaune and lowering her aura – one harsh word or scathing but true criticism could destroy her entirely.

That was why she felt like she needed to tell him. Blake wanted to prove something to herself. Her experiences with Adam had made her a frightened, scared kitten, and she wanted the world to know that she wasn't.

There was also a desperate element of hope thrown into the mix. If Blake chose to tell Jaune her sordid story, she would be choosing trust and love over pain and fear. Doing so felt like some sort of minor symbolic victory.

I'm declaring that they haven't ruined me. I can still put my faith in another being.

"In hindsight, it seems obvious." Blake exhaled and tried to slam her head into the hedge, but it was flimsier than her and lost a few branches. "The Belladonna family had held power in Menagerie for over a century, and the name itself meant something. A lot, in fact. Sienna had me, the presumptive heiress of the island's ruling family, to mold as she saw fit and humor with promises of future leadership when it suited her, but it wasn't good enough. Adam was her preferred pick to lead the White Fang. He was the one who really got shit done, the way she wanted it, so she…she tried to get the best of both worlds. She encouraged us in our relationship, always stretching the rules for her two golden children to ensure we got our time off together. Alone. Private. At night."

Blake hoped that Jaune could fill in the blanks.

His eyes dropped from her face to her stomach, telling Blake that he had.

"A-Are you –?"

"No," Blake said immediately. "I wouldn't have admonished Velvet back at the farm if I were in the same delicate position as her. But Sienna tipped her hand after that. She asked me how I was and if I needed a pregnancy test the very next day. It was a sweet concern, and she phrased it in such a sisterly way that I didn't even notice anything until I was getting ready for the next night. Adam was getting ready, and I realize…he'd told Sienna. I hadn't, and she knew, and…he had been reporting his progress to her."

It was painful to go over such a traumatic history, but at least it was over. Finally, Blake could get to the good part.

"So, I joined a combat mission the next week and 'disappeared' on it. And that was the end of the White Fang for me."

Wow. The good part was depressingly brief.

"I think Adam loved me in his own way, but he loved the White Fang more," Blake said, thinking back on her interactions with the bull Faunus. "But by the end, he only cared about either of us for what we could offer him. Me, my devoted attention and a blissfully idiotic heart full of love, and the White Fang, enough power to enact his vision for Remnant."

As she'd suspected, it wasn't enough to drive her to tears. The upside of going through such a troubling life as a child was that she had thick skin. Adam may have been something she fears (any rational Faunus would), but only the actual person, not the mere thought of him.

Jaune joined her in her seated position. Blake noticed that he hadn't checked Tyrian's whereabouts in a while, so she glanced over and confirmed with her binoculars that the sleeping Faunus was still just that – sleeping.

"I'm sorry," Jaune said.

"It isn't your fault."

"But that doesn't mean I can't be sorry. Besides, I bitched and moaned about not getting into a primary combat school and all while you had it much worse."

"And it's like I told you – my suffering doesn't lessen yours, nor your mine." Blake shrugged. "For what it's worth, I do appreciate that you care."

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" said Jaune.

"You just did." Blake huffed out a small laugh. "But no, go ahead."

"Did the White Fang…the Adam one…ever accomplish anything? Or did it end up just as pointless as your dad's one?"

Wow, he really doesn't mince words. I might be offended on both of their behalf's if I hadn't come to the same conclusions myself when I abandoned both people.

"Nothing much," Blake admitted. "What they did…wh-what we did, it was mostly just self-gratification. We saw results in front of us and told ourselves we were making a difference, but that difference was limited to our immediate range of vision. Humans in Vale half a world over didn't stop discriminating against Faunus because of a storeowner in Mistral getting lynched. Honestly, Ghira's speeches probably made more of a lasting difference because they weren't censored for graphic content when they were televised."

"Ah. W-Well…I…" Jaune choked on his words for a moment. "Now that…man, how do I put this? You have me and Velvet now, so…I…we…all three of us…"

Blake had no idea what he was trying to say or where he could even be going with this. Was he trying to comfort her by saying she had a team, real friends she could count on this time around?

"I know I have you guys," Blake said, patting Jaune on the shoulder. "Thanks, friend."

"N-No. Okay, yeah, that too, but I'm trying to offer…l-like, Team Job, it's growing in influence. We have funds and we've got a steady client stream, so we would probably be okay if we tried to…I dunno. You would know better than me."

"Know what?" Blake asked, thoroughly baffled. "Jaune, what are you getting at?"

"We have a platform. We could try to use it. F-For the Faunus. I mean, we're a Faunus-owned small business with a Faunus majority." Jaune's cheeks were almost red now, and he seemed to be having even more trouble getting the words past his lips even though the message was clearer now. "If the White Fang didn't work out but you still want to make a difference…it'd be a small one, but better than no one, right?"

"How?" Blake asked, intrigued a little bit by Jaune's interest in the topic.

"You would know better than me, cuz, you know. Ex-activist and ex-terr…b-bad guy." Jaune covered his mouth with the back of his palm. "I'm really mucking up this pitch, aren't I?"

"It sounds like you might have some sort of picture in your head of what we're doing here," Blake said. "Just describe it."

Jaune opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He groaned a bit, shut his mouth, opened it up again, and repeated the process.

At long last, he managed to clear up his thoughts. "I mean, I was sort of just thinking…l-like, your issue is Faunus, and mine was primary combat schools. And, like, it's not about me, but…c-could we sponsor or host some sort of weekend-training school charity thing for young Faunus who want to be hunters? 'Team Job's Juniors' or something?"

It was a nice idea, but Blake couldn't help but poke the immediate hole in it that was too big to ignore.

"We aren't hunters, nor are we accredited. It wouldn't be enough to get them into Beacon. Setting up our own primary combat school is impossible."

Jaune shook his head. "Ren mentioned on the mission that if you get a test proctored by some dude in Vale, you can skip the actual primary combat school part and get straight into Beacon. I know it's a long shot, but…never mind."

"I do like the idea, Jaune," Blake admitted.

It wasn't so much his half-baked desire to right their shared wrongs as much as it was the idea of actually doing something that Blake liked. Sure, Team Job had been her priority for a while, but Jaune was correct in describing them as financially secure for a while.

I still care about the Faunus, but I had to put my passion for my people on hold while I ensured I could survive. Maybe now I can restart it, at least in some small way.

Her job didn't exactly have weekends, but the downtime in missions that she usually spent reading or just lazing about could certainly be put to better use.

"We'll talk more about it," Blake decided. "It needs work, but maybe we'll do something."

"It doesn't have to be a school," Jaune said. "Or even teaching. I just suggested that, but we can do whatever you want. I-If you even wanna. I just figured, you were talking about…and maybe you'd like to…and if you don't wanna, because the White Fang was too much for you, then we don't have to –"

Blake shushed him with a finger to the lips.

"Sorry," he said. "I'm rambling."

"No, be quiet." Blake's cat ears perked up. "Do you hear…sirens?"

Coming Soon: 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.

Chapter Text

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.

Chapter Text

Jaune's plan slowly began to unfurl inside of Blake's head as she sped away from Mr. Callows' house as quickly as her legs could carry her. It wasn't clear initially, primarily because about seven days or so had passed since she'd even heard about the loaf of bread in the first place, but with nothing but time on her hands to ponder it as she fled, the memories came back to her.

He challenged Jaune by stealing a single loaf of bread. It was more a symbolic gesture to justify us apprehending him than an actual crime, but a crazy dude like our client is probably big on the meaning of symbols.

Now, in place of outright failure at capturing him, I'm doing my best to recover the 'stolen' goods and undo his crime. I'd have thought it insignificant, but the violent way Callows reacted to me seizing the bread and fleeing means he must view it as some sort of loss.

And his loss was Team Job's victory, so seize the bread and flee Blake did. She didn't have to get why Tyrian was Tyrian to see what her objective was today.

The sun was only just beginning to rise, as Velvet's shift had been the morning one, and her discovery of Tyrian's abilities had kicked this whole thing off. It was around the time most early risers would wake up and begin to get ready for their commute to work or school, so the streets were still mostly empty at the moment, but they wouldn't remain so for long.

Blake had seen firsthand just how fast Tyrian could move, so she sprinted outside of the neighborhood in which he lived and moved to stealth as soon as she was into the next door business district. She knew from memory that this area was generally office spaces and corporate headquarters, and there was then a small mall in the direction she was heading.

Jaune said to get to…Rosebranch Street? I'd assume that's where the grocery store is. Shit, what was the street address? Six…seven…I can't remember!

There was no time for her to stop and think, so she just kept running. Blake would just have to find the place once she got onto the street itself.

Her mental map of the area was good enough that she could afford to take the back alleyways and keep to the shadows without losing track of where she was. Outrunning Tyrian was a fool's errand, and Blake had no doubt that with her gone, Jaune and Velvet wouldn't hold him for long. He was already on her tail by now, no doubt, so evading him would be her primary tactic here.

The black of her outfit blended into the long shadows that came with the early morning well enough, but Blake made sure to stick to winding, weaving buildings with tall faces that obscured her, just in case. All of Team Job's hope for success was riding on her. If she got captured or lost the bread, they'd have wasted a full week with nothing to show for it.

The bread itself was a handicap, to some extent, since it occupied one of her hands, but Blake wielded a one-handed sword, so she was definitely best equipped to carry it. Jaune needed his shield, and Velvet's two fists worked best when both of them were free.

As Blake prepared to round a corner in an L-shaped alleyway, a noise came from behind her, causing her to freeze. Flattening her back to the wall, she slid over towards a dumpster to hide behind and surveyed her surroundings.

I don't see anyone or anything around me. It sounded like a rough thud, the kind of noise that comes from someone being punched. Was that Tyrian, punching someone?

Blake leaned in front of the dumpster and checked that the coast was clear. If it wasn't Tyrian, she needed to move, and if it was, she probably would want to get away from him as fast as she could. Either way, her best option was to waste no time in dawdling and book it for the store.

As soon as she took a single step out from behind the dumpster, the door on the wall opposite her that led inside the building (like the one that employees would use to access the dumpster) flew open, revealing a limber scorpion Faunus.

Tyrian cartwheeled her way and kicked Blake's throat before she could act, sending her into the wall behind her.

"Clever is that girl child of black and white, but none are better built than I for the fight."

His arms were pressed against her in a flash, one of them pushing her up against the wall but the middle of her chest and the other wrestling the loaf of bread out of her hands.

"No!" cried Blake. "No! Ugh!"

His semblance, whatever it was, didn't just allow him to get past aura; he was literally turning it off in the body parts he touched. Since he had her pinned by the torso with both arms blocked by his own, she was too weak to break free.

"No!" she screamed again.

Desperate, she tried to kick him, but he brough his knees together and caught her by the shin in time to prevent her attack from gaining enough momentum to injure him.

BZZZT!

Blake felt a sudden jolt of pain in her arms and chest, specifically the areas Tyrian was touching. However, the pressure on her eased up after a second, and she was released.

"Blake!"

Jaune, his stun gun raised, stood in the doorway through which Tyrian had exited.

BZZZT!

He fired again, making the Faunus man scream out in pain.

The scorpion tail of his hooked a metal trash can by the handle and flung it at Jaune, but without the death touch of that semblance to negate his aura, Jaune brushed the hit aside without flinching.

Velvet came from behind Jaune, pushing him aside with a Hard Light war hammer in her hands that was wound up for a heavy swing, and Blake remember her role in all of this. Grabbing the bread off the street floor where Tyrian had dropped it, Blake ran off as more stun gun pulses were fired.

There was a deafening racket behind her, likely Velvet with her hammer clashing with an unarmed Tyrian, but Blake trusted her partners to fulfill their own roles while she focused on hers.

Abandoning stealth altogether, Blake now made a mad dash through the increasingly crowded streets of Vale in the direction of the market. Several passersby complained or took note of her unsafe speed as she dashed through the sideway and even the bike lane in high traffic portions of the street, but Blake had too much adrenaline running through her veins to even notice them.

She passed by the intersection of Stove Lane and San Rider Boulevard, meaning that Rosebranch Street or Avenue or whatever it was was just one over – Blake remembered the location from her own mental map of Vale.

There was some commotion behind her – quite possibly Tyrian – but it sounded far away, so Blake just kept sprinting towards the finish line. He was fast, but she had a sizeable head-start over him that would be enough to guarantee her victory. As an added bonus, the streets ahead of her were a lot less full of people right now, meaning that he was going to have to navigate the crowds.

And the Faunus is victorious! Blake declared in her head, completely aware that Tyrian was also a Faunus and also completely not caring. Hell yeah!

She'd made it, and just in the nick of time. Blake quickly confirmed on a street sign that she was on Rosebranch Street, and then –

WHAT?

The street sign, it didn't say Rosebranch! It was for Stanson Street!

"Where the hell am I?" Blake asked no one in particular.

At some point, she must've either gotten mixed around or just misremembered the directions to the grocery store. It wasn't like she went there a lot – Jaune did most of the cooking and therefore shopping for their shared household, so he frequented the store more than her.

Fuck, I messed this one up, didn't I?

Blake didn't really have much time to ponder her fate, for something struck her from behind at the base of the spine, and her legs suddenly felt too heavy to support her body. This time, she was aware that an attack was coming and rolled into the fall the shelter the gods-damned bread that this whole thing was over with her chest, not willing to let Tyrian lay another finger on it.

Hugging it to herself, she prepared for another aura-free assault, but it never came.

"Blake! We'll hold him off! Just run!"

It was Jaune. Blake looked up to see that he had wrapped his arms around Tyrian's stomach from behind and was using himself as a weight to slow down the scorpion. It came at the cost of letting himself be battered around the head by the tail, but Velvet was catching up to them.

The brawl in the streets was attracting some attention, but most people were smart enough to see the hunter-grade weapons and turn the other way. When hunters dueled in the streets, it typically meant that there was a hunter-level criminal on the loose, something a typical civilian had no desire to tangle with.

Not that we're hunters or he's a criminal, but they don't know that.

"Which way, Jaune?" Blake asked, turning herself over and crawling backwards away from Tyrian as he dragged the blond along with him. "I'm lost! Where's the store?"

"Left and – grugh – two blocks! Another left, and you'll see it!"

It was embarrassing to nearly jeopardize the mission because of her poor sense of direction, but apologizing would be a waste of time. Velvet arrived, her own stun gun in hand, and began to unload its payload into Tyrian. It was meant to take someone down in a single hit, but that was for normal folks, so a huntsman like Tyrian could mostly just shrug it off with only a slowdown.

The downside was that the tasing effect of it transferred through the human and Faunus body, meaning that Jaune was subjected to a portion of the impact. He, too, howled in pain and let go of Tyrian.

Blake didn't let his sacrifice be in vain. As soon as she was up, she was running full tilt to the right. The trio of dueling aura-users was left behind.

"N…No…wrong…m-my…my…"

Jaune was back on his feet, the impacts of the stun gun having had more of an effect on him than Tyrian or the contact hit Blake had gotten earlier, but he was trying to say something to her. Blake slowed down and looked back at him.

"What?!"

"…my left, Blake!"

Shit.

It was on him as much as it was on Blake, but she had gone in the wrong direction yet again. The downside of this slip-up was that Blake would have to get past Tyrian in order to make her way towards the right direction of the grocery store.

Velvet and Jaune were fully engaged with Tyrian, the former shooting him with her taser liberally as the latter swung his sword. Tyrian was slowed down enough by the harmful electricity that he could only just barely keep up with Jaune, and every third hit was actually landing.

Blake watched and waited, creeping closer until she could get a perfect moment to slip past them. It would be possible for her to take a long way and make a wide circle around them, but Tyrian's eyes were watching her even still, and she knew that he would intercept her if she tried it.

When she moved left, he moved left. When she moved right, he moved right. They were at an intersection in the street, the one where Blake had realized her mistake in the directions, so there was a wide range of motion for them both.

I lost to him instantly every time I even tried to fight him solo. My only advantage is the others slowing him down. If I run away from them and he shakes them, it's over.

The opportunity came when Tyrian focused a little bit too much attention on Jaune. Instead of just dodging, Tyrian struck him in the stomach with a kneecap, then clobbered his face with a closed pair of fists. As expected, Jaune was no match for the scorpion when he actually tried.

But actually trying against Jaune meant that Blake wasn't under keen observation. His inattentiveness her way gave her a chance to dash forward, leap into the air, kick off a stop sign, and flip right over Tyrian's head.

As expected, his tail darted upwards to snag her, but Blake's sword batted it away before it could snake around her ankle and pull her down. Now past him, Blake charged ahead.

Jaune's down, so it's up to Velvet to stall him. We're so close…

With Jaune's directions fresh in her head (two blocks, then another left), Blake sprinted ahead at full speed. There was nothing left to hold back for, so she pushed her legs to their limits, taking care to not lose her old on the precious loaf.

Two blocks came and went, and Blake threw Gambol's hook around a traffic light to give herself the most optimal pivot without losing any speed.

Behind her, she heard Velvet scream in pain.

It's just me.

Velvet, the last and greatest bulwark between Blake and the destructive force that was the man pursuing her like a plague, had fallen. There was nothing in between her and the end of it all.

The grocery store, the one with the in-store brand that matched the bread in her hands, came into view. Blake bounded through the parking lot as a second set of footsteps followed behind her.

And they were closing in on her.

She could see it. She could see the finish line, but the gap between them was disappearing too quickly for her to make it.

There's no help. I…I can't run away from this one.

But what other option was there? Turn and fight? Surrender? Running was what Blake did best.

I'm going to be caught.

He's going to catch me.

…but that didn't have to mean the end of it.

He was inevitably going to catch her, but she had enough of a lead that she could control how she was caught.

So Blake turned around and threw Gambol Shroud at Tyrian, holding onto the ribbon.

He caught it effortlessly and pulled, yanking Blake to the ground through the tension in her weapon. However, he was still far enough away when Blake actually fell that he wasn't touching her.

Rolling out of the way as she dropped a shadow clone, Blake got a good look at Tyrian, and she didn't like what she saw. Gone was the playful confidence that he'd carried before, and in its place was a manic look of murder. As Blake picked herself up and got back to running towards the store, she couldn't resist looking backwards at the shadow clone.

Tyrian knelt over it, bloodlust in his eyes, and his stinger shoved straight through the head with enough force to crack the pavement beneath it with a burst of some sort of noxious purple fluid leaking out into the cracks.

That would have been me. He…He actually would have killed me.

Blake pushed open the grocery store doors and fled inside, her heartrate higher than it had ever been before.

She was sweating profusely as she walked past the register, bread in hand, and her aura was probably in shambles, but for some reason, Tyrian didn't follow her in. She could clearly see him outside, eyes wide as he watched her through the glass doors and windowpanes of the grocery store.

Then, he fell to his knees, mouth ajar.

Blake rubbed her aching back in the spot where he'd delivered that punishing kick to her and kept walking, now approaching the aisles. Despite the fact that she'd just exiting a harrowing and high stakes fight mere seconds ago, the store itself was utterly calm. Gentle music played on the ceiling speakers, and a few customers milled about the shelves, entirely unaware of the chaos that had played out in the streets just outside.

There was a man in a store uniform, the green and gold vest demarcating him as an employee. Blake took a second to catch her breath, not wishing to look crazy, and walked up to him.

"Excuse me, sir."

The man turned to her, smiling the ingenuine smile all employees here wore. "How may I help you, miss?"

"I think I saw someone trying to shoplift this." She handed him the bread.

If it was a weird thing to say or do, given that she could have just returned it to the bread section herself, he made no note of it, nor did he ask how or why she'd gotten some stolen loaf from a thief. The bread traded hands, and he promised to return it to the shelves with a basic word of thanks.

Once Blake was alone in the aisle, she bent over and caught her hands on her knees. The adrenaline from before was still there, but it was receding now. Tyrian was still outside the store, weeping like a lunatic in the parking lot as customers did their best to avoid getting to close to him when they entered or exited.

We did it. I don't know what we did, but whatever it was, we did it.

Mission Failed: Capture of Tyrian Callows

Mission Complete: Bread Recovery and Return

Client Review: Arrest me, Team Job could not; my stolen goods, they got; I received the challenge I sought. All in all, five stars for their grace, teamwork, and wisdom. I'd also like to mention the youths' exemplary professionalism. They claimed victory through their efforts, making them the winner. Furthermore, I do so hope they enjoyed my home-cooked dinner. ★★★★★

Current Holdings (lien): Ⱡ 86,615

Current Holdings (assets): Job Hunter airship, 12 handcuffs, 3 taser stun guns, long range tracker and console, tent, 3 binoculars

Current Holdings (realty): Team Job office (Vale branch)

Employees: 3

Coming Soon: Visionary

As Team Job licks their wounds, Jaune's faith in himself and his leadership is called into question.

Chapter Text

Jaune felt like sinking into his couch for a month after the war they'd waged on Tyrian.

He hadn't had the worst of it by any means, with that honor arguably going to Blake for how tough her task of running had been, but that didn't mean he wasn't exhausted. The actual fight at the end had only lasted about twenty minutes, with five of those going to the Jaune and Velvet trying to stall Tyrian for Blake's great escape, ten being ascribed to their efforts to catch up to him once he'd gotten free, and the remaining five taking place during the intense fight that had followed.

The ability to go through aura might have been an incredibly dangerous one to face on the battlefield, but it actually wasn't that bad to recover from. All of the pain Jaune had endured didn't go away, but his full tank of aura meant that the bruises, broken bones, abrasions and cut skin, and other injuries he'd suffered were cleared up pretty quickly. He felt tired to his bones, but Jaune doubted he would need anything but a good night's rest.

The same couldn't be said for his teammates, however.

Blake had to go to a doctor to get a bruised rib checked out, coming from the time when Tyrian had first cornered her in that alleyway. Her aura was strong, but in her very own words, 'not as strong as Jaune's.' It actually kinda bummed him out that the only reason he was doing so well was a power not even in his control, but his own suffering wouldn't benefit Blake's.

As for Velvet, she also took a significant brunt of the scorpion Faunus' rage. It was mostly superficial stuff like cuts and bruises, as well as a sprained ankle from her having to run around so much, but she wasn't able to heal it was quickly as Jaune.

"It's the side effect of being pregnant," she explained. "I can't let my aura break, or there'll be who knows what consequences. That means I have to heal things one at a time, or sometimes even the natural, slow way."

"Should you maybe take some time off?" Jaune offered. With Blake at the doctor's and Velvet's leg bandaged so thickly that she could barely walk, he'd invited her over to their place. Ostensibly, it was so that his week-old leftovers in the fridge wouldn't go to waste, but in reality Jaune was feeling some serious guilt over coming out of the fight with the least harm to his person.

The least I can do is take care of Velvet, if she needs anything.

"Aww, fuck nah," she said, munching down another slice of Jaune's signature seven and a third cheese pizza (the third was goat cheese). "I mean, I need to recover from this past mission just like we all do, but I'm no quitter. I'll tell you when I need to stop, but until then you won't be able to pry me away from the action with a crowbar."

He understood where she was coming from there. The idea of just quitting the security consultant life (his best impression of the huntsman life) was unthinkable to him, even if only for a set period of time. Team Job was a part of Jaune, and he was a part of it; as long as he drew breath, he fully intended to make the most of his youth and live the adventurous life as long as possible.

"You got any pickles up in this bitch?" Velvet asked, sinking down as deeply into the couch as Jaune did.

Jaune pointed towards the fridge with a thumb. "Knock yourself out."

Placing both hands on her tum, Velvet blinked at Jaune with wide eyes. "Y-You'd make a pregnant, injured teenager walk all the way over there? Are you a monster?"

He couldn't help but snicker. "I guess the 'can't keep me down' attitude only applies when you aren't feeling lazy."

Getting up off the couch, he retrieved the pickles and offered them to her, as well as a fork. Velvet dug right in, even placing a few onto her slice of pizza, gulping it down in large bites.

Jaune glanced over at her, watching as she tucked in. It was kinda nice to actually have his food appreciated for once.

Blake usually eats for sustenance. I have to make something she really likes if I want her to be interested.

Velvet caught wind of his glance, so Jaune looked away.

"It's just a craving," she explained, tilting back the jar of pickles to take a sip from the juice. "You know how it is."

He actually didn't really, having been too young when his mom was pregnant to actually know how these things worked, nor had he intended for her to put her lips directly to the pickle jar.

I guess that one's a goner. Dang, I was even planning on asking her to pass one my way when she finished. But I can just get a new one with the enormous profits we raked in from the last job, which certainly weren't negative in any way shape or form.

It was the second mission that they'd completed only to go back and realize that their (Team Job's, and in this case, Velvet's) bank account had actually had a net drop from it. The price of all of the fancy gear that they'd purchased was the source of their economic downturn this time, and it had been two one-week vacations from him and Blake before that.

But now that they were fully vacationed owners of tactical gear and their own airship, it should be pure profits from here on out. Their next mission would hopefully be 25,000 lien of pure profit, minus the minor cost of Dust.

We've finally got everything we need to be real, successful 'security consultants.' No more investments really needed.

That didn't mean he was free to quit looking towards the future. With the Callows job complete, Jaune had a new vision to pursue.

"Hey, Velvet. I was hoping to ask you something."

Velvet's bunny ears perked up as she set down the pickle jar.

"It's something involving us…and I mean, you, me, and Blake us. All three."

The ears perked up even higher. Jaune could tell he had her undivided attention.

"An idea I had for something the three of us might be able to do in our free time."

"Hhuyeah?" Velvet breathed eagerly.

Okay. Jaune needed to be careful in how he phrased the idea of Team Job's Juniors to her (he wasn't married to the name, but he had nothing else to call it yet). He and Blake had been discussing her history as a White Fang member and Faunus rights activist, and Jaune had suggested that they do something to keep the spirit of progress alive. Since they were hunters in all but name, the idea of volunteering in or even opening up a training school for Faunus children (or any poor children who couldn't afford classes) had been his go to idea.

However, he couldn't really explain the full truth to Velvet, as she didn't know about Blake's White Fang history. As he'd kept her secret about the baby, he would maintain Blake's privacy with equal determination, meaning he had to justify why they were interested in this carefully.

"You know how I'm only the 'leader' of Team Job because I'm a guy and I'm a human?" Jaune asked, finger quoting the word leader. "Because of all of that?"

Velvet seemed a little disappointed. "Y-Yeah, but what does…what are you suggesting Jaune?"

It was difficult; Jaune had to make it sound like he'd only just realized that racism was a bad thing and decided he wanted to do something about it. This, this right here, this was why Jaune hated lying with a vengeance.

E̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶i̶v̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶e̶v̶e̶r̶a̶l̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶l̶r̶e̶a̶d̶y̶.̶ ̶ ̶E̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶s̶u̶p̶e̶r̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶s̶o̶n̶.̶ ̶ ̶E̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶g̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶b̶i̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶u̶s̶h̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶r̶i̶c̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶o̶n̶e̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶u̶s̶h̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶l̶e̶w̶ ̶a̶ ̶G̶r̶i̶m̶m̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶b̶l̶o̶c̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶B̶l̶a̶k̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶s̶w̶o̶r̶d̶ ̶d̶u̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶p̶a̶r̶.̶

My teammates, he decided. It's lying to the people I care about that rubs me the wrong way.

It pained him to not be honest with her, but it wasn't Jaune's secret to tell.

Instead, he resorted to the old blending of half-truths to sell the lie. "Well, I was talking with Blake about some of the discrimination she faced before Team Job formed. Did she ever tell you that she tried to get a bunch of jobs before she went into security? Well, she did, and she was turned away, but the second I showed up, we cruised right through those problems. It got me thinking…the three of us, we have resources. We have talents and skills. In between missions, we have a lot of time on our hands. Wouldn't it be nice if we, you know, did something with all that?"

Velvet cocked her head and crunched another pickle. "Something?"

"My idea was us opening up a free training school for kids who wanna be hunters but can't because of money, species, grades…whatever reason. Not gonna lie, to me personally, it does have something to do with being turned away from Beacon at the door, but –"

"Who cares why?" Velvet asked all of a sudden. Her pickle cravings forgotten, she set down the jar and sat up in her spot on the couch. "Jaune, that's an amazing idea! Oh, I feel bad for not thinking of it myself."

Jaune frowned for a second. "A-Are you being sarcastic?"

He didn't think she was, but the sudden avalanche of praise and unexpected support shook him a little. He'd been expecting his idea to be something he would have to defend with his all, and even then he would make sacrifices as the girls reshaped Team Job's Juniors into something more workable.

"What? No, no no, I'm serious. It does feel like we've been lounging between missions, and huntresses are supposed to…" Velvet sucked in her lips at her faux pas. "…good people are supposed to use their means to help others to the fullest extent. We'll need to plan it out, and I don't think I have the energy to right now, but I'm totes on board."

"Blake wasn't keen on it," Jaune mumbled. "Not immediately."

W̶h̶y̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶?̶ ̶ ̶B̶l̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶s̶a̶i̶d̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶n̶e̶e̶d̶e̶d̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶,̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶s̶c̶r̶a̶p̶p̶i̶n̶g̶.̶

̶G̶o̶d̶s̶,̶ ̶s̶t̶o̶p̶ ̶f̶i̶s̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶l̶i̶m̶e̶n̶t̶s̶,̶ ̶J̶a̶u̶n̶e̶.̶

But Velvet lavished Jaune in the validation he'd secretly been wanting.

"Blake's a leader, an organizer, and a manager," she explained. "Her responsibility is greater. She has the weight of the team's success on her shoulders, so I can understand why she's hesitant to make changes. But, Jaune, the world would be a sad, sad place if we never had dreamers like you who came up with new ways to improve it. You said before that you're only the 'leader' because you're human, but I don't see you that way. Every experience I've had on Team Job has shown me that you're just as important a boss as Blake. She's our commander, but you're our visionary. You get people, better than Blake does and certainly better than I do. There's no one I'd rather have as one of Team Job's two co-bosses than you, Jaune."

It was such a kind thing to say that Jaune didn't even know how to properly respond. He wanted to thank her in just as eloquently a speech, but nothing he could say would truly match Velvet's honeyed words, the exact phrasing of the exact words that he'd needed to hear in that very moment.

"Th-Thanks," was all Jaune ended up managing. "Thank you, Vel, seriously."

Around 9:30pm, they got a call from Blake's scroll.

"Yello?" Jaune answered.

"Jaune, if I recall correctly from your sword, shield, and armor, you're a knight. Please come slay the dragons and rescue me from the tower in which they're confining me."

Jaune was about to say something in response when he realized he had no idea what any of that meant.

Is…Is she speaking in code or something? S-word, is she being held hostage and can't talk freely?!

"Blake, what's wrong?" Jaune asked frantically. Beside him, Velvet sat up at the sound of his aggressive tone and set down her empty pickle jar.

There was some shuffling on the other end. A moment before Jaune declared a state of emergency and went to get his weapons, Blake spoke again.

"Sorry, crappy joke. The doctors are telling me I'm going to have to stay with them for the rest of the night under observation."

"Are you safe?" Jaune desperately begged. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Sorry about the knight thing, I was being coy. Not too keen on sleeping with a bunch of sickos and paying through the nose for it."

"H-Healthcare is free in Vale," Jaune said, winking towards the camera and giving the audience a thumbs up. "It was made so by the council twenty years ago."

"What did she say?" Velvet asked, leaning in to hear the conversation. "Who's Blake sleeping with? Sickos? Please advise."

Blake once again spoke in muffled tones on the other side of the scroll, presumably speaking with the doctors overseeing her treatment. "To answer your question, Arc, I'm gonna be okay. However, because aura heals faster than the body is meant to, they need to watch me and make sure my ribs don't reset in the wrong position. It's basically a big something over absolutely nothing, and I'm a little bit pissy over it, but there's no real danger. I wouldn't have opened with calling these sanitarium clerks dragons if there had been."

Jaune let out a tender sigh of relief. Velvet hadn't been the only one he'd been worrying over with his survivor's guilt, and for a moment there, he'd really been about to storm the hospital and rescue her.

"Just tonight, you said?" Jaune asked to confirm.

"Yup," Blake said. "Until the bone's back in place. A healthy aura means it should be back to normal by morning."

Based on his own experiences with aura, Jaune would've thought it much faster. He could typically heal his own wounds, minor or major, fairly quickly, with his record being the time Blake accidentally shot him at the Lake of Lost Voles. The entire hole was already closed up before her gun had finished smoking.

She says its me having a lot of aura, but I would've thought that the amount of aura would matter less to the speed than the aura control. And that's a place Blake should definitely have me beaten.

Jaune looked down at Velvet's bandaged foot.

Her as well.

Weird.

"I'll call you again when I'm clear." More shuffling came through the speaker. "YES, GODS DAMN IT, WHEN! I SAID WHEN! YOU QUACKS CAN'T KEEP ME HERE FOREVER!"

"Alright, Blake." Jaune waved to her through the scroll in spite of the fact that she wouldn't be able to see such an action. "Have fun. Oh, hey, do you mind if Velvet stays over?"

"…SNAKE OIL PEDDLERS WHO…huh? Sure, whatever. Just don't let her lay a finger on my bed, or anything in my room. Give her the couch or something. WHAT'S THAT? NO, IF YOU DON'T CALM DOWN, I'LL CALL AN ORDERLY!"

Jaune ended the call before he could be a witness to whatever crime Blake committed next.

"Well, you heard the woman," he said to Velvet.

"Um…I actually didn't." She wiggled her ears. "You had your volume on low."

"R-Right, sorry. She's fine with you staying over if you want."

"Oh, I couldn't possibly," Velvet protested weakly.

It was already dark outside, as the sun set early in this time of year, and Velvet was barely ambulatory as it was. Forcing her to walk home, regardless of her token protestations, wasn't something Jaune was going to be doing.

"Blake told me her bed has lice in it, so you can have mine while I take the couch," Jaune said.

If she's gonna be nitpicky, she can expect the slander that comes with it. Not my fault you insisted one of us sleep on the couch when there's an empty bed open for the taking, Blake.

Jaune was fortunate that he had a spare pair of clean sheets to put onto his own bed so that Velvet wouldn't be forced to sleep amongst his used ones. Piling up the bedding and pillows, he carried it all out of his room and heaped it onto the couch, then went back to his room to take out the extra set of blankets and stuff for his houseguest.

"You really don't have to," Velvet said, lagging just behind him as he transferred the grub. "I don't mind the couch."

"It's more about me not feeling like an absolute D-bag than it is about who gets which sleeping accommodation," Jaune admitted.

"Great." Velvet folded her arms. "Now I'm the absolute D-bag." Her face softened. "Thank you, Jaune."

He smiled at her. "My pleasure."

Blake hadn't said anything about Velvet not using her toothbrush, so Jaune made sure to offer it. And no, he wasn't at all feeling petty about being worried half to death by the notion that she'd been in danger after their harrowing ordeal with Tyrian.

It was probably around 10:15pm when Jaune finally finished readying himself for bed and readying Velvet's bed for her.

I know it's not actually hers, but I really don't wanna think 'readying my bed for Velvet.'

"I've got an alarm set for 8am on my scroll," Jaune said as Velvet brushed. Her face was to the mirror and her back to him, so all he could see was her reflection. "Is that too early?"

"S'actually later than I usually wake up," Velvet admitted, gargling her mouth with water and spitting but a moment later. "Unrelated, but do you wanna have sex?"

Jaune was lucky that Velvet had been the one who was brushing her teeth, because had he been in her position, he would have probably spat out the cup's worth of water. Instead, all he did was splutter like an idiot and nearly pass out in the doorway.

What? What the…oh my god, I so F-wording misheard her badly just now. I really need to get my mind out of the gutter with all that 'Velvet in my bed' stuff if I'm hearing things because of it.

Jaune trilled his lips for a few seconds to let out the air he'd been holding in his lungs and shook his head, his long hair flopping into his face. "Sorry, Vel. Ha, whew, I really…never mind. Care to repeat what you just said? I was kinda distracted and didn't catch it."

Velvet's face, or rather her reflection, was no longer brushing or gargling water. "I was wondering if you wanted to have sex with me tonight."

Jaune blinked.

She really…

He hadn't…?

What? Just what?

Velvet watched her view of his own reflection in the mirror, and Jaune realized that he needed to give her some sort of answer. But how could he? How was he supposed to answer that? What even was his answer?

"I, uh, I think I'll pass," he said unsurely. A no was the first thing he could think of, so it was what Jaune went with.

Wait, is that rude? Is spurning her offensive?

Jaune tried to think up a reason to justify saying no, but his brain utterly failed him and only came up with even worse, definitely offensive stuff. Insulting her pre-bed appearance, implying he wasn't interested in pregnant girls, falsely claiming to be gay…it would probably be better if he just didn't explain himself rather than use any of those reasons to say no.

"Alright. I'm done with the bathroom if you need it. 8am, right?"

Jaune weakly nodded as Velvet walked past him in the doorway, returning his nod with a her own, joined by a smile.

"Night, Jaune."

He hadn't brushed his teeth, used mouthwash, or flossed, as per his usual routine, but the idea of even using the bathroom after that was unthinkable, not when Velvet had just been in there.

I feel like an idiot schoolboy obsessed with cooties. But I'm not…I can't…not when she…when that was where she…

After two hours of replaying the scene over and over in his head, Jaune gave up and went to sleep on the couch with unbrushed teeth.

Coming Soon: Part of the Team

Jaune puts some distance between himself and Velvet to gather his thoughts and come up with a proper justification for rejecting her.

Chapter Text

To his surprise, Jaune was awoken not to the sound of his alarm, but to the sound of his scroll ringing.

"Bwuh?"

He'd slept rather unpleasantly, his brain having been far too active before bed to peacefully retire and rest without issue. Jaune's hand flopped around on the ground a few times before finally landing on the scroll by mere luck. Gripping it, he swiped down by mistake, hanging up the call.

"Hmmm? Darn…"

There was a pause of about thirty seconds, during which Jaune accidentally fell into a partial state of slumber once again, before the scroll rang again.

This time, he at least had the wherewithal to not decline Blake's call.

"Yo," he weakly answered, lowering the volume and brightness.

He checked the time…5:30am?

Blake, whyyyyyy…I thought we were buddies…

But apparently buddies might mean F-buddies, so maybe it was best that Blake wasn't that good of a friend. Jaune groaned.

"Jaune, it's me. They say they're gonna let me out of this hellhole, but because they boosted me with some kinda painkiller yesterday, I'm not fit to go out on my own and need to be signed out. How soon can you be at the hospital? I wanna go home."

That was odd, because Jaune wanted to leave home right now.

Jaune moaned again and rubbed his head. "I can be right over."

"No, I…don't hang up!" Her words stopped him moments before he pressed the key. "Jaune, the doctors want an actual time. They're really being dicks about this."

"How far is it?" Jaune asked. "I'll head out right away."

"Forty-five if you walk, ten by car."

"Walk," Jaune murmured. "I'll walk."

He was tired as heck, but maybe the cool morning air would be able to give him the bite in the A-word that he needed to wake up. It would also be a nice excuse to get out of this house before he was forced to face Velvet.

What did I do wrong? Why did she have to ask that? And so…so abruptly?

"Abruptly?" asked Blake. "Why did who ask what?"

Jaune realized he'd been speaking his thoughts aloud and closed his lips. He might've been worried about Blake having heard more than he'd wanted her to, if not for the fact that Jaune could barely process his own face right now, let alone Blake's.

Is it because I invited her over? Did I make the first move, and she just reacted?

"Invited…what Vel? Jaune, what are you talking about? I said she couldn't use my –"

Ending the call before he could impugn himself further, Jaune stretched his back and raised his arms as high as he could, audibly popping something in his bones or muscle. He was in his onesie pajamas, but Jaune dared not change into something more suitable given the company that was counting sheep Faunus just a few steps away in his own bedroom. Instead, Jaune just threw on his hoodie, slid on some pants right over the blue legs, and tossed his armor on just in case. He couldn't remember where he'd stowed his sword (probably the Team Job office), so he went out as it was.

The cold air was nice. A bit nippy, but not uncomfortably so, and it certainly did help get Jaune to snap to his senses.

By the time he'd gotten out the door and traversed half a block, he realized he had no idea where the hospital actually was and had to turn back to get his scroll for the direction app it had on it. The lights weren't on at his place in the windows, so that meant Velvet probably wasn't awake.

I'm really not keen on meeting her, at least until I've had some time to think about what I'm going to say.

Ducking into the house, he snatched the device off the ground at the base of the couch and absquatulated just as quickly as he'd returned.

Ok. Let's get some maps to the hospital.

Blake had been slightly wrong; walking would have been forty-five minutes when she went there, but that was during peak traffic yesterday morning. Currently, the streets were more or less empty, so Jaune could hustle and get there a little bit faster. Of course, he didn't, since time to himself, far away from his friends, was what Jaune needed most of all right now.

There was really only one thing that was going through his mind as he walked: what to say to Velvet when he got back.

I'm not going to figure out why she dropped that bomb like that, so I won't even both. I lost enough sleep last night fretting back and forth over every possibility.

The why was actually quite obvious, when Jaune thought about it. Velvet had been…

…aroused?

…bored?

…in love with Jaune?

…joking about it?

…Velvet?

Actually, the why wasn't quite so obvious.

But the point was, what really mattered was Jaune's answer. So far, he'd given her a no, but he hadn't told her why. She accepted it for now, but this was the girl Jaune was going to have to see every second of every workday for the rest of his life, and he needed to tell her something more concrete, more conclusive when next he saw her.

So, what was his answer?

He wanted to keep it at the 'no' it was currently at, but his reasoning felt flawed.

Jaune didn't want to woo Velvet because he wasn't sure he liked her that way. Sure, she was probably his co-best friend alongside Blake (being asked to choose between them would get a non-answer out of him), and he enjoyed spending time with her as they had last night before the tooth-brushing fiasco, but he wasn't interested in her romantically or sexually.

I think one of the biggest problems is that I've sort of come to dislike the idea of her partners, or more specifically how impermanent a part of her life they are. It's fine if she's involved with whoever she wants as long as it's safe and consenting, and Velvet's never had any problems with either of those two, but joining their ranks sounds too temporary for my personal tastes. I can't even count on one hand the number of guys she's tried her luck with (or gotten lucky with), and that's just been in one month with Team Job.

It wasn't that Jaune disapproved of the frequency. The problem was that he was sort of upset by the idea that he would be number seven or eight or whatever it was, and then Velvet would move on to Mr. Nine, thereby cutting him out of her life as soon as she was done with him. He didn't want to 'hit it and quit it,' and he really, really, REALLY didn't want to be hit and quit by Velvet.

Right now, Jaune was her friend, and he enjoyed that closeness and uniqueness of their relationship. If he became yet another sex partner for her, he feared that would be all he ever was to her – one more among the many, nothing special to Velvet.

If I did go through with it and…and…and know her, then I'd probably be fine with staying friends after the act, but right now, all I can think of is Velvet abruptly kicking me out upon deciding that she's done with me after we've had…relations. I know she wouldn't, and if she would, she would let me down gently – she treats her partners with decency from what I can see – but I can't shake that notion.

There were a lot of other reasons. For one thing, Jaune was a virgin and knew nothing of sex – he still felt uncomfortable even thinking or saying the word. Seventeen was, in his eyes, a bit young to be getting involved in something this heavy. Furthermore, Velvet was his employee. He wasn't even sure if her contract covered situations like this, though he expected Velvet might have put a clause in, given what he now knew about her.

I guess that's what Blake was trying to tell me by asking so often if we were together. She might have seen the signs before I did.

And that brough him to the next issue – Blake. It didn't involve her, and yet in several ways, it did. Jaune wasn't in love with either girl, nor did he suspect Blake would feel jealous of him pursuing Velvet romantically, but changing the dynamic of the team would have ramifications. Team Job would become sloped, stilted in favor of the duo that formed and left Blake outnumbered. Perhaps a relationship could work (Blake had even given them her blessing), but not the casual, on-off thing Velvet was suggesting.

Jaune had to admit, a big part of it was his own fears of seeing Velvet as less of a respectable person if he went through with her offer, even though he desperately didn't want to be that kind of guy. It was somewhat hypocritical of him, as he was well aware of her carnal ways and didn't mind when it was others, but if he was a part of it, he worried that he would start to think of her as a…a…a woman of the evening in the back of his head upon experiencing it firsthand.

I like Velvet being my companion and coworker, the slightly horny but super friendly rabbit Faunus huntress who's always good for a fight against Grimm. I'm happy with what we have. Right now, she flirts in front of me, but I haven't actually had to see anything to make me think of her as anything other than 'part of the team.'

I'd just prefer not to think of her as a person I go to for a night of cheap and easy fun, because I don't trust myself not to be somewhat judgmental. I know it's wrong, but if I slept with her and then we just agreed to move on the next day, I'd feel like I was using her, and I really don't want to get accustomed to thinking of her as someone that's to be used. Maybe it's my fault for thinking that way, and maybe it's not healthy or right, but I'd rather just not risk it.

But what about not moving on? A genuine dating relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend…would that be different than just F-wording and moving right along? Jaune wondered if making something real out of it would work better for everyone. A casual sex partner was certainly different than a girlfriend or even wife.

Except he didn't love her. Also, he was only seventeen, far too young to be considering long-term relationships. And also also, Velvet was pregnant and soon to be a mother. Good for her, but would Jaune be a father in that case? He wasn't sure he was up for that before he was even legally old enough to vote. Triply also, he had no idea if she even would agree to such a thing, and it sounded unlikely given how easily she flitted between guys.

Casual sex was just something Jaune didn't want to do, regardless of which partner it was with, but Velvet was a uniquely explosive minefield due to her closeness to him professionally. But he also didn't want a girlfriend, nor was he interested in dating her. The friendship they already shared was everything Jaune could wish for.

In short, Jaune didn't want to be with Velvet.

But how was he supposed to tell her that?

Blake knew something was up when Jaune showed up completely checked out to check her out of the hospital, but he asked her to leave it be, so she naturally pestered him relentlessly.

"What happened?" she asked, standing next to him as he filled out the forms on the hospital lobby's front counter. "Is something wrong?"

"It's fine, Blake," Jaune said.

"Is it about Tyrian?" she asked. "I know the mission didn't go that well for any of us, but your contribution to slowing him down was essen–"

"It's fine, Blake," he repeated, with more force this time. Jaune tried his best to be vehement without crossing the line and sounding angry.

No use offending two friends over this.

When Jaune and Blake got back to their apartment, Velvet was already awake and tidying things up. They hadn't left a mess or something last night, but everything was much more orderly as they returned.

"Hey, Blake," Velvet said nonchalantly when they came through the door. "How's the ribs? Doctors give you the a-okay?"

Blake had no idea that the source of Jaune's distress was the girl who was currently wiping down their stovetop with an alcohol disinfectant. "Turns out I was right the whole time, and they kept me overnight for nothing."

"Not nothing." Velvet said with a smile. "I know broken bones and things only get worse about 5% of the time, but it's worth it to take precautions just in case." She wiggled her own toes on her foot, which no longer was wrapped up in bandages. "I'm all better as well, so I'll probably be heading out."

"You might as well stay," Blake offered, blissfully unaware of Jaune's inner turmoil at such a prospect. "We'd just be meeting you at the office twenty minutes later anyways."

It was impossible for Jaune to decide whether or not Blake was his angel in disguise or a secret devil-cat for preventing Velvet from leaving. On the one hand, ripping off the band-aid was said to be easier, and then Jaune wouldn't need to stress over it any longer, be his fate to win, lose, or draw. Just the same, like any man in an unpleasant spot, the idea of pushing it off to the future always seemed preferable to having to endure tough things now, even if the net pain felt would actually be greater.

"I already showered, so I'll just keep cleaning up here," Velvet said, drying the countertop with a paper towel now. "You guys go and get ready; I'll meet you here when you're done."

"How about you wash up first, Blake?" Jaune said. If he had to bite the bullet, he may as well swallow the darned thing whole. "I'll, uh, keep Velvet company."

"I'd protest more if I weren't coated in sick people germs from the hospital." Blake kicked off her shoes and went over to her own room. "Oh, and you guys can bet that I'll be inspecting every square inch of my room for use, so if you touched my stuff, expect me to roll out the guillotines."

Jaune watched her go in, he waited for her to inspect her books, and he watched her take a change of clothes into the bathroom. Only when the sound of water running filled his ears did he finally break the silence and address Velvet directly.

She was currently using the kitchen sponge to scrub the interior lining of the sink. A particularly stick bit of semi-dried pasta had affixed itself to one spot and was being ground away into oblivion as she went over it again and again.

"H-Hey," he started.

"Hey," she said right back. "I'm guessing you probably wanna talk about last night. Specifically, what I said before bed."

"U-Uh…w-what makes you say that?"

He had no idea why he stalled for time like that. He'd spent the entire walk to the hospital clarifying his thoughts, and now was the time for him to verbalize them, clearly and fairly.

She kept cleaning as she talked, but she didn't sound distracted at all. "I know that I'm unusual when it comes to my take on sex and how it's supposed to be facilitated, Jaune. If I made you stay up late worrying about it or something, I really am sorry. I was just up for it and thought you might be too, so I decided to make the offer for some mutual pleasure. It wasn't the culmination of weeks of planning to seduce you or something, if that's what worries you."

"I…I just wanted to…I don't think my answer was sufficient."

Velvet turned around at that, her emotion level not rising one tick. "Are you changing your mind?"

"N-No. I-I mean, my answer still no, I just –"

She turned her back to him and went back after the pasta with the sponge. "Then that's all there is to it. You don't ever have to justify saying no, Jaune. Ever." Velvet shook her head, ears flapping side to side from the motion. "Some guys really think that they're obligated to bang any girl that looks at them because they'd be less of a man if they didn't. Silly, silly dopes, the lot of 'em."

"But I want you to know why," he pleaded. "I don't want you to think that I don't like you or something."

"I know you like me," Velvet said. When Jaune frantically started to object, she hastily added, "Like-as-a-friend like. The same way Blake likes me, and you like Blake. It's not offensive to turn someone down if you aren't interested. For someone who has boyfriends, boytoys, and fuckbois as frequently I do, the subject of consent is pretty near and dear to my heart."

Velvet's smile faded when she looked at Jaune. The sink wasn't finished being cleaned, but she stopped and turned around.

"I…shit, sorry. Jaune, you don't have to explain yourself. But if you want to, I'm more than willing to hear it. I do apologize if I made it sound like I don't want to listen to what you have to say. Friend, boyfriend, sex partner, or anything, your opinion matters to me, and I've no desire to shut you down. It's your call, not mine."

It was a free out. Velvet was practically exempting him from having to parse the awkward, half-formed reasons he'd come up with for saying no to her offer for casual sex, and like last night, there were no strings attached.

Jaune was tempted.

"I…"

He cleared his throat.

"I want you to understand. I think I would like to tell you how I feel and why I don't want to be boyfriend, sex partner, or anything."

Velvet finished drying her hands off on the kitchen towel and set it down. "My undivided attention is yours."

Coming Soon: Not Long for this World

Team Job reaps the benefits of their last job before finding a new one on their doorstep.

Chapter Text

When Blake came out of the shower, Jaune and Velvet were cleaning the dishes together. They were smiling and chatting, with Jaune drying the cleaned dishes that Velvet handed to them before sorting them into the cupboards.

It was a cute enough scene, but knowing what Blake knew…

They really didn't use my bed; I checked. So that means that Velvet slept elsewhere.

"How was last night?" Blake probed. She wasn't expecting them to happily announce hand-in-hand that they'd screwed one another, but there certainly were signs.

"Velvet at all of our pickles," Jaune said.

Oh my fucking gods, please don't let that be a euphemism for something.

"Oh, and thanks for letting me use your toothbrush," Velvet said. "Mighty kind o' you, Blake."

Use my…

"You bitch!" Blake instinctively reached for Gambol Shroud, only to realize it wasn't at her hip. "I'll end you!"

"I actually offered," Jaune admitted, putting away a ceramic mixing bowl. "You said nothing in your room, but it was in the bathroom."

Blake genuinely considered taking one of the dirty forks Velvet had yet to clean off and stabbing it directly into Jaune's amygdala, but the memory of accidentally shooting him and actually landing the hit stayed her hand. Jackanape or not, she didn't want to hurt him or anything.

Instead, Blake swiped one of the wet towels he'd soaked to completion when drying and whipped him in the ass with it.

"Yeech! Sahahahrry!" His laughter made it sound like he wasn't very sorry at all.

It was when Velvet laughed that Blake reminded herself to not be distracted by their playful antics. At times, Team Job felt like her baby, and she was the others' mother; that meant she needed to know how things were between them.

"So how's everyone feeling…after the Callows job, that is?" Blake asked, rolling up and throwing her towel-whip into the clothesbasket like a basketball.

"I'm recovered," Velvet said without hesitation.

"And I don't think I was ever truly impaired," Jaune admitted. "Hey, now that everyone's back up and the dishes are all done, I think we're just about ready to head into the office for work. The website doesn't have any new job requests listed as of yesterday evening, but we might have a client waiting there in person when it opens in an hour."

"I agree," Blake said. "But…just checking in real quick. Is everyone…good?"

Blake made sure to look Jaune in the eyes as she spoke. He'd been mopey on the walk back from the hospital with such blatantness that she'd assumed it a cry for help, but whatever it was had concluded while she finished her shower…when he was alone with Velvet.

At least she can't get double pregnant.

O-Or can she? Do rabbit Faunus…uh…?

"I think we're all good," Jaune said, winking at Velvet right in front of Blake. "Right, Vel?"

At least Velvet herself had the decency to not wink so transparently. She just nodded at Blake and then started putting on her shoes.

"Okay." Blake held up her hands. "Guys, I'm trying to be nice about it, but did you two…"

Blake didn't finish. She wasn't entirely sure what she was asking, and she had a feeling she would get a straighter answer if she left the two potential lovebirds to fill in the blanks on their own.

"No," Jaune said, not taking long to respond. "We talked it over, and the answer is no."

Well. Blake supposed that was that.

So...both still on the market.

Oh, fuck you, intrusive thoughts.

Velvet didn't look to beat up about it – she was actually quite chipper overall, as much as usual – so Blake decided to leave it at Jaune's admission and move on.

"Alright. Back to work it is, then."

When they got into the office, there was a gift basket on the countertop and a small, yellow piece of paper.

Blake's first instinct, one deeply ingrained from her time in the White Fang, was to hold back and shoot it all from afar, but Jaune went over and picked up both items before she could even unholster her gun. Unsurprisingly, it didn't violently explode upon contact.

This sucks. This sucks, being so distrustful and scared of my own shadow. Am I ever going to be normal? Will I ever be able to shake off the weight of the albatross Faunus the White Fang has slung around my neck?

"It's from…Tyrian?" Jaune said. "Here, Imma read it aloud. 'Dear denizens of Team Job Security, I offer you my hearty congratulation. Please accept this pouch of mischief as a token of my appreciation. Your successful defiance was a most diverting event. I do hope the gifts I offer shall aid in your concealment. Yours, Tyrian Callows.' That's the en– no, wait, there's more. 'P.S. Regarding my home, I've spoken to the police; you need not fear lawful capture and release.'"

Jaune set down the note.

"Huh."

Velvet was already digging through the plastic foil that sealed the gift basket and opening it up before he'd even finished reading the note. "It's full of stuff, you guys!"

"What kind of stuff?" Blake asked with concern. In this case, she was probably right to be paranoid, given Tyrian's proclivity for the eerie.

Great. Now he's got me rhyming in my own head.

"Uhhhh…" Velvet pulled a fake mustache out of the basket, then a police badge and folded set of clothes. "I don't even know. Surplus from a porno set?"

"Is it cosplay stuff?" Jaune asked.

"What's cosplay?" Blake asked.

Both of her partners turned and looked at her in amazement.

"I…what? What did I say?"

"Moving on," Velvet said. She finished peeling the wrapper around the basket off and was now free to take things out of the bag freely. "It's not just a police disguise. There's…There's tons of clothes and accessories in here. This is an Atlesian military uniform. I recognize it – and it's genuine!"

Blake also recognized it, though she was wise enough to hold her tongue.

Jaune reached his own hands into the goodies and began to take stuff out in addition to Velvet. "A yellow hard hat, a neon vest, a Vacuoan Ranger's outfit…"

"…a trench coat, too many sports jerseys to count," Velvet added, rummaging through half the basket as Jaune claimed the other. "An SDC get-up, a Beacon school uniform – wait, what the hell? And are these…oh my fuck, there're literal White Fang masks at the bottom!"

Blake flinched at the mention of her former organization, as did Jaune, but Velvet was so distracted by the numerous costumes, uniforms, and disguises that Tyrian had sent them.

How did he get all these?

The memory of his stinger piercing her shadow clone's skull and shattering the parking lot pavement rose to the top of her brain.

Actually, I think I don't want to know.

"It's a bit of a weird gift," Velvet said, folding all of the outfits and trying to fit them back into the basket with little to no success. "But I guess it's pretty on brand for Mr. Callows. Hmmm…Jaune, you could probably make use of these."

"Huh? Me?" Jaune looked baffled at Velvet's insinuation that he needed costumes. "Why me?"

"Well, you're our conman dude, right?" she asked. "You convince clients to buy into whatever we need."

"I wasn't really expecting to become a full-on fraud when we made this company," Jaune complained.

Velvet reached for the basket, but Jaune grabbed it by the handle before she could lay a finger on it.

"…I didn't say I was gonna turn down free stuff, though."

The kids played dress up for a while, putting on some of the costumes in the back room and then coming out like a runway model for the others to critique and/or compliment. Blake learned two things that day: one, Jaune could really strut his stuff, and two, Velvet wasn't handsome enough to pull off a fake mustache in plumber's overalls.

It felt like a distraction at first, but Blake started to actually enjoy herself after a while and eventually joined in. She'd feared becoming a sourpuss of a person, so what was the harm in partaking in a little childish fun every now and again, especially when it was amusing? No more than one of them wore any of the full body costumes that required changing at any given time in case a client came in and needed service, and Blake kept her eyes on the door, just in case.

It was an unspoken thing that none of the three of them wore the White Fang masks. Velvet knew not of Blake's past, but she wasn't the type of person to make light of an active terrorist group that regularly took lives in Atlas and Mistral. As for everything else, no holds were barred.

"Private Belladonna, reporting for duty!" Blake said, throwing up a mock salute with such overexaggerated swagger that she nearly knocked off the gaudy Atlas hat she'd put on. "Is the general anywhere nearby? My asskissing quota is dangerously low, and I fear I'll be dishonorably discharged if I cannot properly smooch his distinguished metallic posterior soon."

Jaune had on a slick, red wig that made him look like he was either a male prostitute or the finest disco dancer the world had ever seen, and Velvet was currently dressed in a firefighter uniform that looked so authentic that Blake genuinely had to wonder if Tyrian had –

Nope. Nope nope nope. I'm having fun, not being a worrywart.

"Let's see if the hard hat will fit on top of Jaune's stupid wig next," Velvet said, thrusting it into his hands.

Jaune eagerly took the head covering and placed it into the vibrant wig he was wearing. "It's so much fake hair that I'm not sure it's gonna go on…c'mon."

Blake began to clap rhythmically as Jaune tried his best to press the hard hat down, and Velvet joined her in tune. Jaune himself began to bounce the hat down, going further each time.

"Let's go!" Blake giggled. "You can…uh oh, customer."

He paused for a second and turned around to see someone off the street walking towards their door. Jaune quickly took off the wig and hard hat, handing them to Velvet. She accepted both coverings as well as Blake's Atlas hat before disappearing to the back of the room in order to hide herself and the disguises from the prospective client's view.

It was an old man who walked into their tiny little corner of Vale. He was probably among the oldest people Blake had ever encountered, and the lethargic speed of his walking reflected that. Every step he took seemed like a conscious choice. There was no cane, but he looked like he could probably use one.

Jaune rushed to open the door for the elderly man when he reached for it, earning the official leader of Team Job a thankful nod. In stepped the man, who looked like he might crumble to dust at any moment. She didn't wish to sound mean, but his skin was practically about to flop off from how loose it was, and brown liver spots speckled his hairless face.

To be polite, Blake slid the customer's chair towards him, thus also saving both herself and Jaune a good thirty second that it would've taken him to cross the distance. Team Job didn't actually need to sit behind their desk, so there was nothing to stop them from conducting their business right in the doorway.

"Mmmmthank ye, young…huuh, young lady." The man's bony hand wobbled the whole way down as he lowered himself into the chair, and the weakness in his voice struck her like a crate of bricks. Just those four words were enough to leave him struggling for breath, and he hadn't even completed two of them without gasping in.

Good gods, everything about him is frail. What could this man use a security team for? There's no way in hell he's from outside the kingdoms – flying in an airship would rattle him into a not so early grave.

"How can we help you, sir?" Blake asked.

"Would you like me to get you some water?" Jaune said.

"Mmmmmno. No, but thank ye kindly. You three…y-you two…you two are the…the hunters, rrrrigh?"

It made Blake want to drop a shadow clone and sprint away from this room as fast as she could. Telling this geezer that they weren't what he was looking for, after the struggle he'd had to even get into the door, would break her heart.

Thankfully, Jaune beat her to it. Blake could've kissed him for handling it with his own gentle tact. "We're not hunters, sir. I'm so very sorry, but we're security consultant."

"Mmmmmthat's what I…haaaah, what I meant…mmmmhunters who aren't…aren't hunters. You folks, Team…hah…Team Job. You aren't Beacon, but you…you hunt…you hunt, you three…where's the…you hunt?"

"We…We…."

Jaune was the one who spoke and trailed off, but Blake had a feeling she would need to be the one to clear this up. Her understanding of the legal loophole through which they played hunters was better than his.

"We're not real hunters," Blake said, cutting a silent Jaune off before he could finish. "We have no huntsman or huntress credentials. Therefore, we aren't huntsmen or huntresses."

"Mmmmgood. Good. I…was told, huh, there would be, huh, three?"

As if summoned by his words, Velvet came back out from the back room, clad in her typical armor and clothing. "Hey guys, I…oh. Nice to meet you, sir."

"Mmmmyes." The man's smile was frail, but confirmation that this was the real Team Job clearly left him pleased. "Good. I need your help. I want to hire you."

"Excellent." Jaune lifted himself up and half-sat, half-leaned against the desk. "We just so happen to have completed our most recent job and would be happy to enter you employ, sir. Would you please tell us about your job?"

"Mmmmmmy wife…someone killed her."

Blake's eyes widened, and so did her teammates. The old man's smile was now long gone, and his drooping cheeks curved into a look of agony. It took some effort, but he swallowed in his throat and continued on.

"Mmmmher body was lying…huhuuhh…kitchen when I woke up. Doors locked, windows shut…huuuh. Fifth floor."

In spite of her shock at the sudden seriousness of the situation, Blake felt compelled to interject here. "Sir, this sounds like a job for the police, not us."

In the greatest display of vivacity she'd seen from the old man, he bolted forward in his seat and began to shake.

"I did! I did! And…hhhngghhh…and they….hhgnnnh…"

"It's okay," Jaune said quickly, leaning down and placing a hand on the man's leg. He briefly turned around. "Velvet, could you get him some water? Please? Thanks."

Their third member disappeared back into the back room.

"Mmmmmwent to the, haaahhhh, police. They came and looked around. Then, a woman came with them. I knew her. I know her. Glynda…haahh…Goodwitch. Beacon. She told me that it, huuungh, an accident. Then, natural causes. Changed it, hhhhhhh, in front'r me." The old man patted his hands into his knees and tried to squeeze them, grunting with exertion as he did. "I know I'm old. I know…Theo was old. Neither of us were long for this world. But her neck was cut. I saw it, before they…huhhhhh…took the body. I don't want to leave it like…like…don't want to leave it."

Blake exchanged a quick glance at Jaune. He didn't look like he liked where this was going either.

Tangling with Beacon isn't my favorite thing to do, but what other choice do we have? Turning this guy away? Ignoring him like Beacon did?

Velvet came back with the water, and the old man paused his story to take slow, long sips of it. He finished about a tenth of the cup and set it down, his raspy voice somewhat replenished.

"Mmmmmthey called a, huhhh, huntress in, so I figured it needed hunters. But the hunters, their mission boards, they wouldn't…take it. I couldn't even, huh, post the details, so no hunters came. But my grandnephew, the boy lives in Jkonna. I…I heard of hunters who weren't hunters. But, hhhh, good as." He looked up at them, eyes watery. "Please. Please, help me."

Coming Soon: Don't Feel Bad

All Blake can do is try her best…right?

Chapter Text

Team Job didn't have a car, but the old man with them was such a slow walker that it probably would've taken him an hour to get back home from his own power. He was used to his own steady pace and was willing to walk, but Blake wasn't. Asking him to pick up the pace would be rude, so she instead hired a rideshare to take them there.

I wonder if we should invest in a car, the second Job Hunter. But no, it'd be a waste of money. We rarely drive within Vale, and it's only about 50 lien per ride. Cars go for much, much higher, and they require their own fuel.

Fitting a full four people into any car would be an unpleasant trip, so Jaune accompanied the client back to his apartment complex while Blake and Velvet took a second vehicle to get there.

It was an ordeal to slowly walk the old man, whose name was Gottlieb (he was old enough to have possibly even predated normal names), up the stairs, but the apartment he lived in was a low rent one and lacked an elevator or escalator, so Team Job had to wait as he ambled his way up.

"Mmmmmsorry," he wheezed, taking another step with one foot and following it up with another. "Sorry, folks."

"We're in no rush, sir," Blake. "Please, take your time."

Upon the words leaving her mouth, she sort of regretted them, as they might have implied they would be solving his wife's murder at a leisurely pace, but he took it in the spirit it was given and smiled.

"Mmmmthank ye. Thank ye."

By the time they made it up to his apartment, it was almost noon. Mr. Gottlieb offered them some food when they got in, but Blake would have felt dirty taking from him given how transparently poor he was.

This entire complex is cheap, and his furniture looks worn down. The foods in his refrigerator are mostly simple, cheap items like pasta and frozen vegetables, with no meats. I doubt he'll even be able to afford our rates.

Of course, Blake intended to give him an extreme discount here, if she even charged him at all. She would run things over with her companions first, and Mr. Gottlieb would have to be asked to keep quiet about that lest other clients started wanting the same treatment, but Team Job Security wasn't struggling for lien any longer. They could afford to be good people, and the kindly old man certainly deserved some leniency after everything he'd been through.

I can't even imagine. He and his wife were probably expecting to pass away peacefully in one another's arms – to be violently killed like that so close to a natural end to her life is simply horrendous.

After briefly perusing the man's inexpensive accommodations and getting a feel for the place, Blake quickly checked the front door and windows. Mr. Gottlieb had said they'd been locked, but she wanted to have a look just in case.

The door was the only point of ingress or egress, and while the paint was chipped and the wood flimsy, the deadbolt on the front looked to be one of the only functional objects in the entire neighborhood. Perhaps it could have been forced – Blake imagined any member of Team Job could push open the door – but that would leave it broken and splintered. As there was no such sign of damage, that meant there had been no unwanted houseguest pushing their way in.

Velvet was waiting for her at the window.

"I figured I'd go ahead and check it," she explained. "He was telling the truth – we are on the fifth floor. Gods, it must be a nightmare for him to go up and down every time he wants to –"

"Velvet."

"Sorry. There's no lock, but there doesn't need to be one. It's just a sheer wall down, with no fire escape or convenient ivy to be climbed. If someone, I dunno, had an ice pick and spelunking gear, they might be able to get in, but I really doubt it."

"Good work," Blake said. "Let's have a look at the kitchen."

Jaune was with Mr. Gottlieb in the room where the crime itself had happened, getting the story from him. While they spoke, Blake listened in while Velvet patiently waited on the sidelines.

"…wasn't even allowed in…huhhh…until they'd…I can't remember their words. I thought it was an active, haaauuhh, crime scene. I let them collect her. But then they said it was nothing. It…It was not nothing! Hhhhnnggggh…"

"I'm so sorry for your loss, sir." Jaune helped the man over to a chair in the dining room. It was out of the kitchen itself but still close enough to see what was going on inside. "My team and I will take a look around, if you don't mind."

He nodded. "Mmmmmgo ahead."

Whatever the police and Goodwitch had done, they'd done it thoroughly. There were no signs that a person had died in this room just four days ago, around the time Team Job was still staking out Tyrian's powered-down household. Blake looked over the floors for anything that could be a clue – left behind items from the killer, blood stains, scratches from nails to indicate Mrs. Theo having fought back – but found nothing.

It's actually rather clean. I don't want to think that Beacon was covering something up, but if they did find evidence they didn't like, I'd imagine it would look something like this afterwards.

Velvet took the cabinets while Jaune's eyes ran up and down the walls and ceiling, but their investigations came up just as blank as hers.

"You didn't see anything?" Blake asked her teammates when they'd all finished – her first, then Jaune, then Velvet.

"No dust on any of the walls," Jaune noted. "But there was some on most other surfaces in the house."

So it had been cleaned…but was that truly an indication of a conspiracy? Or had it merely been police kind enough to remove the blood of an old man's wife from his household so that he didn't have to witness it?

But why would they call Beacon?

"I didn't see anything either," Velvet said. "B-But, I'm gonna be honest here, I don't really know what I was supposed to be looking for."

"Neither did I," Jaune admitted bashfully.

Truth be told, Blake wasn't a crime scene investigator either. If there was something obvious like a name carved into the tiles or a droplet of dried blood, she'd recognize that, but her detective game wasn't particularly strong.

We could look up how to investigate on our scrolls, but then we'd be no different than any old idiot who has an internet connection. Mr. Gottlieb hired us – Team Job, a band of youngish freelancers – for a reason. We're hunter-adjacent when it comes to combat, but we don't have the same limitations and ties to the institution that all of our peers do.

"We don't know what happened here, but someone in the police force had the bright idea to call in Beacon's top deputy," Blake pointed out. If they couldn't find the bloodied murder weapon they were looking for, perhaps they could reason why it had been removed. "What could they have found about a body with its throat slit that would warrant bringing in Glynda Goodwitch herself?"

"A Grimm?" Jaune suggested. "No, that can't be right. Aside from the fact that it would never kill just one person, there's no way it would wind up in some rent-controlled housing complex." He lowered his voice. "Plus, it wouldn't slit someone's throat; it'd bite it out whole."

"It's more than that," Velvet said pensively. "You guys wouldn't know, but hunters typically only get involved for extremely dangerous or critical police cases. Normally, if there's a risk to police officers' lives, a consulting huntsman or huntress is called in, not the deputy headmistress of Beacon herself. Like, for instance, a gun-wielding maniac would be stopped by an aura-users with far greater ease than they would have been by a squad of squishy police." Velvet stroked her chin and glanced through the open doorway at Mr. Gottlieb, who was resting his eyes. "But why Miss Goodwitch? I don't know. They called in the literal best they had, the best the world has – even Ozpin isn't rated as high for combat, and he's legendary."

"And I'm guessing that covering up the truth isn't also school policy?" Blake asked.

Velvet didn't seem too happy about the accusation Blake was making, but even she had to admit there was something fishy about this.

"I guess we know it's a really dangerous criminal then," Jaune said. "And, uh, maybe Beacon is trying to stop people from panicking? But that stuff doesn't really help us figure out who killed Mrs. Theo."

He wasn't wrong, but Blake didn't exactly hear a suggestion coming from her partner. To be fair, she didn't have any either.

"Velvet…did any of your classes tell you how to investigate a crime?" Blake asked.

"Not one," she said with an unhappy shake of her head. "All I could think is for us to interview the neighbors? Perhaps they heard something…but that came from a TV show I watched, not some hidden huntress knowledge."

"It's worth a shot," Jaune said. "We're stumped otherwise."

The apartment complex in which Mr. Gottleib lived reminded Blake a lot of some of the cheaper motels she'd seen. It was wedged in between two mid-rise office buildings, one of which Blake wasn't entirely convinced was even in use due to an unfixed, broken window on the third floor. Though there were alleyways on both sides of the apartment complex, the actual building itself was only accessible from two entrances, which faces the opposite streets that boxes it in.

The apartment complex itself was a hollow square shaped building with a roofless central common area in the center, and the apartments were all built surrounding it. To enter, one would have to either unlock the front gate or be buzzed in, at which point they would be able to walk through a breezeway into the central area.

No people lived on the first floor – only the leasing office, some maintenance spaces, and electrical rooms would be found there. There were two sets of stairs, one on the left and one on the right, that led up to each floor. The doors of the apartments were accessible via open-air walkways that went along the inside, meaning that anyone could go right up to the door of any apartment as long as they were past the gate.

The next-door neighbor of Mr. Gottleib to his right didn't even answer, even though Blake could hear his footsteps coming from within to check to peephole. They had no legal authority here to force whoever it was to answer their questions, however, and Blake really didn't even know how much they expected this to accomplish other than to cover all bases. Thus, whoever was behind the door was spared Team Job's wrath.

On to the next one, I guess.

The left neighbor actually did respond, though. A middle-aged woman came forth, probably about half to two-thirds of the age of her decrepit neighbor. She answered the door wearing a bathrobe with a yapping miniature poodle in her hands. Blake had to hold back the hisses that instinctively tried to escape her lips, and she pushed Jaune forward to handle this.

"Hello? Can I help you?" asked the woman.

"Hello, ma'am. My name is Jaune Arc, and I'm a member of Team Job Security. Your next-door neighbor, Mr. Gottleib, has partaken of our services in order to investigate the recent –"

"Oh, I know all about that," said the woman, sorrow taking her face. "A simply dreadful business. I wasn't close with them, but Theo and I exchanged recipes, and she occasionally cared for Ralphie here when I went on vacation." The woman stroked her noisy-ass dog's neck. "I'll help in any way I can."

"Thank you very much." Jaune cleared his throat. "I would like to clarify – my colleagues and I represent the independent security firm Team Job Security, and thus you have no legal obligation to answer any questions we ask. We are not police officers, nor do we have their authority."

"And I'd like to clarify that I'll help in any way I can," said the woman.

She stepped back in the doorway and turned her back to them, and it took Jaune walking in after her for Blake to realize that the action had been intended to invite them inside. Blake filed in after Velvet was already through.

The woman led them to her living room and remained standing, as there weren't enough seats for them all.

"Now, then. Mrs.…"

"Dorean," said the lady.

"Mrs. Dorean," Jaune repeated, smiling as much as was acceptable for such a grim topic. "There isn't much for us to go off of due to the crime scene in question being so…cold. Furthermore, the police have…"

"They took poor Theo's body," groused Mrs. Dorean. "And they say they won't return it to Gottleib for a funeral."

"We were wondering if there might be anything you could tell us that would give us a direction to begin in, frankly," Jaune said. "Anything you heard the night of, any knowledge of enemies your neighbors might have had…whatever you could tell us, it would be of great help."

Mrs. Dorean bit her lip. "I'm…I'm afraid I simply have nothing. I slept soundly that night, and neither Gottleib nor Theo antagonized anyone to my knowledge. I wish I could give you some clue, but I…I have nothing."

Jaune just nodded. "I understand, ma'am."

"W-Will you be able to…"

"Most likely not," Blake said. "It's simply so long passed that we have virtually nothing to work off of. Maybe if we'd been here earlier…"

It probably wouldn't have made a difference, as Team Job wasn't formally trained whatsoever on how to solve a murder case, but nothing Blake could offer would ease these folks' pain, so perhaps a comforting white lie might.

"I'm so sorry I'm not more help," said Mrs. Dorean, twiddling her thumbs uncomfortably. Her lower lip wobbled slightly. "Poor Theo. Oh, poor, poor Theo."

Jaune took a step back. "We'll, ahem, see ourselves out."

"Mmmmmyou can't?"

Blake felt like such a coward for leaving it to Jaune once again to break the news to Mr. Gottleib. The knowledge that he was better at easing people into it did little to quell her guilty conscience.

It's better for everyone this way, if he breaks the news. I just happen to be a part of everyone.

"I'm afraid we can't, sir."

"Understand," he rasped. "Damned hunters…cleaned out the evidence. Damned…damn them. Damn them all."

Velvet obviously didn't appreciate that sentiment, but Blake couldn't find it in herself to be bothered by her dropout huntress employee's bruised ego. Beacon was at fault here, and this old man's anger at the profession that had heartily screwed him over was 100% justified in her eyes.

"All fees are waived," Jaune said. "We were unable to complete our mission."

"Mmmmmmif anything changes, huuuh, and you think you can do it, huuuuah, I'll pay you double. Triple."

"I'm sorry to tell you that that's unlikely." Jaune placed his hands behind his back. "But I personally promise you that if we have any leads, we'll come right back here, and we won't stop until they're exhausted, or the culprit is brought to justice."

Mr. Gottleib's eyes shut, and his head lulled up and down without stopping. When it became clear he had nothing more to say, Team Job excused themselves.

"That was unpleasant," Velvet said as soon as they were out of the apartment complex. "Remind me to never take on a job we have no experience on again."

"Seconded," Jaune said. His face buried itself in his hands. "Gods, I really wish we could've done more."

"Sometimes, things just don't work out," Blake tried to say, but the sentiment wasn't heartfelt.

Had this been a mission where they'd simply failed, that would have sucked, but at least then they could say they'd tried their hardest. In this case, they hadn't even been able to try.

We were asked to come and investigate, and we did just that. There were no clues, and we didn't charge the guy. Aside from giving him false hope just by existing, I don't think we did anything wrong. At the very least, there was nothing we could have done better.

It was just a bad scenario for everyone. Mr. Gottleib was an old man, and Blake expected that he would be joining his wife in the next life within the next ten years at the very longest. For him to have to live with the brutal way that she'd passed, and to never know why or how…

I don't know what I'd do if mom or dad or Jaune or Velvet were murdered like that, let alone what I'd do if justice completely failed to take place. I guess I should just be thankful that my own loved ones are all still alive and well.

Team Job had no other visits for the rest of the day.

Blake waved goodbye to Velvet and locked the office. No profit today, but no loss.

She ate some of Jaune's home cooking, but it was tasteless in her mouth.

After he'd retreated to his room for the night, Blake spent three hours awake mentally going over everything she'd seen in her head. Mr. Gottleib had said he would welcome any new developments, and Blake took that to heart.

She reviewed every sight, every sound, every sensation she'd experienced upon walking into that apartment complex. She walked back up the stairs in her mind's eye, running through each memory she again and again to check if there was anything suspicious about it. She checked the doors again, and she heard Velvet describe the windows a second time.

In the end, she came to the same conclusion. There was simply nothing. No clues, no leads, nothing.

The next day, Mrs. Dorean was waiting outside their office when they arrived to open it up. As they got closer to her, Blake made out the sparkle of withheld tears in her eyes.

"Ma'am?" Jaune said. Blake let him speak first, like always. "Can we help you?"

"Gottleib was murdered last night," she said.

APARTMENT COMPLEX LAYOUT: 

Coming Soon: CSI, Vale

Maybe Jaune might be able to do a little bit better at detective work when the crime scene is as fresh as a daisy.

Chapter Text

Unlike yesterday, where Jaune and the gang had to hire a rideshare just to get there, Mrs. Dorean was fully ambulatory and could walk with them back to the apartment complex. On the way, she explained the morbid circumstances of her visit.

"I made hotdish the night before to give Gottleib, as a way to alleviate his stresses so he could focus on…on…on Theo. I went over early in the morning to hand it off to him, but he never answered the door. I kept knocking, and I know he's so…I knew he was so old, and he had so much to stress over. I thought he was…well, that's beside the point. The doors at our place open up even if you don't have the key if you can jostle them at just the right angle, so I let myself in an found him there."

"And then you came to us?" Jaune asked. He could see the reasoning, but at the same time he hoped that the responsibility of solving this case wasn't going to fall to them. Team Job really had little to no idea what they were doing here.

"No. I…I called the police. I had to – it's a crime to not report it, and I thought they might have been able to able to help me save him. But they had me check his pulse, and…" She brushed aside a tear. "…he was gone. Murdered, the same way as his wife."

Jaune didn't want to pat her shoulder, feeling it may have been too familiar. "I'm so sorry, ma'am."

She shook her head and stared back at Jaune with what he least expected – a smile.

"But I'm not stupid. I'm no fool. The police took five minutes to get there, so I photographed everything, and I mean everything. Last time, with Theo, they hid the truth, but I have everything documented on my scroll. The body, the scene, the doors and windows…everything." She let out a rickety breath and shivered. "It was horrible to have to walk around Gottleib and Theo's house with him just laying there, but the last thing he wanted in life was Theo's killer stopped, and you lot are my best…my best real chance at getting justice out of this."

Jaune imagined that she was probably right on that one. The old man knew he wasn't long for this world and had accepted it, based on how he'd spoken, and he seemed far more passionate about his wife's murder than extending his life by taking things easy. Walking to their office might have shaved years off his life, but he did it just the same.

This time will be different, Jaune vowed. We're not too late. We'll actually be able to help this time.

When they got back up the stairs, Gottleib's apartment was cordoned off by yellow police line, the words Do Not Cross – Police Line repeated again and again on loop.

"They took my statement before you got here and let me off," said Mrs. Dorean, guiding Team Job away from the stairwell towards her apartment. "That golden-haired lady is back, the tall jezebel with the whip."

"Miss Goodwitch?" Velvet asked. "She uses a riding crop, not a whip."

"Is that so?" Their host nodded. "Her, then. Goodwish."

Policemen and policewomen were swarming about the apartment like ants on a pile of sugar, but none of the residents of the complex had actually approached their taped off area, so none paid much mind to four more onlookers who kept their distance. Team Job stayed around the stairwell, giving them sufficient visibility of the crime scene without alerting the police to the fact that they were interested.

The doorway to Mr. Gottleib's apartment was still open, as police were going in and out of that area, but Jaune couldn't see anything of value.

He still had a fairly decent mental map of the place, though – pretty much perfect, in fact. "Where did he die?"

"He was lying facedown on the floor of his bedroom," said Mrs. Dorean. "They told him Theo must've cut her neck by accident on a kitchen utensil, but I somehow doubt two folks made the same mistake in the same week – even though I'm sure that's what they'll tell us."

From his current viewpoint, Jaune couldn't make out the bedroom, nor would he be able to if he looked from a different angle. There were too many rooms and walls in the way to give a direct line of sight from the outside directly to where the deceased couple had been sleeping.

There's no way they'd let us in. Two of us are only seventeen, and we have no credentials among the three of us. Maybe if I rolled a natural 20 on luck and had brought on of Mr. Callows' policeman costumes, but I didn't think to bring them.

"Yo, Dorean."

Team Job and the woman in question looked away from Mr. Gottleib's apartment towards the voice that had called them. There was a young, dour-looking man, probably Velvet's age or greater by a few years, who'd approached them. He was heavily hunched over, and his hands were stuffed in the pockets of the light-pink shorts he wore.

"Dennis?" she asked. "Oh, Team Job, this is Dennis. He lives at the apartment. Dennis, these are the folks Gottleib hired to investigate yesterday."

"Mm-hmm. I heard." Dennis averted his eyes to the floor with an almost practiced ease. "Just wanted to say…Gott and Theo's other neighbor, the one on the right. They found his body while you were out."

"Good gods," said Mrs. Dorean.

Velvet's hands rose to cover her mouth. "Holy mother of the Grimm."

Jaune glanced over…and true enough, the next door over was open as well, with a regular flow of police entering as well. He hadn't noticed it in his fixation on the first victim, but it probably had been this whole time.

Dennis just nodded, hunching his back even more, before stalking off to a nearby door. "Though you and the rent-a-cops might want to know."

"Do you know anything about this victim?" Blake asked Mrs. Dorean. "The second man?"

"No," she said quietly. "Not even his name."

Jaune and Blake had taken their witness/new client aside to one of the corners of the walkways to interview her while Velvet looked into the doorway of the second apartment from all angles. The new apartment didn't have the same floorplan as the first one, and there was a slim chance that Velvet, with her high quality hunter-gear camera, might be able to catch sight of a clue that they hadn't been able to get from the first house. She was photographing from a distance.

I bet they think she's from the press, given the style of camera she has. Well, let them. Better that than interloping huntsman frauds.

"He never opened the door when others were around." She glanced both ways and leaned in, as though she needed to tell some great secret. "Between you and me, everyone thinks he's a drug dealer, or something shady like that. Dennis…well, you saw him. He might have been a buyer from that man."

She paused for a second, then her eyes lit up. "That isn't to say he deserved…f-forgive me. All of my neighbors are dying around me, and I'm a little upset about it."

Jaune imagined she would be. She might very well be next, assuming the killers going in a line.

Wait a second.

Why would the killer be going in a line?

Why would they kill the occupants of both apartments?

Murders usually had motives – theft, revenge, racial hatred, or other such reasons. But if whoever was responsible here had such reasons for the elderly couple, why would that reason extend to their sketchy neighbor who had seemingly nothing to do with them aside from sharing a wall?

"I assume there's no reason you could think of why someone would like to kill the other neighbor?" Jaune asked.

As expected, Mrs. Dorean shook her head.

Killing numerous, unrelated people one after the other…it sounds like this might be an axe murderer or something, some kind of serial killer. That might explain Beacon's involvement – they think this is something that'll happen again, and hunters are best suited for handling someone as bloodthirsty as this. Crap, Team Job is really punching above their weight here.

But how would Beacon know that from the first death?

"How about we see those pictures?" Blake asked. "Maybe they'll give us an idea of what to do next."

Jaune hadn't been too keen on that before. Team Job had implied they might've been able to solve the murder of Theo had they been there earlier, and now they were there earlier. With no detective skills under his belt, he feared he would be outing himself as a liar, but that seemed trivial now.

This is about more than our reputations.

Mrs. Dorean handed Blake her scroll, opening up the gallery.

"I'll be happy to hire you folks, if you need it," she said upon giving away the scroll. "I can afford whatever rates you charge.  I have money, saving."

"…let's discuss that later," Jaune said.

He wasn't sure how comfortable he felt taking this woman's money after three murders had already taken place, but being actual hired detectives as opposed to onlookers with no stake here might be better for them. Either way, it was a consideration for later.

"Hey! Hey, it's you!" called a voice that Jaune only just sort of recognized. "I didn't know you lived here."

Looking up, Jaune locked eyes with a policeman who stood across from him on the other side of the walkway. In addition to the voice, the face of the man also looked familiar.

It took a few seconds for Jaune to recognize him.

He's the guy outside of Tyrian's place. S-word, he knows me as a construction man or something! Oh, serious S-word!

Jaune nodded and waved to the man, hoping that it wasn't going to amount to anything…and it didn't!

Oh thank the Brothers, he's turning away.

Evidently, seeing a familiar face wasn't an excuse for a police officer to step away from his official duties on the scene of a double homicide. Jaune wasn't thankful for that, but it probably saved him a lot of trouble.

The man went back into the apartment of Mr. Gottleib.

That was a close one.

"Jaune," Blake said curtly.

"Hmmm?"

"Goodwitch is looking our way."

Blake handed Mrs. Dorean her scroll back as the elder huntress came their way. "You should probably go back to your apartment, ma'am."

Jaune had no idea if it was for the woman's protection or to avoid her witnessing Team Job having to face the woman who knew they were frauds, but the lady scurried back to safety with no objections. Apparently, the specter of Goodwitch was just as intimidating to her as it was to them.

To Mrs. Dorean, she's little more than a corrupt huntress covering up the murder of next-door neighbors. Not much room for admiration there…

Jaune looked over and saw that Velvet had her back turned to them and was currently facing the wall. Her head was tilted at a way that obscured her face to the police and the professor coming towards her teammates, but Jaune could still see her eyes darting his way.

He shook his head lightly and nodded towards the apartment.

Just keep trying to see what you can, Vel. You don't need to face your old teacher today if you don't want to. Leave this to us.

"Greetings, students," said Goodwitch.

"We aren't students," Jaune said back before he could think.

Goodwitch frowned, but she had nothing to say in response to Jaune's true statement. Neither Jaune Arc nor Blake Belladonna had ever truly attended Beacon, so they weren't students of hers.

The true huntress folded her arms, riding crop in hand. "I'm afraid this is an active crime scene, and I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"We were invited…hired, that is, by one of the complex's residents to investigate," Jaune responded. "And at no point have we interfered with police investigations."

"We've steered quite clear of the police tape," added Blake, for good measure.

"Be that as it may, I'm afraid we cannot have children thinking they're permitted to play hunters when you have the potential of getting in the way of real authority's work. You have no business being here."

Jaune checked quickly with Blake, getting a look of approval for him to take the lead.

Alright, then. Time to shine.

"Ma'am, we were hired by Mr. Gottleib before he passed away, and his neighbor – his surviving neighbor, that is, has –"

"Immaterial." Goodwitch glared down at Jaune with a far sterner look than he was used to. Her disapproval of them back at Beacon quailed in comparison to this. "This is a private apartment complex. Members of the public are not permitted."

"As I said, we are here on behalf of our client, who has asked us to –"

"Mr. Arc."

Jaune struggled not to break under her bespectacled gaze. "…asked us to be present. We're here legally, ma'am."

"Your pretend company exists because the headmaster is gracious enough to let it." The glasses slide up her nose without her touching them. "Do not test me."

"I'm afraid that's untrue, ma'am." Jaune reminded himself that Goodwitch had no actual grounds to arrest him, for antagonizing her like this felt like asking for trouble. Still, it wasn't like they could just back down because Beacon wanted them to. "Furthermore, we haven't interfered with this investigation, nor have we entered any area we aren't permitted to."

"Alright, I've heard enough." Jaune found his body suddenly frozen solid. "You're leaving."

Panic took in as he struggled to move his arms and legs, but the limbs felt like they were encased in a thick layer of cement. It only got worse when he tried to move his mouth to protest and found himself unable to.

I…I can't breathe!

Though his head was stuck in its current position, his eyes could still move within their sockets, and he looked to Blake for aid.

She was just as paralyzed as he was. Not a muscle in her body seemed to be moving; the eerie sensation honestly reminded Jaune of looking at a photograph.

The world suddenly dropped down, and Jaune realized he was being lifted in the air by Professor Goodwitch's semblance. "I will deposit you outside on the streets, and you may consider yourselves under arrest if you attempt to force entry a second time. I urge you not to test me, students."

Jaune could barely even perceive the trip downstairs, for he was more focused on regaining his ability to breathe. After ten seconds of agonizing failure to inhale or exhale, Jaune realized he could passively let air go up and down his nasal passage if he did his best not to strain and just relax instead.

The world bobbed up and down as they descended to the ground floor and out the breezeway. Jaune recognized each upward and downward movement as a step Goodwitch took on the steps down, but his comprehension of anything else was severely limited by his inability to move his head and by the dizziness that came with having a completely stationary, unwilling body.

"Good day," the blonde-haired woman said, carefully setting them down telepathically on the sidewalk. Both Jaune and Blake gasped for breath as she went back into the apartment complex, shutting the main gate behind her.

"Gods, what a bitch," Blake said, struggling for air.

Jaune would have agreed with her if he weren't nearly on the verge of passing out. He'd had a few close calls, especially when the sudden cessation of movement had come as a shock and he'd still been adjusting to it.

For whatever reason, perhaps better aura control, Blake was able to get back up on her feet faster than he could, but she helped him once she was.

"I'll buzz us in," Blake said.

Jaune shook his head. "I'd be amazed if Goodwitch hadn't declared martial law over the doorbell buzzer. And even if Mrs. Dorean does let us in, there's no way we can force Goodwitch to let us stay."

"But she has no legal right to keep us out!"

Jaune shook his head sadly. "You're wrong, Blake. Her legal right to keep us out is that fact that she's physically able to with that semblance of hers, and the fact that the police and justice department will side with the deputy of Beacon over two crooks any day. It doesn't matter that we didn't cross the police line – she'll arrest us for a vague charge like obstructing justice or wasting police time and crush us in court."

Blake growled and kicked her shoe into the pavement on the street. "Fuck! It's just like with the White Fang – all we did was protest in the early days, and they'd arrest us for 'inciting!' Gods, I fucking hate hunters."

"Careful with the namedropping," Jaune suggested, unaware of how many passersby might be listening in or whether or not a police officer might suddenly exit the building at any moment and overhear them. "Also, I know now isn't the time, but it's not hunters that are at fault. Goodwitch herself is the B-word." Jaune imagined Velvet wouldn't appreciate her peers being blanket-insulted by Blake, not after the row they'd had last time over the same issue.

"Fucking Goodwitch," Blake swore. "Fucking Ozpin, probably telling them all how we're dangerous or rebellious or something."

Blake certainly seemed rebellious right now, but that was probably something to do with the fact that the possibly illegal use of a semblance had just been inflicted on her. Of course, Goodwitch could just say they were being rowdy or failing to comply to justify herself. Vigilantism, even, if she wanted to put their entire company on trial in addition to any of the three of them.

Any vague explanation would be enough to get an arrest warrant in our names, given that a lot of laws leave some leeway when it comes to detaining potential criminals. Team Job is too small to win against all of Beacon and their close allies in the justice system, even if we're in the right here.

Velvet came down with her camera about fifteen minutes later. Jaune and Blake were waiting for her across the street on a public bench when she arrived.

"I…I stayed and documented it as long as I could without drawing too much attention to myself. If I could have gone back to Mrs. Dorean for her scroll, I would have, but the police got squirrelly when Goodwitch kicked you out, so I –"

"It's fine, Vel," Jaune said.

It wasn't like they were going to be getting very far on this case if the hunters were determined to exclude them from it and the entire building it was in.

"I did get some good pictures. I think there are even some bullets in one?"

Team Job gathered around Anesidora, which doubled as a normal camera with an exceptionally fine lens when the moment called for a non-weapon photo.

Due to the fact that Velvet had to stay significantly far away from the door to avoid being detected as an interloping member of the heinous Team Job, her range of photos across the inside of the house was limited. Still, what she did document was high quality.

"Those're definitely rounds," Blake said, describing a photo of said items on the ground with a small metal plate next to it in what appeared to be a wooden-floored living room area. The number nine was printed into the plate.

"It's an evidence marker," Velvet explained. "They identify it with a fiducial so that they can recognize it later when comparing to the photos. That means they consider those bullets important."

Leaning in for a closer look, Jaune realized something rather odd, in his opinion.

"They don't look at all like the bullets Gambol uses," Jaune noted.

"That's because they're normal bullets, the kind non-hunter firearms use," Blake explained. "You can own a gun with a permit in Vale, but it can't fire explosive ammunition. That'd be too much."

"Could this be the bullet that killed our victims?" Jaune asked.

"Unlikely," Velvet said. "There's no blood. Plus, we had two necks cut. Um, Blake…"

"I noticed it as well."

"Noticed what?" Jaune inquired, starting to feel like an idiot for how much he needed explained to him.

"The bullets are crunched up, meaning they hit something hard, like a metal wall or a slab of concrete," Velvet said.

"But they're in the middle of the room, with nothing solid around them at all." Blake pointed to the picture. "See? All of the walls are wooden, or even weaker."

"So…"

Jaune tried to reason it out in his own head, hoping that he might not need to have it explained to him again.

The bullets hit something solid, but it was in the middle of the room.

They weren't used to kill the victim…that means, maybe…maybe the victim used them? He tried to defend himself, but he missed?

Beacon was here.

Jaune's breath hitched in his throat.

Or maybe he didn't miss. Maybe he shot his attacker, but those bullets did nothing to stop them. Maybe they bounced off of the killer and dropped to the ground without accomplishing a darned thing.

"F-word me," Jaune said, realizing the same conclusion Velvet and Blake had come to long ago. "The serial killer has aura."

Whoever had done this was a hunter.

Coming Soon: Henhouse

There's a fox loose in the neighborhood, and it's up to the guard d̶o̶g̶ cat to stop it.

Chapter Text

Team Job received a scroll call from Mrs. Dorean later on in the day. They'd retreated back to their office to regroup and take stock of themselves, and it was getting late in the evening when the call came in.

"The police are gone now," she said immediately upon Blake answering her scroll. "But they locked off both apartments, and I can't get in even with the…even by jiggling the door."

"Okay," Jaune said, speaking for them all. "We'll be right over."

"Um…there's some more as well."

"Anything you can tell us that you witnessed during our absence would be appreciated," Jaune said. "As you may have expected, we were barred from entering by Glynda Goodwitch and rendered unable to aid you."

"Oh, I know. I saw it happen." The woman cleared her throat. "The…The police are refusing to give any details about the deaths, but they say that we…that's the residents of the apartment complex…that we should move out. If we stay, they won't offer us any police protection, and it'd be at our own risk."

"We can be there in ten minutes," Jaune promised.

"I…I appreciate it. But I'm…gods, I feel like such a coward." Her voice wavered as she spoke. "I'm not brave enough to stay. I'm going to stay at my sister's house until…well, I don't rightly know how long. A-and…a-as for hiring your services…"

"It's okay," Jaune said soothingly. "We understand."

Blake wasn't sure she agreed. If they weren't being hired by a resident of the complex, they had no claim to be there, legally speaking. That might not have normally stopped them, but the police were specifically on the lookout for Team Job interfering with this particular case. It would make things a lot more difficult if they actually chose to be vigilantes.

But she couldn't blame Mrs. Dorean for ducking out when things got tough. A hunter she was not, and if there was someone going through the apartments one by one with murderous intent, she may be next on the chopping block.

"I'll…if you're still interested, I'm going to be packing for the next half-hour or so," she said. "I'll be leaving then, but…supposing I leave the gate open on my way out…"

Jaune was about to answer – probably an immediate yes, the goodhearted fool that he was – so Blake answered right over him. "We'll let you know."

Both he and Velvet stared at Blake with shock, but Jaune recovered after a moment. "Thank you, ma'am. We wish you safety, wherever you choose to be."

"I'm so sorry, children. I wish this could have gone better for everyone."

Blake pressed the end call button.

So do I…

The rest of the team immediately turned on Blake as soon as they were able to.

"We need to help those people," said Arc. "Not all of them have places to move out to, if the quality of where they lived is any indication of their economic circumstance."

Blake had to admit, he was probably right there. The well paid hunters of Beacon probably didn't know how difficult it would be to secure new accommodations for that many people in such a short time.

"It's a hunter that's after them," argued Velvet. "They have no way to defend themselves against that. Jaune's right; we need to go."

Blake held up her hands, urging them to calm down and take a second to assess the situation. "I'm not saying we don't go. Just…let's think it through, first."

"Oh, smart," Jaune muttered. "A battle plan."

"Well, no. Not exactly," Blake corrected. "Let's maybe think on whether we want to go or not. There're good reasons for both."

"People's lives are at stake," said Velvet. "That's all I need to know."

"But can we save them?" Blake asked. "Or will we make it worse?"