Gods Among Us

Jaune reached the loading sight and left Gundy and Maroon to take care of Nora, Ren and Sky. He went off to the side to call up his father he had to keep him informed about the situation.

"Hey Dad! I think you have heard already we were flying to meet up with Emerald and Ebon but ended up seeing a village under attack." Jaune explained.

"Right. Glad to hear you are alright. Anything interesting to report?" Gol asked. He had come to realize that Jaune was far more highly trained than any academy level student after having a few bouts with the new guards. Knowing this He didn't really expect to hear anything bad. If Jaune didn't say anything about it he wouldn't worry. Heck he could heal himself if he was injured.

"Yes. I met with three kids around my age found in a bar. They had escaped when the White Fang came through. It seems the White Fang has something planned and they needed a robotics and programming genius to aid them. But..." Jaune looked over to Sky who was seated on the ramp of one of the bullheads.

"But?" Gol asked.

"It seems that they picked up the wrong person. One of the kids is likely to be the genius and the one who was taken is likely her father. If what she let slip is anything to go by." Jaune said.

"I see. Sounds like a rescue mission is in oder. Tell me their names so I can put them in the record for the Huntsman Association." Gol said as he types out the report while speaking with Jaune.

"Their names are Sky Magni, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie." Jaune said. He heard his father stop his typing abruptly at the names. "Dad? Dad? What is it?"

"You are saying that Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie were found in the same place?" Gol asked his voice shaking.

"Yes why?" Jaune became worried as he waited for an answer.

Over the scroll Jaune heard his father cry out from the doorway, "Jesse! Dian! Honeydew! Get over here now! Jaune found the missing Valkyrie girl and the Ren boy!" In the next few moments Jaune heard the rapid thumping of feet as his aunt, uncle and mother all rushed to Gol's office.

"Jaune pull up video and show us Nora and Ren!" Gol said in a rush.

Jaune did as instructed and pulled up the video chat function. He then pointed the camera at Nora and Ren. Over the scroll he heard the four discussing.

"Its her! That orange hair can only come from those two!" Dian said.

"Its him! I thought he was lost in the attack on their village a few years ago!" Jesse said.

"Is there anyway we can be sure?" Honeydew asked.

"Jaune did anything happen or did they say anything that could hint as to who they are?" Gol asked.

"Well the girl did have an electricity semblance. Hit like a truck too." Jaune said as he rubbed his arms.

"That's it! It's her. We have to get her back. Send a VTOL and have Jaune take them there. They are already half way there." Jesse said to Gol and Jaune at the same time.

"Uh, guys mind explaining to me why these two are so important?" Jaune asked as he looked at the screen where his guardians huddled around the camera.

"Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie come from two strong families that we have long ties with. Nora disappeared from a village that came under attack by grimm. They thought she was dead but they kept up hope in finding her again so they have been leaving missing persons reports all over the kingdom. Lie Ren was thought to be lost the same way two years later when they were both seven. If they are who we think they are then they have been surviving on their own for the last three years. They must have stayed out of the cities due to how young they were." Jesse explained.

"So what about their parents?" Jaune asked.

"Nora's parents were out on a grimm hunt during the time of the attack so they had no way of knowing. But they are still alive and waiting to be reunited. Ren's parents...." Dian didn't need to finish as he knew the answer.

"Alright so you want me to take them to the Valkyrie's?" Jaune asked.

"Yes. Take them there you will meet the head of the family when you are there. It seems as good a time as any to explain how our families are tied together." Gol said. "We will meet you there after we settle a few things."

"Got it! See you guys there." Jaune said. He looked over to Sky and thought it over. 'I need to set up a search and rescue mission. Might as well get that set up now.' Jaune walked over to Gundy and said, "I want two teams. We are going to hunt down the White Fang and help rescue Sky's father. After we make a side trip."

Gundy nodded. "Alright who will be going with us?"

"We are taking the three from the bar, Ren, Sky, and Nora. It seems that two of them have been missing for a while now. We will be bringing one of them to their family." Jaune said.

"And the other?" Gundy asked already knowing the answer. Or at least he thought so.

"He will be welcomed warmly if what I saw and just learned are right." Jaune said with a smile.

"Ah, right. When do we leave?" Gundy asked.

"Now." Jaune said as he walked over to the three he had saved earlier. "Hey guys. We will be leaving shortly. You all will be coming with us. We are going to track down Sky's father and save him. And we will do it," jaune said as he looked into Sky's hope filled eyes,"but before that we have to return Nora to her waiting family." Jaune said with a smile.

The three had a range of emotions.

Sky was happy to know someone was going after her father. She was smart so knew it would take some time to track down the White Fang and which direction they went. In the end she had a resolved expression as she looked forward to Jaune's words coming true.

Ren had a happy and sad expression as he looked at Nora. It seemed that over the years they had gotten very close. He knew he would never see his parents again but he had always been searching for anyone related to Nora. And over the years he hadn't come up with anything. But now Nora could go back home where she belonged. He was happy for her but sad to know they would likely be separated.

Nora had the most expressions pass over her face she had excitement, joy, fear, sadness and worry in an loop. As she looked up she turned to held onto Ren. Tears of happiness rolled down her cheeks as she came to terms with what Jaune just said. Her family wasn't dead like she thought. They were alive and waiting for her. She wanted to see them so much, but would they separate her and Ren? She wouldn't let that happen. She was only alive because Ren saved her from the grimm using his semblance. If they rejected him she would force them to capitulate. She would not be separated from another loved one again. Ever.

"If you guys can get onto the ship we can get going." Jaune said softly to the three. After a moment he got three head nods. Jaune turned and went to the side of the VTOL. There he found a panel that had a few buttons on it. Looking around Jaune called out, "Clear!" Anyone nearby stepped back from around the VTOL's tail end. Nodding his head Jaune pressed the release button.

From the back end of the VTOL a large box like contraption released a few popping noises as the bolts were released. From the box came a four legged strider. With swivel mounted armament on top of four thick and wide spider like legs. The deep base of the robot came through loud and clear. Lights flashed on as the Strider powered up.

The swivel turned to face Jaune. "Hey buddy! I need a location on the White Fang who left here a while ago. Think you can track them for me?" The swivel mount moved up and down in an affirmative.

Jaune smiled as he nodded his head. "Good! Strider I want you to follow the trail of the White Fang. When you find their base camp send me the coordinates and find a good spot for an ambush. Once that is done hide and go into low power mode until you get my signal to attack."

With a back and forth motion Strider saluted be for it ran off following the trail.

"Good now that is settled, let's go meet the rest of the family." Jaune said as he got onto the VTOL.

Nora was rushing around, appearing in once place once second before she teleported to another spot. Jaune could only think that Nora was using Flash Step subconsciously which was a feat not even Yoruichi had boasted.

They had been in the air for a couple of hours. It seemed Nora had a strong constitution as well as a strong mentality to be able to get over so much turmoil in such a short time. She had only slept for an hour and a half before she was wide awake and running around the ship trying to figure out how it worked. Though she had kept her distance from Jaune and he could figure the reason was because of her attacking him when he appeared to save them.

Jaune went back and came to a conclusion. Nora was strong! Strong to the point his aura gave him little defense against her electrified strike even in the awkward state he was in at the time. Jaune knew that aura could only do so much to mitigate damage. If an arm was bent the wrong way by a grimm it would not break the aura, but it would break the arm. So knowing the forces and his ability Jaune could only conclude that Nora had stupid strength that was magnified by the electrical semblance she had. Similar to Yang and her semblance.

Sky had sat down and worked with her computer constantly. At some point she made a gasping noise and looked over to Jaune. Her eyes were hidden by her glasses but Jaune felt her gaze on him increase in frequency as they traveled. He wondered what brought this about but he wouldn't break the silent bubble that Sky had put around herself. As she was looking at her scroll computer Jaune felt the VTOL shudder. Wondering if something was wrong Jaune traced the VTOL.

As he did Jaune felt a presence in the programming of the VTOL that affected the electrical signals. As if it sensed Jaune the presence disappeared. Jaune followed it as fast as he could and found trace led him to Sky and her scroll computer.

Jaune frowned as he didn't sense any ill intent from the presence. But Jaune decided to be watchful throughout the rest of the flight.

As they got closer to their destination Nora was appearing and disappearing at an ever increasing rate. As she became a blur Ren reached out his arm and pulled Nora into her seat mid stride. He leaned into her and spoke into her ear. Nora blushed but shortly nodded. After that she stood and robotically walked over to Jaune. When she was a few steps away she stopped and wrung her hands.

Jaune looked on with a slight smile. This was a good achievement after puking most of the flight over.

"Hahaha, look at Jauney boy trying to act all cool after spewing for the last few hours!" Mordred laughed within the Reality Marble.

"Yeah I think we should start calling Jaune vomit boy from this point on with all of his troubles with flying!" Nobunaga said while howling with laughter.

"We can fix this Jaune! All you need to do is strengthen your core until it is as dense as diamond!" Leonidas called as he was heard flexing and showing off his body to the rest of the servants present.

"Grr, ahhhh, grr?" Frankenstein said as she tried to help.

"No Franky. I don't think replacing Jaune's stomach with an actual cast iron stomach would help." Achilles said before there was a loud boom, "Hey what was that for?!"

"Grrrrrahhh!" Frankenstein growled.

"Ok, ok sheesh. I was just trying to make you more personable with a nick name." Achilles said, "But did you have to put me into a boulder? I mean the decor is now far more fashionable with my visage but seriously it isn't even in the right place to see it from the hill."

"Will you shut up?! I watching to see what happens next!" Atlanta said as she looked on through the dragon core that gave a visual of what Jaune was sensing in the outside world.

'Hey! My life is not a reality show for you guys to watch!' Jaune said mentally as he tried to keep his face blank even as he seethed inside.

"Hahaha, you wish it wasn't. Its quiet entertaining when you try to interact with people your own age outside of your family. It is like you have no idea what to do most of the time." Mordred said while chuckling.

A second later there was a loud thud as Artoria spoke up, "I think that is enough out of you. If I remember correctly you had similar troubles in your time. You only made friends with the knights who had already been with me for years and no one your age."

"Damn! What the hell?! I never had that problem! Don't skew history." Mordred yelled at Artoria.

Nora seemed to have sensed Jaune's anger as she flinched before she caught herself and stood up straight and said, "I'm sorry for attacking you when you came into the bar earlier. I hope you can forgive me. And thank you for explaining the situation with the White Fang. I was not aware of the sentiment of other Faunus outside of those who support the White Fang. I will be sure to not jump to conclusions again in the future."

Jaune honestly smiled, "Its no problem. See not even a scratch." Jaune raised his arms to show they were whole and healthy.

"Are you sure? I could have sworn I heard things break when I hit you." Nora said as she looked on with a worried expression.

"Yep. The sound was only my arms hitting my armor." Jaune said as he tapped his solid plate chest armor. This was the newest generation of armor that Ebon had created. It was an alloy of steel and tungsten which made it extremely heavy and durable. The only problem was that this meant Jaune had a lot of pieces connected to his armor. But after designing a set of leather jacket and pants Jaune could now put the armor on in a jiffy, with the aid of magic runes and sigils that he kept active at all times so it would not shred to pieces due to the weight.

The design was similar to Mordred's suit of armor. The helmet was also set up the same way with enchantments that Jaune could activate to enclose his head in time of need.

The VTOL hit a bit of turbulence and Nora was about to fall so Jaune reached out his hand and pulled Nora into the seat beside him.

"Thank you." Nora said as she looked around with excited eyes.

"You want to fall out of a plane?" Jaune asked somewhat jokingly.

"Oh yeah! Don't thou think it would be awesome? Of course I am not strong enough to do that yet but I will in the future. Right now I would need a parachute." Nora saw growing excited then down then right back up.

Her emotions were a roller coaster and Jaune was not sure if it was a coping mechanism or just her normal personality. Looking over to Ren and his exhausted face Jaune concluded it was the latter.

Jaune and Nora talked the rest of the way to the Valkyrie estate. Jaune was surprised to hear of all the adventures they had gone on in the past three years. It was though this conversation Jaune learned of Ren's semblance of being able to mask emotions. Jaune wondered if it was similar to presence concealment that a few of the heroes had. Until he saw it he wouldn't be able to answer that question.

"Everyone take your seats. We are landing in t-minus 2 minutes." Gundy said over the intercom.

Nora who had been a roller coaster of emotions finally had worry written over her face. She wrung her hands and crossed her legs in a constant motion.

"It's ok Nora. Whatever happens you have Ren there to protect you." Jaune said with a smile.

Nora blushed as she nodded. She looked over to Ren who looked at her with a small smile and a nod of encouragement.

With a shudder the VTOL settled onto the ground. Jaune stood up and held out a hand to help Nora up. "Lets go see your family Nora." Jaune said encouragingly.

Nora slowly nodded her head as she stood taking Jaune's hand. While she squeezed Jaune felt his bones grind together. 'Yep she's stupid strong.' Jaune walked forward after Nora stood up and made room for Ren. He took Jaune's place and supported Nora as they walked down the lowering ramp.

Outside the group was astonished when they saw the massive stone castle standing before them. It was a thing out of history with arrow notches, battlements and towers. It was beautiful and imposing. From the draw bridge two people came running.

The man was a giant at least the same size as Beowulf if not bigger. He had a full head of red hair that went down to his shoulders. He wore fur lined metal armor in a similar style to Beowulf's armor as well. on his back was a massive hammer that was nearly half his size. From the gleam it was evident that it was solid metal as well. As Jaune watched blue lightning surrounded the man as he rushed towards Jaune and company.

The woman in contrast was lean and wiry she was like an amazon she reminded Jaune of Atlanta honestly. She had long flowing golden hair that reached to her back. She was dressed in a battle skirt that reached down to her ankles similar to Artoria's. She was a stunning beauty as well. On her back was a shield and sword that were in easy reach of her hands. At her sides in holsters were two hand guns with blades attached to the bottoms of the barrels. The woman glowed with a yellow light as she glided across the land as it she was using it to push herself forward, with this she kept up with the man.

"Nora!" The two called out with relief, happiness and joy evident in their voices.

Nora stood frozen before she disappeared from Ren's side. She reappeared a split second later half way to her parents. "Mom! Dad!"

Jaune smiled as watched the three embrace. He felt immense satisfaction at this scene.

As Jaune was feeling happy he felt a tremble in his senses as he spun around looking for the location of the presence he felt. After searching Jaune looked to one of the towers. From it came a streak of golden lightning. Not a moment later that was boom as the person impacted the ground.

From the dust cloud a man equally the size of the red haired man stood up. He had gray hair that went to his shoulders. Over one of his eyes he had an eye patch. He was similarly dressed as the red haired man but his weapon was different instead of a hammer the man had a golden lined silver spear that flashed with electricity. He had worry lines across his face that quickly turned into smile lines as he looked upon Nora.

"Ok. I will admit it. This is freaky as hell." Mordred said.

"By the Norns...." Beowulf uttered from his dematerialized state. Sky twitched beside Jaune as she heard Beowulf. She quickly scanned the surroundings for who spoke.

Nora turned to the new man and smiled as he started walking towards the three. Tears pouring from her eyes Nora let go of her parents and rushed to this new man and jumped into his outstretched arms, "Grandpa Odin!"

The heroes were left in shock for a few moments before they began to clamor over this new development.

Gods were among them.