15

"So, just to be clear, I'm not under arrest, right?" Jaune asked nervously.

Sun had been introducing team JNPR and Penny to his friend and teammate Neptune, who had done pretty well as far as first impressions go. He seemed like a cool dude, though perhaps too cool. Being near him made Jaune feel a teensy bit inadequate, but it was probably a lot better than it would have been at the start of the year.

That had been interrupted by Winter Schnee of all people marching up to him and "requesting his presence", though it felt disingenuous to refer to it as a request. Who would say no? That would feel like an admission of guilt, and he didn't even know what he was being accused of!

Well, that's not entirely true. He did sort of just drop some pretty heavy future knowledge on General Ironwood and then just walk out of the meeting. It was probably safe to say that this meeting was related to the previous meeting. But what if they tried to lock him away for espionage?! He wasn't sure what sort of proof they needed for that, but it didn't seem like it would be hard for the general of all people to be able to lock him up with lacking evidence. He wasn't cut out for prison life! Sure his aura would probably prevent him from getting shanked or something, but that was only against the general prison populace. What if there was some sort of secret prison for huntsmen only, separated from the average people who wouldn't stand a chance if there was a confrontation? Or maybe he would get locked in solitary confinement, left to slowly go insane. Would he ever see his family again?

Could you stop catastrophizing please? I'm fairly certain she just wants the location of the missing Paladin. Second Thoughts interrupted.

That's easy for you to say! This is all your fault anyway! If not for you I could be hanging out with my friends, not worrying about whether I'd ever see sunlight again!

Jaune, relax. There are plenty of ways for us to prove that we didn't commit espionage.

Such as? Jaune demanded.

Well for one there's the explanation I laid out for Ironwood. Knowing the unknowable is pretty good proof in my eyes. We could also rub a magic lamp and ask the genie inside, or go looking for a truth telling hill.

Now you're just mocking me!

Maybe a little bit, but those are also legitimate answers that you just don't understand. They'll make sense eventually, probably, and then you can think back and go "oooh, I get it now" and hate me for not being more clear. It'll be funny.

In what way is that funny?!

Fine, it'll be funny for me. I have to get my laughs somehow.

Winter sat down across from him. It felt a lot like he had been called to the headmaster's office, except a lot more cramped and instead of the threat of expulsion it was the threat of jail time. Was this long drawn out pause supposed to intimidate him? Put him on the back foot and make him more likely to crack?

"No, you are not under arrest."

She's suppressing a smirk! She knows exactly what she's doing. What's with Schnees and being smug bi-

"Great! But, um, should I have a lawyer present or something?"

"That won't be necessary, you're here voluntarily and can leave whenever you please. I can't exactly keep you captive in a place I have no authority over."

It's a trap! Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law! Never talk to cops without a lawyer present! Does a specialist count as a cop? Actually I've just realized I have no idea how the legal system works here, do you have the rights I think you do?

Jaune must have looked ready to leave, because Winter spoke up. "Look, I'm just trying to get any information you might have about the Paladin you mentioned to General Ironwood. In the wrong hands it could cause quite a bit of destruction, and I'm sure we'd all rather that be avoided."

"Right, um, give me just a second." Jaune replied.

Well? What am I telling her?

Honestly I don't know how reliable my information is. Roman should be the one who has it, but, well, we have Roman now. I can only assume that it would be in the same area, since it hasn't been long since he was apprehended and there aren't many places you could hide something that big, but this info should probably be taken with a grain of salt. Also, my sense of Remnant geography is very much lacking, so all the information I have location wise is largely based on landmarks. Basically, there's a club run by a man referred to as Junior, real name Hei Xiong. Yang is familiar with it if you need more information to locate it. If you leave his club in the direction opposite of the freeway, there should be an area with warehouses. The Paladin is being housed in one of the warehouses as tall as a two story building, big enough for a White Fang recruitment meeting. Or it should be housed there, anyway. Like I said, can't be certain Roman's arrest didn't change that. I imagine the warehouse is either abandoned or owned by some shell for either Roman himself or the White Fang because there was nothing else stored inside.

Jaune relayed the information as Winter took detailed notes. "And that's all of the information you have? It certainly helps to narrow down the search area, but to be honest I was hoping for a bit more."

She could always send team RWBY out to investigate if she thinks so little of her men. I can guarantee that those girls will find it, especially if you put Blake in charge. Though I would be ready to shell out a lot of cash for property damage and a PR campaign trying to fight what gets broadcast on the news.

"Second's future telling ability is limited, that's all I can give you right now." Jaune answered.

That's not what I said.

I'm aware, shut up.

"I suppose I'll have to take what I can get. Thank you for your time Mr. Arc, we'll be in touch."

I was afraid she would say that. Jaune bemoaned.

What's wrong with keeping in touch with Winter? Sure Weiss is never gonna work out, but Winter is an attractive woman. They've got the same genes, surely you can see it!

Shut. Up.

"Now, I hope you understand that because we are aware of your past, and because we are protecting you, we would like to ask a few questions in regards to what we are protecting you from?" Bart asked. The faunus sat in front of him gave a heavy sigh.

"I figured as much, but I'm not sure what all I can tell you. I wasn't particularly high up in the chain of command, so the information I got was minimal." Tukson answered.

"That's quite all right. In actuality what we're hoping to get most likely reached your ears in the form of rumors and gossip rather than direct orders or anything like that. We will be asking about those as well, of course, but we're not as worried about what the low ranking members are getting up to."

"Rumors and gossip? What sort of stuff are you looking for? Most of that was over surface level complaints and the like, nothing that I imagine you're interested in hearing."

"Well, I imagine you along with the other members were quite surprised to see Roman Torchwick getting involved in your activities. Or perhaps I should say that the White Fang were getting involved in his activities? Yet even then something about it doesn't add up quite right. It is our suspicion that there is another party at play here, someone behind the scenes either forcing or manipulating those involved to cause this rather odd cooperation. Do you know anything about that? Anything at all, even if it inevitably ends up being a wild goose chase."

"Someone pulling the strings there? Hmmm. A lot of what went around was just whining about having to work with the smug punk, though I can't say I disagreed. The whole thing just didn't make sense to me. To any of us, really. Whoever made the call was higher up in the command chain, but I couldn't tell you how far. Some said it was Taurus, some said it was Khan. But even then for them to suggest working with Torchwick seems out of place. I could see either of the two offing him if he even said it off-handedly." Tukson ruminated for a moment before continuing. "Actually… now that I think about it, there was one weird thing going around. It was a while back, but I wanna say there was something about an illusion based semblance? One of the guys walked straight off a loading dock and fell on his face, but when they started to make fun of him he kept going on about how there was definitely another few feet before the edge and some green haired chick smirked at him right before he unknowingly stepped off. A lot of people wrote it off as an excuse because he was embarrassed, but I can probably count the number of green haired people I know on one hand, and to my knowledge none of them were there that day."

Oobleck studiously kept a record of his explanation, nodding along the whole while. "I see. A green haired individual with a potential illusion based semblance. I find that even the strangest rumors have a basis in fact somewhere down the line. Thank you very much for your cooperation."

"For all I know, she could have been the one that they were gonna send to kill me. Assuming the rumor is true, it would make for a pretty nifty trick for assassinations. It's no skin off my back if she gets what's coming to her."

Emerald sneezed as they continued their infuriating game of charades.

It would be so much easier for Neo to simply type the information they needed, but she enjoyed being intentionally difficult and Cinder had ordered Emerald not to kill the brat.

"The first shift change happens at 8 in the morning?" Emerald guessed, rewarded with Neo jumping up and down with excitement. Lots of jumping.

That was easy to say when she wasn't the one dealing with it though! First Cinder said she has other business to take care of and ordered her to get the necessary information from Neo. Which was fine! Emerald was perfectly happy to do whatever Cinder needed. Anything she wanted, Emerald would make sure it happened.

"Three guys and one girl on the next team?" A wrong answer. Neo turned around, as if pouting. Emerald didn't particularly mind if she stayed that way.

But then Mercury said something stupid about her being able to understand Neo better since they both had illusion related semblances and ditched her! The nerve! It was bad enough having to listen to his often intentionally wrong interpretations of what Neo was trying to say, but without him here to take some of the attention…

"The other way then? Three girls and one guy?" Neo jumped for joy again, a big smile on her face. A very distracting… smile.

Neo had gotten… creative, with her torment. It seemed like she was actually putting thought into making herself somewhat understandable now, but that didn't help at all. Not when she was portraying herself as Cinder with her semblance. Cinder in the Beacon uniform. Or at least, that seemed to be the inspiration. This version was… revealing. Very revealing.

She wasn't sure if it would be better for this to end immediately, or if it never ended.

Wow. They recovered from that a lot faster than I thought.

Jaune was a bit surprised as well, especially accounting for the reaction they had seen yesterday. Yet here they were, at the lunch table once more with RWBY, JNPR, and now three additional friends.

"Okay, wait a minute." Neptune looked at the group in confusion. "So you're telling me, that this entire school year, not a single person has picked up on the fact that you're a faunus? No offense guys, but is there something in the water here?" The Beacon students at the table blushed in shame, some more than others.

"Hey! That just means my disguise was effective!" Blake tried to defend both herself and her classmates.

"A bow over your ears was effective? The one that moves? I'll admit that it's not as obvious as Sun's tail, but come on."

"It's not our fault!" Nora exclaimed. "How can we be expected to notice her bow moving when she's got something much more distracting?"

It was Pyrrha's turn to be confused. "What's distracting about Blake?"

Yang had a wide grin on her face. "You haven't noticed? Why, of course it would be the bella-"

Blake slapped a hand over her partner's mouth, her face as red as a tomato. "No! Bad Yang! We do not call it that! We don't refer to it at all!"

"I am afraid I am not understanding either. What is it that we are not meant to refer to friend Blake? I would hate to upset you again!" Penny asked with the best of intentions.

"If you don't want me upset then stop talking about it!"

Ruby's face lit up in recognition. "Oh! Is this about the thing with-" only for her partner to silence her with a hand over the mouth.

"Stop it, you dunce! I do not want a repeat of that conversation!" Weiss glared at the youngest member of the group.

"Why must you cause chaos everywhere you go, Nora?" Ren lamented.

"It's in my nature, I can't help it!"

Jaune overheard Neptune whispering to Sun. "I don't get it man, why is everyone freaking out?"

"You'll figure it out when she leaves. But back off! Bro code man, I was here first!"

I'm kind of lost too, Jaune thought, did I miss something important?

Figure it out yourself. Actually, don't. I'm already dealing with enough here and I don't need to be worrying about the morals of such a thing on top of it all.

Why can't you just tell me?

You'll find out when you're older.