Arclight Foundries - Chapter 17

"How's it look now that it's gotten spiced properly?" He turned to look over his shoulder, Coco standing in a model's pose at the top of his steps with a wide smile. "Gotta tell me what you think, one of your duties as my boy toy."

The previously plain vest was still mostly plain, accented by a dark brown scarf she wore and new, decorative black added to the ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the vest, like small flames dancing along its very edges that went nicely with the hints of silver. She did a little twirl and he saw, stitched in the small of her back just above her hips in a warm and oddly vibrant gold, sat her emblem. A simple sight analogue, playing into her role as a gunner. It was still very obviously the same vest, but the little tweaks made it a bit more… Personal.

"Boy toy? That's a new pet name. What happened to 'babe'? I like that one better." He asked sarcastically, turning back to his armor's leg to check the hydraulics in it's knee. When he heard her scoff, he smirked and added offhandedly as an afterthought, "It looks great, by the way. I would have put your symbol in, but I didn't know it. Or where you'd want it, and I couldn't ask without spoiling, so I didn't-."

"Hush, Babe, you're rambling." She chided gently, grabbing a stool to sit and watch him work. "And were you just teasing me?"

"Trying to, yeah… Didn't seem to work too good, though." He nodded, both in reaction to what she'd said and in satisfaction that the hydraulic was fine. "It really does look great, though. I love that you're enjoying it so much. How's the weight? Not too much, not gonna slow you down?"

"Pft, as if. This thing weighs, like, five pounds at best. It's the perfect kind of light armor for me, was thinking about getting one made for me for a while myself." He gave her a curious look and she rolled her eyes, smiling almost sheepishly. As close to it as he was willing to bet Coco Adel would ever look, anyways. "I could never, you know… Settle on a design to give to a tailor, and I always had better things to do. Killing Grimm, training, working on the Grimm Dazzler, shopping. Important stuff."

"The Grimm Dazzler?" He asked, grinning and looking at her. "You named your armor piercing, collapsible, belt-fed chain gun the Grimm Dazzler?"

"I will literally suffocate you with my tits if you sass my gun's name. Would be the biggest of dick moves, doin' that." He threw his greasy hands up in mock surrender and she laughed, watching him close up the armored piece for a minute in silence. A contented silence, he knew, with her more than happy to watch him work quietly so as not to interrupt him and cause a mistake. Finally, as he clicked the last piece of the armor into place, she asked, "So, is it actually done all the way?"

"Pretty much, yeah." He nodded, setting the electric bolter to the side and standing, running his hands over one of the slim pauldrons appreciatively, the way only a maker could appreciate his creation. "Still a couple kinks to work out, the oxygen recycler still has problems dealing with smoke for instance, and Penny wants to iron out some security problems after her match today, but… I think she's done."

"She? Why's it a she?"

"It's, uh, it's like boats." He explained simply, shrugging and grabbing another stool to sit beside the armor. "Boats, guns, armor, they're, you know... All girls. Because you're supposed to treat them right, take care of them, that sort of thing Just kind of a… A tradition that my master taught me, during my apprenticing."

"I'm not exactly the traditional type, Jaune. But…" She shrugged, waving off the entire thing with a hand and sighing boredly. "Whatever you say, Babe. You know more about all this than I do, so I'll just go with it. S'not that big of a deal either way besides me being curious, so whatever. And you know just how non-traditional I am, so not like it's news."

"Are you… Okay?" She blinked owlishly at him, and then crossed her arms defensively with a very curious expression. The kind of expression that at once demanded an explanation and dared you to give it. Wary of upsetting her for a wide variety of reasons, he rushed to add, "Y-You just seem… To be in a bit of a mood? I-I don't mind, or anything, I was just… Worried about you, s'why I asked, so… I'll be quiet now."

"No, don't get upset like that, I'm…" She sighed, a hand coming up to pinch the bridge of her nose aggravatedly. "It isn't you, I'm just… In a bad mood. Some dickheads camped out at Beacon, looking to get scoops on the fighters, student life, whatever the hell." She gave him a meaningful look, brows raised high above her eyes, and simply explained, "Flash. Photography."

"Oh. I mean, they were probably just doing their jobs, and they couldn't have known about you,,," Coco coughed abdm, when he turned, he met a flat stare with raised eyebrows and a steadily taping foot. Coughing himself, Jaune blinked, then crossed his arms and nodded curtly. "That's, uh, that's just rude. What total assholes."

"It's cute that you're trying, Babe, but you don't have a mean bone in your body. I mean, I love it, you're so nice and open to everyone. It's great, part of why I like you so damn much." She smiled, though, and that made him feel better. Or at least like he'd done his job and cheered her up, if only a little bit. Grinning, she winked and added, "Don't worry, Babe, I can be petty enough for both of us."

"Uh, thanks I…. Guess?" He wasn't quite sure what to say to that, but apparently Coco found what he did say amusing and snorted a short laugh. He was content to wait while she enjoyed her little snickers at his expense, and so waited until she'd calmed down to ask, "I'm going to guess you have a migraine?"

"Yeah, a bit."

"We can skip watching the fights if you want." It would disappoint Penny when she found out, he knew she was looking forward to him seeing her fight, but… She'd understand if Coco was sick, for lack of a better term, and didn't want to. Even if he did, he'd abstain if she wanted to. "It's fine if you want to skip it, maybe just… Snuggle on the couch, or nap while I work down here, or something."

"It's sweet that you'd skip for me, Jaune, but promise. I'm fine." He asked if she was sure and she rolled her eyes, still smiling warmly. At his concern, probably, since that always made her happy. "Yeah, I am. Had to deal with this shit since I was a babe in the age sense instead of the sexy sense. Trust me, I got this. I'd tell you if I didn't wanna do something."

"If you say so, I'll believe you." He asked the same from her about his heart, more often than not, and Jaune Arc was many things. A hypocrite was not one, not if he could help it at least.

"You should paint it." She pointed out, jerking her head at the armored suit. She was trying to change the subject, he could tell that from a mile and a half away with his eyes closed, but he let it go and look to the suit. "Something consistent and easy on the eyes, I mean. Getting a product moving is all about presentation, after all. This thing could be a miracle machine, but no one will want it if it looks ugly."

She wasn't wrong, he knew that just by looking at the armor. The soldering points and ragged edges had long ago been smoothed out, cleaned up, but there were still marks left behind. Shallow, cosmetic scratches where metal had been cut, black lines where soldering and welding had scorched the metal around its targets. The pieces themselves were all stock color as well, but that didn't lend to uniformity. Instead, three tones of grey and two of off-black had been mixed and mashed together, with Atlesian tubes made of white working with Valean ones made of a darker red lined up right beside each other, in the same mechanism. The Atlesian helmet was another example of that, off-grey mask and white helmet mixed in with red tubing that connected to the oxygen tank on the armor's back.

"Yeah, it looks terrible…" He sighed, scratching the back of his head anxiously. Function over form was not a very common ideology inside the Kingdoms, the culture of Hunters and their heroics was too strong for that. "I mean, it works and that's all I care about, but you want to monetize the design itself."

"Yep. My advice?" She started, the blonde turning to look at he taller woman curiously. "Your family sigil is white with yellow, right?"

He nodded and she did in return, pointing to each layer of the suit as she talked, "Outer armor white, inner sections in black for contrast. Highlight both in the gold, put your family sigil on one shoulder and the Arclight emblem on the other. Good contrast on the colors, and super obvious who made it from any angle except below."

"And who looks at anything from below it?"

"The shortest person I know is asking that?" She teased, grinning wide when he turned to glower at her. "You got the paint needed?"

"The white, yeah, but not the black-" He blinked, turning to look at her suddenly, "Wait, you want to work on its paint job now? Why?"

"Distraction from my headache, and come on." She rolled her eyes and hopped off the stool, cocking her hip and planting a fist on it meaningfully. "Is it really that weird that I would want to do some painting? Accessorizing? Decorating? Me, Coco Adel, the woman known for a singular obsession with all things accessorizing and fashion?"

"When you say it like that…" He sighed, but knew when an argument just wasn't worth having, and so stood and turned to start setting up the area for a larger paint job. "Grab a couple hundred Lien from the little box downstairs, go get the paints for me. I'll set everything up, and we should be done before the fights start. Quick dry, too, I don't want it getting all over while we watch Penny."

"Got it, Babe." She nodded, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around to steal a kiss from the - for some reason - surprised blonde man. She gave him a pat on the shoulder when she pulled away and he instinctively tried to follow, smiling knowing and turning. "I'll bounce on down to the store, get the groceries for ya, and be back in a jiffy. Some design… Perfect way to get rid of my headache."

"Glad, uh, glad to help." She nodded and then strode away, headed downstairs to go shopping. Sighing, he turned and got himself to work. He'd actually wanted the day off, minus some spot-checking to pass the time, but if Coco wanted to paint and design… "Lady gets what the lady wants. Them's the rules."

And he wasn't about to break them when the rewards for following them were so good. He just couldn't wait to see Penny fight.

XxX----XxX----XxX

"Are you nervous?" He asked the android after she'd called and said hell to Coco and him, Jaune staying to talk to the young automaton while Coco went to the kitchen to order tacos for the night. "Pyrrha Nikos is… Pretty famous, as far as fighters go. I don't think she's ever lost a fight."

"Do not worry, best-friend Jaune, I am combat ready." He rolled his eyes but let her continue talking anyways, rather than ruin her good mood. Or try to, anyways, since he was pretty sure no one could sour Penny's mood. "My partner, Ciel, aggregated data and video of every fight Pyrrha Nikos has ever fought. I then downloaded that data, for reference along with other public combat data."

"That sounds…" Unfair, almost cheating in a way. Not that he'd say that, of course... "Awesome. Think you can win with all that done?"

"I do not know. I have gathered that she prefers to engage at range, off balance her opponents, and then close for grapples and rapid strike attacks, but…" The woman grimaced on the other end of the call, shaking her head slightly. "I do not know her Semblance. Whatever it is, I believe it recalls her weapons when discarded, but I do not know how it functions. Reports indicate that she is rarely struck, but there is evidence to suggest that is merely skill. So it is unlikely related, though several have reported that strikes that should have landed seemed to direct off course at the last moment."

Which meant Penny couldn't account for it, plan around it.

"Just fight your hardest, Penny. Coco and I will be watching live, and cheering for you." He gave her a cheesy thumbs up and smiled toothily, affecting a goofy look to earn a giggle from the android. Once he got that, he nodded surely, "I know you can do it, Penny. I believe in you, okay?"

"Thank you, best-friend Jaune." Penny smiled warmly at him, enough to make his goofy grin change into something more warm and real itself, and then she sighed, "Girlfriend Ruby wants to see me before the fight. I am sorry, but I am going to go now. I hope you and Miss Coco have a good evening!"

"You too. Good luck with your match and give Ruby a hug from me." She nodded and her face was replaced by a picture of her and Ruby, hugging on a bench while the brunette flailed towards whoever was holding the camera and Penny smiled happily. Clicking the Scroll close, he called to Coco, "How's ordering the food going? Taking a while, isn't it?"

"How's talking to your other girlfriend going? I finished a while ago, but figured you two lovebirds could use some privacy." He rolled his eyes while she plopped down next to him on the couch, then grimaced and pressed a hand to her side. "Well that stung…"

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just still a bit fragile. May as well tattoo 'handle with care' somewhere on me, as annoying like a porcelain vase as I feel." He rolled his eyes at the joke in her tone and she sighed, grabbing the remote and flicking the television on. When she saw nothing more than recaps of the other fights, she dropped the volume a bit and asked, "Think the little tot will beat the Pyrrha Nikos out, though?"

"Do you think you could?"

"Yeah, when Atlas opens a friggin' beach resort." He rolled his eyes and Coco went on, sounding bored but at least grateful for the conversation. "Nikos is ridiculous. I saw her one-man an entire other team, like, a month ago. Four on one, she beat 'em in under ten minutes. So love her to death, she's a total cutie, but… I think this ends with her on her back."

"You'd know about fighting, I guess…" He only made weapons, after all. He didn't know how to use them beyond 'this end for stabbing, this end makes boom and does the shoot shoot.' "I think Penny can put up a good fight, though. She's worked hard, trained, studied, the works, preparing for this fight."

"Well, we're about to find out." She said, the picture on the screen swapping from the two Beacon professors who'd been talking about the previous matches and students to a sweeping panorama of Amity Colosseum fighting arena. The two fighters stood across from each other and Penny said something, Pyrrha just staring at the ground quietly. Beside him, Coco murmured, "Something's wrong…"

"Nerves, maybe?" It seemed reasonable enough to him, at least, given that the planet was probably watching this. Coco just hummed, unsure but not willing to comment, and the two watched the fight start.

Whatever was wrong, Pyrrha was either not completely in the fight at hand or Penny's studying had borne fruit. Penny's swords floated around her, two in front and the rest behind her aligned in threes that produced energy beams to lance out at the Mistralian while the swords in front fended off incoming rounds easily enough, the few that passed by sparking harmlessly off of the android's Aura.

Pyrrha leapt into the smaller woman's guard, slamming her shield rim first into her chest and forcing her back. But Penny seemed to have seen it coming, turning with the strike and bringing her hands around herself in the same movement, almost like a dance routine. And her swords were the partner, cutting down elegantly with the curve of her arm and forcing the Mistralian back on defense. Spinning on her toe like an acrobat, she bent down and then swung up with her arm, her dancing blades following less than a second behind and giving her space between herself and Pyrrha.

Standing straight and using the space for what it was, she spun her hands and the blasters returned, peppering eh Mistralian with lances of fire.

"Pyrrha's off her game tonight..." Coco pointed out quickly, Jaune nodding along with her and watching those fascinating swords hover around the mechanical girl. "Penny's attacks are good, and her style is on point, but… Pyrrha's slower than normal."

"Is she?" He didn't see it, if he was honest. She ducked under the blasts and leapt high faster than he could dream to ever do. "She looks fine to me. Are you sure?"

"No…" Still, the woman leaned forward to watch closer, lips pursed. "I don't know…"

The champion fighter lunged in after a minute of useless projectile attacks, throwing Penny back for a moment before the android shot back in and slammed her away, with her beams used as boosters to lance her froward. Penny watched the woman roll over and come up, shield raised protectively and sword brought back to counter strike. The android snapped her hands up and stomped a foot down, and Penny's swords snapped up behind her in a foreboding answer.

"Penny's going to end it." Coco called surely, and Jaune glanced between her and the screen twice before smiling. Penny won, then...

Throwing her hands forward, the blades snapped forward and towards Pyrrha. In response, she seemed to cry out, throwing her own arms wide. The swords staggered to a stop in the air and hung there for the shortest second, and then lashed back towards the android who herself staggered away as though struck. Her arms and legs spasmed shortly and then froze, mouth opening and closing confusedly, until the swords slashed by.

And things corded around her, crushing her and then shearing through her in a shower of sparks, grease and torn cloth. The pieces scattered along with their swords, clattering away as the crowd fell into a shocked silence.

"No!" He was on his feet before the announcer's even spoke, hands fisted in his own hair. Staggering towards the screen and reaching a trembling hand towards her, then let it fall as he remembered he couldn't reach her. "Penny, I… How? Her Aura was up! S-She should be fine! Hurt, maybe, b-but..."

"You can pierce your own Aura, Jaune! They have to be attached to her, somehow, now breathe!" Coco was behind him, pulling him against her and into a hug, then to the couch. Turning his head in her hands, she forced their eyes to meet. "Just breathe, Jaune. Okay? Breathe."

The television chimed, and they both turned to look at it, a single glowing chess piece sitting on the screen. Speaking for both of them, Coco murmured, "What the fuck…?"

"This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians but are in reality nothing more than men. Our academies' headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both."

"Oh Gods…" Coco murmured in shock, shaking her head. "She's got the CCT… If she didn't, they'd turn her off…"

"They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference. And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? First, a dismemberment, now this? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither."

"She was innocent!" Jaune roared, before Coco wrapped her arms around him and pulled him against her. Heart hammering hard in his chest, he choked on air and stammered, "C-Coco, my medicine-"

"On it." Lifting him from the couch and carrying his wheezing form like a child, Coco turned and rushed towards the bed and, beside it, his nightstand. Pulling another of the needles out, she added, "Just try and breathe, Babe. No keeling over on me, understood?"

"W-What's- P-Penny-" He couldn't speak straight, he could tell it even as his body betrayed him.

"Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces."

"W-What's she-"

"Not the problems you need to be focusing on right now, Jaune." He felt her pull his head to the side and let her, the needle pricking his skin a moment later only to be followed by that cool yet hot rush coursing through his veins. "You get it together, and we'll go fuck the bitch up."

He nodded, listening to the mysterious woman continue speaking in the background.

"Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong, but I know that the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves. As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you the situation there is… Equally undesirable."

"Our kingdoms are at the brink of war, yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark. So, I ask you, when the first shots are fired, who do you think you can trust?"

A moment later, the screen cut to static and, distantly, he heard the muted thumps of explosions. Then, the Kingdom's sirens began to chime, the voice coming in over the speaker system warningly, "Grimm Incursion Warning, Class Five. Grimm Incursion Warning, Class Five."

"Gods…" The Grimm were attacking the Kingdom. Dragging him up, Coco pulled him towards the door and flicked open her Scroll. "Fuck! No signal connection, I can't call my rocket-locker. The CCT has to be down, then…"

"The explosions?" He guessed, medicine forcing his heart rate down and numbing his extremities.

"Jaune, I need a weapon." She said, the smaller man following her down the stairs so quickly he stumbled twice and she had to catch him. Looking around his shop, she swore again and shouted in a tense and fear filled voice, "How do you not have a gun?"

"I'm a custom order Engineer!" He shouted, fear coloring his words, "A-All I keep is models, pictures, Dust and…" His eyes turned, looking up over his counter, and he added, "And Twin Mors…"

"I can't use a sword! In my condition, my damn bones will break if I try and block a hit with that! And fuck off with me trying to hit something hard enough to hurt it." She shouted, the blonde grimacing and turning to look at her. Outside, gunfire started sparking around them, along with the shrill shirkes of Nevermore and other avian Grimm pouring into the city, drawn by the negativity. "I need a gun, or we can't get to a shelter! There has to be something else."

"I can." He said simply, voice trembling along with his hands. "In my armor, I can use Twin Mors, if I have to."

"Your heart-"

"Will be fine. I'm on my medicine, and my armor will relieve most of the physical stress from me moving a-and," he choked on the word, but forced it out after a second, "fighting, if it comes to that."

"Are you insane?" She shouted back at him, less anger and more shock coloring her voice. "You aren't trained!"

"Get them with the pointy end is kinda simple, and we're just going for the shelter. It's three blocks." She shook her head, unconvinced, and he asked, "We don't have a gun, and you can't use a sword. Or my armor, it's fitted to me. Without a gun, if we try and go the three blocks and make it, will we make it?"

"...No."

"Then please, Coco, trust me. I'll get us there, and we'll be fine." He smiled and added, trying to sound as confident as he could. "An Arc never breaks his word."

"Okay. Fine." She gave up, holding up a finger warningly, "But we are going straight to the shelter, Jaune. Nowhere else worth going to. I'm getting the ammo you have down here loaded up, fuck knows the guards at the shelter can use it."

Nodding, he turned and ran up the stairs, thankful now for his medicine's effects. But he knew where Coco couldn't that even with a dose of his medicine and his armor, if they had to fight… He skipped past the workshop itself and ran upstairs to his room, and cut across it to his nightstand. Pulling out a second syringe, he sighed and took a deep breath. It was a terrible idea to double dose on it, but…

They had to make it, and there'd be medical teams at the shelters, he reasoned. So with a grunt, he pressed the second needle to his neck and depressed the plunger, then tossed it away and turned to head back into the workshop before he could feel the medicine kick in. He'd need the armor's monitoring systems to keep it under control, and began kicking on its primary systems as fast as he could before finally crawling into it.

No sooner had he pulled the helmet on and unhooked himself, he heard a quiet voice murmur in his ears, "Best-Friend Jaune?"

Freezing, he blinked a few times, and asked, "P-Penny? What-"

"I couldn't upload to the spare body in the Atlesian battleship." She said quietly, scared in a way that he hadn't heard from her before. "My head's redundant power was almost out, and I was bouncing around the Kingdom's warning systems, and then I was in here. Why are you wearing it? Why are your vitals so low?"

"I'll explain later." He said, turning and moving towards the elevator at the back of the shop. "For now, we have to get to a shelter. Grimm are attacking, and-" Outside, he heard a bestial roar and a scream, and then below him he heard glass shatter and felt the building shake before he heard Coco shout a challenge.

"Coco…"