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"I can't believe the Humans took the walls like that."

"One of our Paladin's arms are ruined, damn Atlesians and their missiles… At least the Humans kept them intact."

"I wonder if Perry is okay? He was cute."

"All this ammunition will go a long way."

"Why on Remnant does this base have fifteen tons of lubricant and a giant, inflatable rubber dock on stock?"

While Cinder and the White Fang started preparing for the next bout of fighting, the most vicious one from the thoughts around him, Jaune sat by the gate into the castle's courtyard, sitting on the ground and leaning against one of the many crates the White Fang had gathered to haul back to their ship. Neo sat cross legged above him, smiling and watching the grunts mill about while engineers at the door into the keep proper tried to splice the lock and make it open without destroying the fort. And all the while, trying his damndest to avoid thinking about the fight itself and that man - how it felt not to stab him, but to be stabbed himself, since he'd felt it just the same - by immersing himself in the people around him.

Sensing a couple of grunts slip away, and what came after, he started laughing until Neo leaned over to look at him with curious eyes. "Couple of White Fang soldiers just slipped off for some private fun. Found it amusing, given the circumstances."

"Not a bad idea, really." She thought to him amid a flurry of thoughts from everyone around them, almost buried as he pulled himself more fully back into his own head, narrowing his focus back to the small area around them and letting everything else fade into the dull roar he was used to always hearing in the background. "I mean, they're not important enough to need or notice, so why not, right? I'd do the same with you, if I didn't think the queen bitch would come chasing us into the woods."

He could imagine it too, Cinder storming into the woods with flames crackling around her and catching him in her mouth with his pants around his ankles. He almost laughed, but sighed instead, "Yeah, Cinder and her… team, I guess? They don't really let me run around on my own. And when she can't pay attention to me herself, and I'm out and around, she has someone watching. Right, Emerald?"

With a sigh, and a fe irritated thoughts and swears, she dropped down on the other side of the gate's entrance, where the Squires had once stood and launched Mercury into the air.

She glared balefully at him as she straightened, cocking her hip like Cinder tended to and resting a hand on it, "You are very irritating, you know that? And Cinder has a lot of good reasons to keep a tail on you, so don't complain." "By the Brothers, I'm bored… why can't Mercury watch these two?"

"I know why she's doing it." Jaune said dismissively, "I know why everyone does whatever they do, usually. And I didn't know you worshipped the Brothers?"

Emerald flushed, crossing her arms and looking away from him, "You don't worship the Brothers, and I don't follow them anyways. It's more of… you believe the events happened, way back when. Some people follow rules meant to uphold one of the Brothers' ideas and morals, but many don't." "And they cause a lot of headaches too, in Vacuo…" "And stop reading my mind, you ass."

"I can't exactly switch it of, Emerald." He said tiredly, shrugging when she glared at him. "It sucks, believe me I know that much better than you do, but I can't do anything about it unless I put on my helmet, and Cinder doesn't want me to do that. And she has her reasons, so don't complain."

"Dust damn it, he's turning around my phrases." "You're a very annoying man, you know that? And I know Mercury, so that's saying something." She sighed, shaking her head and turning to look at the ship nestled among the fallen trees left by its wake at the bottom of the hill, leaning against the wall.

"You're angry." He observed, feeling it roil and scrunching his nose when she turned to look at him. "No, you're… conflicted? Agitated? And not at me." He added when she opened her mouth, intending on blaming him, "It's about me, or related, but not at me."

"You're annoying me." She groused quietly, but not with the same heat he'd normally have expected. "Especially since she keeps paying you so much attention…" She turned to look at him angrily, "Shit, he heard that!" "Keep your mouth shut about it."

He turned his head, sighing softly as he sensed Cinder turn to approach them, "I won't, now relax before she gets curious."

"I could always-"

"No, Neo, behave yourself." He said half-heartedly, reaching up to slap her leg weakly. He could feel her pout as she flopped back onto the crate, arms and legs spread wide, but ignored her as Cinder approached. "Any news?"

"We're almost ready to breach the keep, and you're on the front lines, Jaune. Right with Emerald, Mercury, Neo and, of course, myself. The typical tactic here is for us to push in, and let the Auraless follow behind." She gestured behind her at the assembling fighters, around two dozen, "Specialists, or so I'm told. Here to make a showing of some kind for us, I would wager. That's half of why I had you go to such pains to take the walls without casualties." "That and how insufferable Taurus is whenever I lose soldiers of his."

"O-Okay." He said weakly, standing while Neo turned her head to watch them disinterestedly. He couldn't lie, he wasn't exactly thrilled about what she was suggesting. Hell, he opposed it entirely, but such was life. For him, at least.

"You'll be alright." Neo 'said', kicking his shoulder gently to get his attention, "I'll keep an eye on you, so you'll be safe at least."

"I know, Neo." He said quietly, sighing. That wasn't the problem, really, not that she had any way of telling that on her own. Neo was… not the best at empathising with other people on a good day. "You ready for this, Neo?"

She nodded, rolling and flipping off the box with her hand, and Jaune rolled her eyes at her showing off. She winked at him when she notice him looking at her in an amused way, and he sighed. She was trying to cheer him up still, distracting him from everything else around him. He followed Cinder and Neo to the door, a short White Fang soldier kneeling by it, his rifle lying next to him on the grass, two horns curling around his head on top of a small frame. A sheep Faunus, maybe?

He turned when Cinder approached him, looking up and talking in a shy, weak voice, Like the kind that a child used with strangers, almost. "Doors ready to open whenever you want, Ma'am. No way of hiding what I did to it though, so watch yourselves. Probably gonna have defenses built on the other side of the wall." "Assuming they aren't suicidal, of course. Seen dumber though."

"Jaune?" She asked, turning to him slightly, "What do you… detect?" "Trying to say that without revealing too much is… surprisingly hard." She gestured at the door, smiling coyly, "By all means, test yourself."

He swallowed nervously, stepping past her, almost touching the door with his forehead and closing his eyes. True to what the Faunus had said, he could feel the nervous thoughts of soldiers on the other side, preparing.

"Where's the damn ammunition for this thing? How can I use the heavy gun without ammunition!"

"Why are the White Fang here? We're not even important enough for a Paladin or Squire detachment! What's going on?"

"They're jamming our radio too… I just want to send my wife a message, by the Brothers!"

"Where are the damn cakes? I'm not dying on an empty stomach!"

"They're forming up defenses on the other side, some kind of… heavy gun. It doesn't have a lot of ammo though, from the sounds of it." He flinched when the panic hit him harder than normal, shaking his head and turning to look at Cinder. She smiled approvingly and his jaw worked in agitation, both his and feeding off those inside the keep proper. "That's all I can offer."

"Perfect." She said simply, rolling her shoulders as flame flowed down her arm, ending at her hands as balls of flame curling around her fingers. "I shall destroy that at the first, then." She turned to Merald, the girl straightening at the attention, "I will be fatigued for a few moments after, shall protect me, while I recover."

"How long will that take?" Jaune asked nervously, not liking the idea of lacking some of their strongest firepower.

"A couple minutes at worst." Emerald said quickly, looking to Cinder for affirmation. When the older woman nodded, she continued, "We've had to do similar in the past, it never takes very long." "As long as she doesn't have to maintain her Aura constantly, she should be fine." "I use my Semblance to hide her, then back out to rest when she's recovered." "Muddying thoughts is much easier than making illusions outright."

"Got it." Jaune said, looking at Neo, "What do you want us to do until you get back up and, you know, hurling fires around and roasting people?"

"I want your harlot to find and kill officers, they're the only ones really keeping these new soldiers." Jaune grimaced and Cinder sighed tiredly, irritation rolling off of her, "I understand, Jaune, you hate killing people you see as 'good'. Hence me targeting officers. The others will panic and run, or surrender outright." "Or they'll all die, surely enough."

"My men will provide covering fire and support, once the fight starts to turn." The sheep Faunus added from Cinder's other side, arm resting on his knee while he knelt and waited for the order to start. "If shit hits the fan particularly hard, we'll go in early to help you all." "Even if my people get pissy at fighting with Humans."

"Thank you." Jaune offered honestly, smiling politely at the Faunus. He nodded his head in return, and Jaune turned to face the door more fully. "Open it up, then. Uh, assuming that you're ready, Cinder?"

She chuckled quietly, turning to the White Fang soldier with her fires burning brightly in her hand, and rolled her shoulders again to stretch them out. "Open the door so we may get this started." "At long last."

He nodded, leaning down and going to work on the hole he'd broken in the wall. After a few seconds of his mumbling, the door clicked loudly and slid back. Jaune charged in first, shield raised as a torrent of rounds slammed into it hard enough to shake his arm and numb it, and Cinder followed.

The defenses inside were minimal, as he'd kind of expected after the previous trouncing they'd received. A large round entry area, about ten feet in diameter, with three hallways leading off. One straight in front of the door, and town more to either side. Furniture of all kinds, from beds to tables,crammed each one with a thin area in the middles that a man could get through if he turned sideways and slid through slowly. Straight across from the door and resting on top of an overturned bedframe, a soldier unleashing the rounds into his shield with a couple fellows to either side.

Stepping to his left, partially shielding herself behind his shield, Cinder flicked her wrists. Two balls of fire flew across the room, each the size of an Ursa, and seared the stone floor black as it went. The dozen soldiers behind the barricade were hurled through the air once it struck, wood, metal and even stone flying into the room beyond where the walls cracked on either side. He felt most die, but a couple on the furthest flanks started to stagger away. Neo flashed to the one on the right, slamming a boot into his head before doing the same to the other, and the girl smiled at him expectantly,hoping for more praise at her restraint.

He smiled, covering Cinder as Emerald came to join her and protect her before moving to his left, trying to keep his numb shield-arm up under the weight of the heavy - if inaccurate - fire of the panicked soldiers on that side. Several White Fang soldiers at the door leaned in, doing their best to suppress the equally frightened soldiers on the right side. Which worked rather well, reducing their fire to random bursts flying around the room, hitting the other barricade and the soldiers there as often as they bounced weakly off his Aura and armor.

He approached the barricade hesitantly - short, shaky steps, using the senses of others to tell his location more than his own eyes while he hid behind the thick metal shield - and cautiously, before Neo appeared above it and landed among them, her sword killing two soldiers in rapid thrusts before she leapt,wrapping her legs around a woman's head and blinding her with her stomach as she forced her weight back, flipping her off the barricade and hurling her a few feet across the hallway on the other side. Jaune was just about to start squeezing through when a large man in heavier armor, white painted like the Atlesians always wore, but far heavier and looking closer to plated armor, with a full helmet like the normal men's aside from the two horns curling down from them like the other Faunus' outside.

Another Faunus? He didn't have enough time to wonder as he swung his large axe, Jaune ducking under it and scrambling back as Neo joined him, "An Atlesian Specialist, be careful. He's dangerous. They're like Huntsman, but enlisted in the military."

Like the other Atlesians, his armor was painted a bright white and covered his limbs in sheathes of metal to protect him. The body, however, was different. The top was solid, a triangle rising up in the front of his stomach along the same lines where Jaune would bet the Atlesian's ribs were, dull edge rimmed black. Under that, a short piece of cloth rested at the connection between it and the stomach pieces, dozens and more small metal plates linked together and layered, making a flexing barrier that wouldn't hinder movement. His helmet was full, round topped with a dark visor on the front shaped like a large T, with wider eye areas at the top. Lighter colored portions on the sides under his horns, where pieces could probably be removed to let the helmet come on, contrasted with the dark white. The shoulders and legs were covered by stiff, and short, cloth with metal underneath. Four Vs with three stars were on each and his right breast, probably a show of rank. Thin cloth covered his neck, probably meant for warmth in other climates.

He looked behind him, at Emerald, and the green-haired thief shook her head at him. Cinder was behind her, resting against the wall and watching him with hard, if admittedly dull, eyes. He turned back to the man, soldiers manning the barricades behind him training their weapons on him and his mute partner anxiously. He could sense the others doing the same, the White Fang at the door even stopping to watch what would happen next.

Taking a nervous breath, Jaune shifted into a more defensive stance with his shield a few inches in front of him and his blade resting with the flat against its rim. "Are you the commander of the, uh, castle garrison here?"

"He doesn't know? Odd." The man shifted, looking at the destroyed barricade and then at his men across the room, What do i say? I can't risk a bigger fight, even if I can win it in the end. If the garrison is dead and the castle in pieces, I won't survive long before the Grimm strike… What do I do here?" "Yes. Specialist Walter Brass, of Atlas."

"You should give up, Walter." Jaune advised nervously, gesturing at the wall and the area outside, "You're outnumbered, and surrounded, and no one is able to help you. Surrender the fort, I don't want anyone else to get hurt here."

"Then leave." He grunted, gesturing at the door, "Take your terrorists with you." If I surrender, will the White Fang kill me for joining Atlas? And what about my men? I have Faunus in my ranks." "Me and my men will fight regardless of the dds, we're Atlesians."

"We can take him easy." He didn't even need to look at Cinder to know that was off the table, and turned his head slightly to look at Neo, "If we kill him, the others may give up. I used to do that all the time, it let me have them for later. He may be a Specialist, but the fact he's out here at what amounts to a training base says a lot about how dangerous he is."

"You and your men won't be surrendering to the White Fang, you'd be surrendering to me. None of you have to worry about any prejudice, I swear." He said, knocking his sword against his shield lightly, "An Arc never breaks his word."

"Not happening." He grunted back, hefting the axe in both hands in front of him, "I have more trust in my axe than in you, so not happening." "The White Fang might scatter if I beat him, they seem to be deferring to him. For them to respect a Human says a lot." "I wager that if your head rolls, the battle will end in my favor regardless."

"You are way overestimating how important I am." Jaune said simply, sighing and resigning himself to the fight to come. "Let's just... get this over with then, I guess."

The man didn't say anything else, sliding his right hand up to the base of the blade part of his axe and charging him. Jaune braced himself for it, watching the man put weight behind his off-shoulder side as he ran. Neo ran off the side, turning to run at his side after a few steps, and a man on the barricades tried to shoot at her. She turned and smiled, shattering as the rounds impacted and reappearing in front of Jaune as the larger Faunus got close. She swung her sword and the man flicked out his hand, her weapon bouncing away as though it had struck an invisible barrier.

Returning the hand he'd used against Neo to the bottom of his axe, inverting it so the head nearly touched the floor and slamming it into her chest. The girl's Aura blocked as much as it could, but she still doubled over the axe's head, and the man grabbed her with his right hand before she could get away, wrapping an armored fist around her neck and hurling her to the ground next to his right and hefting the axe over his other shoulder.

Jaune rushed in, slamming his shield's rim into the man's forearm when he raised his axe to hit her again before she could recover. He grunted at the force of the impact, turning the axe to strike Jaune's shield instead. The force shoved him back and he staggered, the man grabbing it and swinging it as hard as he could at Jaune's chest while he flailed for balance. Neo appeared next to Jaune, yanking his hoodie back and pulling him out of the way of the blow, the axe slamming into her shoulder with a dull crunch and forcing her to the ground with a gasp of surprised pain.

"Enough force can break bones through Aura, kids. Lesson of the day, I guess. Got a few more for you if you don't back down." He said quickly, pulling his axe to the side and horse kicking her in the stomach to drive her to the ground. "And ways to get past it are damn useful, hence the blunted axe. An edge might get stopped, a blunt weapon though… That'll hurt right through Aura." Even if it is a bit of a brutal tactic… It works."

Jaune and Neo both rose, the latter shakily with her left arm hand uselessly. She grunted at Jaune when he looked at her, and she smiled, "I'm fine, this is kind of fun now. It's boring when they don't fight back."

He hefted his axe again in his hands, bouncing lightly and watching them. "The one with the shield will probably lead, while the injured one tries to get at my back again. I didn't see her Aura pop, so my men can't handle her…" Jaune felt the man look back at him and tensed, hand gripping his shield tighter, "If I can kill her, he shouldn't pose a problem."

This time, he didn't charge, instead content to wait until they made a move. And standing in the cold stone entryway to his castle, Jaune understood why. He was in precisely no hurry, every minute that passed was a minute that help could theoretically arrive. And now Neo was hurt as well and, when he turned to see if Cinder could help, she shook her head, a weak ember smoldering in her hands in front of her. Emerald couldn't do anything either, and Mercury was probably still at the ship, he didn't sense him among the men and women outside.

Jaune advanced on the Atlesian lowly, easing his foot forward over and over, until he was only a few feet away with Neo at his side. The axe-wielding Atlesian pulled his off leg back, holding the head of his axe near his head. When Jaune lunged in, aiming a weak thrust for his face, he swung it around form his left powerfully enough to force him back a step. Neo ducked under it, slashing across his stomach a few times before he swung down and smashed her, the small woman shattering into a million pieces as her Semblance moved her to his back.

As Neo swung at his back, Jaune swung for his chest, and he held up his right hand towards Jaune. The blonde knight bounced back as though he'd hit a wall, stumbling away while the Atlesian soldier spun and forced Neo back with a heavy swing. Turning back around again, the Atlesian swung through that same space that Jaune had bounced off, sweeping his legs out from under him and dropping him heavily on the ground, the weight of his own armor driving the breath from his lungs and leaving him spread eagle on the cold floor.

He hefted the axe high over head, and Jaune didn't even need his Semblance to know what he intended to do with it. As it descended, Neo rolled under the Atlesian and grabbed ahold of Jaune, the two shattering as the hit landed and reappearing above the man. Jaune hit the ground next to him and grunted, struggling even harder to breathe and rolling over as she landed on his shoulders and started trying to choke him, that sort of action not thwarted by Aura generally.

He staggered in surprise, reaching up with his off hand to grab her wounded arm, yanking on her broken shoulder hard enough that Jaune saw stars and slamming her into the ground. He buried the axe-head into the ground and flicked his right hand, using his left to hurl her to the side where she slammed into another invisible wall, sliding down it into a heap on the floor as brown sparks smoldered across her body.

Her Aura, flaring as it approached death. The Atlesian noticed, looking between them and sighing, "I had hoped you'd give up now." Jaune glared and tried to rise, looking past him to Cinder. The brunette shook her head yet again, grimacing, and the Atlesian continued, "I suppose you give me no alternative then. None may say I didn't try, at least." "Even if I knew it wouldn't work."

He adjusted his grip on the axe's metal pole, the worn grip at its center's black contrasting with the white of the weapon and the dull grey at its head. With a sharp twist and clock, a red energy field sparked at the front, like the older variants of Atlesian Knights that the SDC used for security. A cutting field that upper heated and melted away whatever it hit, metal or flesh, as easily as a hot knife through butter.

Jaune staggered to his feet for what felt like the twelfth time and Neo did similar, the small woman panting slightly and bleeding from a cut on her forehead. A bad sign, to be sure.

He hefted it at her in a powerful swing and she shattered, appearing next to Jaune as her Aura flared dully and vanished, and Jaune rushed in, swinging his sword at his opponent's stomach. Neo, Hazel, Pyrrha, no one he'd 'absorbed' fought like him, he couldn't predict his attacks as easily as them. He could still read his muscle memory, of course, but that wasn't enough to beat the better-trained man.

Neo poked him with her rapier, "I only have enough Aura to make one more jump. I can't take any more hits, it won't even stop them."

"I'll hold him off then." He said shakily, as much thanks to his damn nerves as the fatigue he was feeling. The Atlesians around him cheered for their leader, while the White Fang at the door watched anxiously. The former's excitement ate away at him as much as the later's anxiety. "Or try to, at least."

This time, Walter charged Jaune, axe held high and ready to finish off his weakened enemy. Neo backed away quickly, before Jaune could even tell her to, sticking only as close as she felt she needed to be to help. Jaune held his ground, raising his shield to block the attack.

And ducking under it, slamming his shield edge-first up into the flat of the axe-head to force it away. He felt the man's surprise, slashing at his stomach and stepping past him, keeping his right side to him so he could swing again at his back. The blade struck the protective metal, digging into it slightly, and Jaune actually felt a swell of confidence and surprise, the latter from the Faunus fighter and followed by irritation.

He spun partially, using the bottom of the axe's haft as a surprise bludgeon and smashing it into his head and knock him down before turning the other direction and hefting the weapon overhead, swinging for his neck. The electrified weapon would sap his Aura rapidly, while the weight snapped his neck. He raised Crocea Mors over his head, sword behind his shield to add extra weight.

The axe struck hard, and Jaune felt his arms burn at the weight as the man bore down to make the electrical energy arc against and into the shield, sparking across his body painfully and making his hair rise. His Aura shielded him from the burns, but he electricity still hurt badly, and he couldn't hold in a short, breathless scream as his arms began to give.

Pulling back, he swung it like a golf club and knocked his shield to the side, stepping on his arm with a leg and hefting the axe overhead. "Sorry, kid, just a job you weren't cut out for." "Not the first to refuse to give up, won't be the last either, probably."

"Jaune, teleporting! Try and roll to the side!" He turned his head just enough to see her, and tried to move, but his numb, weakened body refused.

Neo slammed into him from the side before the blow could land, and they shattered one more time as it bit home. But Jaune felt the sting and arc anyways, empathetically as they rolled across the ground a few yards away, with Jaune ending on top and wincing. Turning to find his opponent, he started to stagger upright and slipped, falling into a warm, red pool as he did and looking at Neo's still form.

"Neo?" He asked quietly, reaching out to touch her back, her white jacket pinkening around the harsh tear in the cloth and, under it, the soft skin. She not only failed to answer…

She failed to dream in her unconscious state, as all others had done so.

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