9

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I am going to be delayed, Cinder. It cannot be helped." Adam growled, standing in the middle of a parking garage his particular group were living in, empty aside from a couple guards at the door. "Sienna Khan has demanded I come see him, I have to put the fire out there before we can move forward. Then I have to see Ghira as well, to… convince him that we will avoid large conflicts that would bring aggression to Menagerie."

"That is… disappointing, but unavoidable." Cinder intoned quietly, sighing on the other end and washing the low end Scroll with static, "Can we still expect the men we need? Our plan's success should convince him of your own."

"I don't think raiding Atlas will make him think we are avoiding large conflicts, Cinder." He argued shortly, pacing in a circle a couple fee wide, "He wants peace more than anything right now, and if I don't do as he-"

"If you do as he says, you know what your real master will do." Cinder interrupted smoothly, that typical cocky attitude clear in her voice and grating in his ears, "Let him bluster, the White Fang here follow you and I, not him. He won't kill you for disagreeing with him, so simply return here. Because, unlike him, I don't mind spilling blood if you turn from me."

"I understand, woman. I will come when I am able." He smashed the button on his Scroll, flinging it into a nearby wall with a roar after a moment. "Dust damn it all to hell!"

"Sir?" He turned sharply, the young man flinching in surprise, "I, uh, wanted to make sure you were alright, sir."

"I'm… I'm fine, Graves. You don't have to worry about me. If I remember right, you have a sister that's expecting?" He smiled at the man, forced and stiff, and he knew that the man could tell. Just like the man knew he was only being civil, but smiled anyways.

"Yes, sir. She's s'posed to pop anytime in the next few days. A girl." He smiled at his boss, grinning widely beneath the helmet and his rifle held in relaxed hands, "She and her husband are arguing about names now."

"A little late, isn't it?" Adam asked quietly, turning to the door and gesturing for the man to follow- a distraction more than anything. "They've had nine months, how can they still be arguing about it?"

"That's what I keep saying!" He laughed, following his leader through the room, "What kinda name is she gonna end up with anyways, if they can't decide on one?"

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Cinder glared at the small, blinking icon that indicated she'd been hung up on for a minute before sighing in irritation and collapsing it, sliding it into her bra for safekeeping; anyone reaching in there would have problems even with her Scroll in hand. Immolation being one of them. She adjusted her sleeping garments into a more comfortable position, cracking her neck and groaning. The bed looked plush and soft, as did the rest of her room at the 'Fang hideout, but it wasn't quite as comfortable as she was used to.

"Cinder?" Her head snapped up quickly, startling Emerald slightly in the doorway to her room, the plates clattering and tinkling slightly when she jumped. "I-I know you said you didn't want anyone to come in, but I-I figured, maybe, you'd be hungry?"

"So you elected to bring me a meal yourself? What do you think I am, a child that can't so much as eat or send for food without you?" She snarked lightly, smiling at the girl to show she was playing before sighing at the timid thing and gesturing to her bed, "Set that food somewhere and come sit down, Emerald."

"Uh, y-yes, ma'am," She half-squeaked, looking away when Cinder crossed her legs teasingly. She quickly set the steak and potatoes she'd managed to find on Cinder's dresser, and went to sit next to her mistress nervously.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you; Adam is just being infuriating, as usual." Cinder said quietly, reaching a hand up to toy with the stiff girl's hair playfully, "And I do appreciate the food, although I think there is more to your intent than simply feeding me."

"N-No! I was just worried that you would be hungry, and I knew you were calling him and he always irritates you, s-so I went to the kitchens and got you something you would like!" She argued quietly, twiddling her thumbs nervously while Cinder played with her hair.

Cinder hummed in thought, running her hand through her hair and down her back, ghosting just inside the hem of Emerald's top teasingly before pulling away, "A shame, then. I must have misread your desires; if you were willing to take what you wanted… I would have enjoyed something more relaxing."

"B-But I-I didn't think you'd-" She reached for Cinder's hands, but the woman stood and took a few steps away, heading towards the food.

"Next time, don't hesitate. What you want is yours- you need only take it." She turned, her gown rustling quietly, and put a hand on her hip, "When you are willing to take it, you may have it. That is how life works. See what you want, wait for the time to strike, then don't hesitate. Take it. Now leave me, so I may eat in peace."

"I…" Emerald sighed, standing and looking at her sadly, "Yes ma'am." Cinder watched the young woman walk from the room stiffly, waiting for the door to shut before sighing and picking up her food.

"Silly girl."

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Qrow spun, his scythe singing upwards and through and Ursa Major's throat easily as he chuckled, "Ah, I missed going on hunts like these, back in the day."

A Beowolf leapt at him, and he sidestepped it easily, two gunshots cracking out in the forest and disintegrating its head, "You should watch your back. Preferably before it gets ripped open."

"I had it handled." Qrow grumbled quietly, chuckling lightly and rolling his shoulders, "Where's your team, anyways? Shouldn't you be watching their backs instead of mine?"

"'Bout a hundred yards to the east, Beau told me to check on you." He shrugged, turning towards the woods with a revolver raised, the black surface shining lightly, "Told her we shouldn't worry about you."

"Surprising confidence in my abilities." Qrow commented, smiling and walking past him in the direction he'd indicated. "They wantin' my help? A few of the lil' piggies I sent you all after need a proper sticking?"

"No, I said that if you died, you weren't a good Huntsman, so we should ignore you." The man muttered lowly, glaring at him lightly and stepping past, "And I doubt you know anything about sticking anything but pigs, so you could show us a trick if you like."

"Ass." Qrow grunted, before smiling, "Speaking of asses.…"

"Get near Beau, and I will shoot your cock off." The younger Hunter growled, brandishing his gun threateningly, "I rarely miss; but even if I do, she'll tie you up, and leave you out in the woods."

"Kinky."

"Son of a bitch." He grunted, turning and storming off towards the sound of muted explosions and snarling animals. "Just come the fuck on and do your job."

"It's actually your job, I'm just helping. Out of the goodness of my pure, pure heart, I assure you." Qrow added with a smirk at the man, who sighed. "Your leader's firm, leather clad, behind is all yours, don't worry." Qrow chuckled when the other man sighed exhaustively. "Incoming."

The warning was just enough for the younger man to brace himself as a grey streak hit him, knocking him onto his back. "Thanks for the save, Char. By the way, there were three Geists, not two." The streak, a grey-clad Fox Faunus said as she took belts of pistol rounds and fed them into her gauntlets before running back into the fray. "Hurry the hell up!"

"Speaking of said asses…." Qrow said with a chuckle, lining his sword up horizontally and charging through the woods brazenly.

"Stop talking about their asses, damn it!" The other yelled, following behind quickly with a small scowl. He caught up in time to see one of the Gheists, inhabiting a few trees that it had intertwined around it protectively, dragged down by the massive Kale, his greatsword in the dirt at his side, and Beau using her whip. Qrow shot into the air, coming down on top of it and shattering its mask easily, killing it.

"Trip 'em up or stagger 'em, then go for the throat." Qrow advised quietly, standing forward with a smile, "Easy as pie."

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Winter's sword flicked, a line of ice bisecting a Boarbatusk and flinging it's pieces to either side without any stress, "Number three, report again on Grimm activity in this area?"

"Predicted heavy Grimm presence, mostly light units and horde types, such as Beowolves and Creeps." One of the drones intoned, marching beside her mechanically with its rifle readied, "Reports appear inaccurate."

"It is kind of odd. Where are all the fluffy, black bastards, anyways? I want to get the most out of Shiro before I get the new Mechs." A female voice said from a white-painted bipedal mech, trundling along behind her loudly, its dual guns whirring almost in a bored way. "The old girl deserves a better send off than this…."

"It's… definitely suspicious, to say the least." Winter agreed, shaking her head and grimacing, "Why would the Grimm leave?" The woods gave way to a large, open clearing, dotted with large slabs resting in the dirt here and there. "This is the location, so where did they go? Was the information simply incorrect, or… is this a trick by someone playing with Atlas?"

"Unknown, Specialist. The Grimm employ tactics as often as they do not." The drone intoned again, "Warning: Alpha presence likely when tactics are observed above basic instinctual levels. Advise caution or retreat, Specialist Schnee."

"Prepping the heavier cannons. Just in case we need to blow the literal hell out of something… big." The pilot said easily, "If we hold position for a few, I can do a radar scan, Specialist."

"Do it. Drones, circle formation, use the stones to avoid digging types. You too, Pilot. Assume hostiles inbound until the scan confirms otherwise." The drones didn't respond, instead the six of them moving into a circle formation around Winter and the Squire, kneeling with rifles ready in the large clearing. The Pilot also wordlessly moved to one of the stones, and Winter herself stood beside her machine, observing the area critically, "Pilot, run the scan."

"Running it, just hold on a tick." She answered, turning the top of the mech in a slow circle, the machine whirring quietly in the otherwise dead silence of the forest. Winter turned too, looking around and up, at Vale's High Wall in the background, a few miles off at best. She barely got a quarter of the way through her scan before she opened fire with her twin cannons and four fire-synced machine guns, turning slowly to create an arc of fire. "Grimm, surrounding us, I see three Alpha class among them! They're hiding from my fire in the trees, I can't get a bead without compromising the formation."

"Damn it… Drones, supporting fire. Pilot, check yours, I'm engaging in melee to try and flush them out. Hold position, the last thing we need is you being ambushed by a Deathstalker or a horde of Creeps." She barked, leaping forward and flicking her sword, beheading an unlucky Beowolf. "Drones, tighten formation, but maintain it and stay on the stones."

They stood stiffly, rifles barking bursts of automatic fire into the approaching packs, combining with the fire from the Squire to keep them at bay, "Specialist, advise request for support from the fleet. There's more coming, at least on my short range radar."

"No!" She barked back angrily, flicking a trail of ice spikes into the packs and pinning a few to the ground, some snarling and yipping in rage and pain, "We can hold them off, I just need to kill those Alphas, and the rest will lose their cohesion! Maintain positions, drones."

"Yes ma'am." The pilot grumbled, turning and opening fire on a particularly dense cluster of the Beowolves, "Scans are showing Creeps and more 'Wolves on their way, ma'am."

She grunted an acknowledgement, and grimaced before channeling her Aura, "Drones, check fire. I am using my Semblance, so suppress around me until I am ready." She swallowed nervously, backpedaling from a Creep's swipe, "Confirm command."

"Command confirmed." The drone nearby monotoned, standing and turning to fire around Winter, suppressing the Grimm. "Other Knights status: Unable to assist without compromising Squire safety."

"Good enough…." She murmured, closing her eyes enough to focus and think of something useful she could summon. Smiling, she flicked her hand out, and a Glyph spun into existence beside her on the ground, the tip of her fingers touching it, allowing her Aura to flow out and weave the form she had decided on.

The Atlesian Colossus appeared with a muted thud, slamming a boot down onto an unfortunate Creep before plucking a Beowolf from the ground and crushing it in its hand, flinging it aside dismissively. She remembered this Colossus vaguely, she'd watched Weiss duel it for her right to attend Beacon.

"Damn it…." She'd summoned it without its weapon, a common enough problem with creating things that aren't their original Summon. "Colossus, eliminate the Alphas."

It didn't respond, instead straightening and throwing a Creep into a Beowolf, three more scrabbling across its back as it trundled forward. The three Alphas roared, charging from cover and attacking the summon viciously, using its body as cover from the Squire behind it. The Colossus caught the first in both hands, snapping it in two easily and dropping the corpse. The other two joined the three minor Beowolves scrabbling on its back, the more powerful claws digging into the Aura metal viciously.

It staggered under the weight, and Winter's eyes narrowed, "Drones, priority shift. Support the Colossus. Squire, close with us and support as well."

"But-"

"That's an order, Pilot." She barked, standing and charging into the fray, a spinning whirlwind of death and ice, lashing out and bisecting weaker Grimm to ease the burden on her drones and her Pilot's Squire.

"God damned Huntresses and their skip-promotions…" The Pilot muttered, turning from her superior position and trudging towards the fray heavily, firing its lighter cannons into the area around the Drones, the Grimm closing in. She slammed a foot into one that leapt at a Knight and missed. It snarled from beneath her mech's foot before she added some weight and crushed it entirely with a squelch. "Specialist, we're being overrun!"

"Hold position! My Colossus has eliminated the Alphas, their cohesion shouldn't hold much-"

"Drone Four is down, and I have three Creeps on my hull!" The Pilot argued, turning to smack one off her leg with a gun barrel and sweeping the field with a torrent of fire, "And my guns are heating up too much, they'll melt at this rate." She winced when two Beowolves dragged Six down and tore it limb from limb, feeling mild sympathy for the robot before she fired a heavy shot that blew it, and the Grimm, to bits and pieces. "We need support, and I'm calling for it."

"I… you're right, call in a drop." Winter conceded, watching her Colossus turn and knock a tree over onto several Beowolves, "What the hell is the problem with these things? They're attacking more insanely than normal…."

"Support is on its way, three squads of drones and a squad of Atlesian Soldiers." The Pilot informed her, turning and trundling towards her, "Climb onto my mech, we need to make a retreat."

"What? Why?" Winter asked in irritation, turning to look at the blood-soaked mech, smoke belching from a few breaches in its armor, "What's going on?"

"The fleet is under attack as well, we're to retreat to an area closer to the walls and coordinate with air forces to fight." The Pilot told her, the woman climbing on top of the Squire carefully and holding into the handle the Pilot would use to climb into the cockpit, "The Drones will stay and fight, leave your… thing with them. They'll buy us time." She grimaced, but gave the orders anyways, and they stomped away as fast as the walking Atlesian tank could carry them.

"I understand." She sighed, shaking her head, "As bad as normal, I suppose. Aside from the… odd coordination. I guarantee the General gets more troops down here now, Atlesian honor is at stake."

"Whatever you say, Specialist." The Pilot answered back, rolling her eyes, "I'll note it in my report."

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Jaune grunted painfully, breath shooting out of him in a rush of air as his body curled around Cardin's mace and he staggered back, coughing but raising his shield to ward off a swing he sensed headed towards his head. It half-worked, the blow spinning him rather than tossing him away entirely, and he heard Cardin laughing before a boot met his ass and threw him down, the buzzer for the match sounding a moment later.

"Mister Arc, while you have improved a great deal in the last week, you still have a long way to go. However, I would stick to your current training, the improvements are marked." Professor Goodwitch said crisply, stepping into the center of the arena to address them both, "Mister Winchester, you put too much emphasis on offense, and need to learn to defend properly. Simply hitting things won't make for a long life for you." "A surprising and quite impressive improvement, indeed."

"I won, why the hell are you scolding me?" "I kicked the little shit's ass, isn't that the point?" Cardin demanded angrily, sneering and jerking his head at Jaune while he staggered up, "Get off my case, he's the one who lost."

"Yes, he is, just as he lost his first match to you. However, in a week's time, he went from unable to last thirty seconds, to lasting three minutes, and learning to defend against your attacks." Glynda informed him coolly, hard eyes boring into him, "He, has had a six hundred percent increase in combat skill. You have shown zero. And the next time you swear in my class, you will face me in the arena yourself. Am I understood?" "Insufferable teenagers…"

"Yes, ma'am." He grumbled, shoving past Jaune and making his way to his seat stiffly, thoughts angry and spinning like a maelstrom.

"Mister Arc, if you like, you may return to your dorm and rest." Glynda added quietly, stepping up to stand next to him, concern emanating from her in waves. "You took some moderately powerful blows in that bout, and it wouldn't do to force yourself to persist while injured." "Those hits would have winded even me, at your age… I can't imagine how someone who is barely more than a civilian holds up against it."

"Yeah, I'll do that." Jaune agreed, smiling and nodding at her in spite of the barbed thoughts, "Get some rest, before classes tomorrow." He was fine, but it would be a nice chance to meditate and ease the ache in his head from the fight, and the people around him, "Thanks, Miss Goodwitch."

"Miss Rose, you have had your round today, would you mind accompanying Mister Arc back to his room?" She called out, striding away easily, "Ensure he gets some rest, if you please." "I need to oversee some examples being made, I feel."

"Yep!" Jaune jumped when she flashed to his side in a flurry of rose petals, smiling brightly, "I can keep an eye on him for you, ma'am!" "Simple enough, anyone could handle that."

"Thank you." She said simply, turning and looking at the group, "The next match will be… Dove Bronzewing and Pyrrha Nikos." "That should prove an example enough…."

Jaune chuckled quietly, walking towards the exit with Ruby in tow, doing his best to keep from laughing at the professor's thoughts. They only made it halfway down the hallway to the dorms when Ruby spoke up again, "Soooo, we should sneak and go grab some snacks." "I could eat a horse… A horse shaped cookie? Nah, no way they'd make that for me."

"We could, yeah. Or you could run there yourself, get a couple pizzas, say they're for a guy that was excused from combat class, and come to my dorm?" He smiled at her, hearing the thoughts whirl by at the suggestion, before she nodded and shot off in a flash of rose petals. "That was fast… and easy."

He returned to walking, pushing the door to his room open and starting to undo the straps of his armor, humming lightly. Aside from the upperclassmen on higher floors, everyone was out at classes, so it was quiet. Setting the plate armor and hoodie in his closet with his weapon, and making a mental note to return it to his locker eventually, he plopped onto his bed with a grunt. He stared at the ceiling for several seconds before sitting up and returning to the now-familiar meditating position- relaxing quickly with a sigh and reaching out for minds to hear and feel, eyes to see through.

The first was an upperclassmen arguing via Scroll with her team, "I know it's not right, Coco, but there's nothing I can do about it."

"You could kick his damn ass!" She snarked back over the static, voice echoing through his link to the Faunus' eyes and ears, "That would probably teach him a lesson about fucking with you."

"And turn his attention on other Faunus as well." She argued back simply, smiling lightly at the other woman and her friends, "I'm from Atlas, Coco, there wasn't a day there that someone didn't grab my ears, or my butt to feel for a tail. I can take this. Others might not be able to, though."

"So you choose your own pain over others." A large man rumbled quietly, sighing, "I dislike it, though I understand it."

"Help…" he flinched, turning his attention away from the Faunus woman and diving towards the voice once again. It was the only time he'd heard it since that first day in the training room. The same pain assaulted him, the sensations of fire, burning, panic, suffocation, all piling on more and more the longer he was in contact with whoever this was.

Then he saw something, for the first time with any real clarity. A… cavern, of some sort, stretching out somewhere below him and dimly lit with green torches. 'He' turned 'his' head, looking around and observing as much as possible before pain lanced through him in his dorm, "Who are you? Where are you? What are you?"

Swallowing nervously, he did his best to ignore the flashes of pain and fear he was feeling and responded, "My name is Jaune. I'm… a Huntsman in training, at Beacon. I… I feel so much pain… is that you?"

"Yes." She answered after a moment, sighing across the link along with a sense of relief and joy, "I was attacked, and I'm… I don't know, in a coma or something, but it hurts so much.…"

"I know, I can feel it too." He answered with a wince, grimacing at the feelings, "I… don't know how long I can stay linked to you like this before I can't maintain it anymore."

"D-Don't push yourself too far, Jaune. If you need to leave, do so. Just… come back. I have no one I can speak to." He smiled sadly, and felt the sorrow rolling off her at the statement.

"My friend is coming back, but I'll come back to you as soon as I can and try to find a way to help, okay?" He sensed her resignation and sighed, receding and returning to his dorm. He looked up when the door opened and Ruby came in, laden with a dozen pizzas.

"Jaune! I got food!" She cheered, setting it on a bed before smiling and turning to him, "This should be-" She blushed, spinning around and yanking her hood over her head, "W-Where is your shirt, Jaune?" "So many muscles… Yang's gonna tease me until I die."

"I was hot and sweaty, and didn't want to mess up a shirt for no reason." He said, shrugging and plucking a shirt off the floor, "But if it bothers you, I'll-"

"N-No!" She said, spinning around with wide eyes and flushed cheeks, "Y-You don't have to… I'll just eat and leave anyways, so…" "So many muscles…." "You don't have to."

"Alright." He said, smiling and stretching out teasingly, sensing and feeling her eyes. It was a nice ego boost, especially after the stomping in the arena earlier. "Then let's eat, shall we?"

They ate in silence for a while, until Jaune eventually flipped on a television sitting against the wall opposite his window and began flipping channels, "I hope X-Ray and Vav is on, I missed the premiere.…" With a barely hidden smile, he swapped to the appropriate channel where he knew a marathon was running. Ruby squeed happily before wrapping herself up in her cloak and watching the show, sitting on the floor by the edge of his bed.

"I guess I know what we're watching." He said quietly with a laugh. He reclined comfortably and sighed with content, listening as much to Ruby's mind as the show, and relaxing because of it.

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)