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Pyrrha was sitting alone in their dorm room, chin resting on her knees that were tucked against her chest comfortably. The others were away at breakfast, promising to bring back food for her afterwards. They'd all been dismissed from classes for now, due to her 'condition' and her partner's kidnapping.

And her training, of course. Not that she really seemed to need it all that much. It all felt so natural, her abilities working easier than she had even thought possible. So why did she feel that odd… emptiness? Longing? She couldn't phrase it when asked, and she'd been asked several times by the professor and Headmaster Ozpin.

She was missing something, something at the back of her mind. Whenever she would reach for it, as she did now, her head would ache and the familiarity lurking there would vanish. Holding up a hand in front of her face, a small flame flickered to life weakly. It clutched at her fingers, her Aura sustaining the flame like kindling.

The door to her room started to open and she clenched her fist, the flame wrapping around her hand before vanishing entirely. Nora and Ren stepped through, the former bouncing into the room with a tray balanced on her head. "Heeeeey Pyrrha~! We brought you pancakes!"

"Are you feeling better, Pyrrha?" Ren asked quietly, taking a seat next to her and leaning against her shoulder lightly. Familiarly. Comfortably. She leaned back against him, smiling lightly and nodding. That felt right and wrong, and she had trouble placing either of these feelings where they should go. "Are you hungry enough to eat?"

"If she's not I'll eat them all~" Nora quipped, wagging her eyebrows at her from the bed opposite.

"She will." Ren warned, smiling warmly and plucking the tray from the ginger's head. "You'd better eat, she probably can't contain herself for much longer."

"Thank you, Ren." Pyrrha giggled, accepting the food gratefully. It didn't quell the hunger, the fire in her chest, but it helped. Having friends did too. "Is there news about Jaune as of yet?"

"No." Ren said quietly, shaking his head and grimacing, "Nothing has been said, though what is left of RWBY are confined to their dorms after trying to raid the headmaster's office for some reason."

"And they didn't ask us to help?" Nora sighed, laying across the bed with a flop, "So rude~"

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"So no one will be here? It'll just be me and security mechs?" Blake asked watching the Schnee pace along the inside of her cell, so she'd only been here for a little while. Perks of not actually being a prisoner, she supposed.

"Yes. All Personnel will be evacuated, we don't want anyone to be listed as a casualty after this operation is complete. It will make it easier to reintegrate Arc if he doesn't actually get anyone killed." Blake nodded, even if she didn't much like the Schnee, she could at least trust her enough not to get her own people killed or disobey orders.

"I suppose that makes sense, at least from a military standpoint. I don't suppose that they're using stun rounds, so that they don't hurt anybody?" She raised an eyebrow smiling almost sarcastically, though part of her did hope that was actually true. The older woman shook her head slightly, frowning as always at the question, and Blake sighed. "It was only a joke you don't have to stare me down like I'm some sort of criminal."

"Technically, at least officially, you are a criminal." She smirked slightly, raising an eyebrow in a way that Blake and started to come to understand was an amused expression. Blake rolled her eyes, and the lieutenant huffed and turned around, arms clasped behind her back in a classic military stance, "Once you are taken, make contact with Arc as soon as possible. You will have around a week, and then Atlesian forces will begin making operations and preparations to raid Mountain Glenn. during the battle, whenever you can manage it, you are to make your way to the surface and head north. Qrow will be waiting for you, and will escort you to a rendezvous point."

"And after that I'll be recognized as not a criminal? I would very much appreciate not being a terrorist you know." The Schnee nodded curtly and stepped from the cell, the heavy door slamming behind her heavily.

And now Blake had to wait, until something happened. What did that was the White Fang showing up and attacking to 'save' her from her perceived captors. Or whether that was going to be them abandoning o this plan entirely, because it wasn't working and no one was coming. Either way, she done her job exactly as asked. And in the end that's all a Huntress had to do in a world like this.

They could have at least let her keep her book, though. She felt like that was normal for prisoners to have. It wasn't very likely that anyone would question that.

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"You are lucky." Cinder started smoothly, sitting across from him in the same small Bullhead as the one they'd used to kidnap him in the first place. "I had to convince Adam to let us use our own transport. He was… hesitant to trust us off by ourselves." " Typical racism shown, I shouldn't have expected any better."

"Did you expect any better? I mean, even if they feel justified, they're still terrorists at heart." Jaune shrugged, Neo cuddling up against his shoulder like always, staring at the woman. He rolled his eyes when she thought of a very rude comment and asked him to make it for her, " No, I'm not doing that. I happen to like keeping my face intact, thank you."

Cinder raised an eyebrow and smirked at him, leaning forward and grinning, "You can tell me what she said this time, and I won't bite you for it." "Her, on the other hand... I might burn an eyebrow off. Maybe a leg. As if she didn't already have a big enough handicap." She leaned back and chuckled when Jaune grimaced, a hand raised and fire flickering dully in her palm. "If she can't stand the heat…."

"Just because I'm named after ice cream doesn't mean that I can't stand the heat." Jaune looked down and saw Neo snuggling against his chest comfortably and sticking her tongue out at Cinder. The girl caught him looking, and smiled impishly, "You keep staring at my tongue like that, and I'll think you want me to use it~"

"I really, really, really don't want that. I promise, Neo, I really don't." Neo pouted at him slightly and he rolled his eyes. He gave her a light pat on the head as he looked across at Cinder again. "Why arrange this if you were going to rub it in my face later? Kind of gets rid of the charity of doing something if you keep bringing up the fact that you did it."

"Oh I wasn't doing it for charity. I don't do anything for charity, you more than anyone at all should be able to tell that I don't do anything for charity. Ever. This is all to gain your loyalty. None of its charity, not even letting her tag along." "Especially not letting her tag along. I almost can't stand her as much as she can't stand me."

"Um, I don't think you quite understand how much she can't stand you." Cinder raised an eyebrow at him and smiled, and he shrugged. Neo shifted, laying her head on his lap over his sword and sheath, using the weapon as a sort of pillow. Cinder smiled and watched her do it, and Jaune rolled his eyes, her mind racing with accusations and ideas. How to use them, how to manufacture a few more of them. "I'm a mind-reader, and read into things as much as you."

They rode in silence for several more minutes with the craft rocking back and forth as the wind buffeted it, Jaune reach down to toy with Neo's hair boredly. It was a habit that he'd been picking up from her lately. She liked to play with her own hair whenever she was nervous, and he'd kind of absorbed that from spending so much time alone with her.

He didn't just absorb what he wanted, apparently, he just kind of pick things up as he spent time with people. It was kind of annoying, now that he thought about it for more than a second.

" I don't think I've ever told you why we're trying to do what we're trying to do. Have I?" Jaune looked across the interior of the craft curiously, raising an eyebrow at her, " Do you even know? Why Adam fights? Why Ozpin fights? Or does your gift not reach that far?"

He tried reading her thoughts and intentions, as he always did. Trying to figure out what she meant. But, as usual, she was very good at hiding what she meant when she said things. At least internally- better than he was, that was for sure. She'd always seemed to be able to read him in ways that made him, a man that literally read minds, almost jealous.

"No. It wasn't on the surface, so I couldn't tell. Couldn't read them, so to speak." He sighed, shaking his head tiredly, hands still going through the girl's hair. "Unless people think about what I want them to tell me, I can't exactly pick it up. It's a bit of a drawback, I guess. But you already know that. That's how you hide your intentions from me so well. You just think of other things. Distract yourself, I guess. I don't know how to phrase it."

Neo tapped his hand, trying to get him to play with it some more- something she'd actually started enjoying a few days back. Normally she only really let Roman play with her hair, but he wasn't really allowed to do it anymore. Sighing he started playing with it again half-heartedly. Eventually she gave up and sat upright next to him, crossing her arms underneath her breasts, pouting slightly.

"Like a child, isn't she? She always pouts if she doesn't get exactly what she wants, when she wants it, and how she wants it. It would be pitiful if it wasn't so annoying." "I'd have killed her a long time ago, if it wasn't for Roman. The man's useful enough to us make her annoyances a necessary evil." He glared at Cinder, wrapping an arm protectively around the smaller woman next to him, and Cinder chuckled slightly. " Don't worry. She's more than safe, now. Even when Roman is not useful anymore, you will be, so I can't exactly hurt her, now can I?"

"You can try bitch, I'll cut your throat if you so much as lay a hand on me. And if you're really unlucky, I'll get my hands on you for a nice amount of time, and you know I like to take my time." She poked him in the chest, demanding with her thoughts that he actually try to relay the message somehow. Of course he shook his head no and, and ignored the request. She pouted some more. "You're making me think you don't want to sleep with me, being so rude like this."

"I do want to know why you fight, why the White Fang fights. How do you justify what you do to people, what you're going to do. You have to have some reason right?" he leaned forward, folding his hands together in front of them into a large fist. "I'm not going to accept it if you just say that you have your reasons. You're trying to convince me to join your side, so convince me. Don't try to bribe me, don't try to threaten me, don't try to threaten my friends, convince me."

" I thought you had already agreed to join me?" She raised her eyebrows at him, tilting her head slightly, "It doesn't matter, I suppose, you would want to know eventually. Might as well start now. As for me, I've seen what the Grimm do to people. My entire village was destroyed, and your Huntsman didn't lift a finger to help. We called, we used the radio that we were given, the radio people like Ozpin told us to use. No one came."

Cinder looked at the cockpit door, chewing on her bottom lip slightly, and he took the chance to try reading her impressions. Try to feel if she was trying to deceive him. She wasn't, she was being as honest as could be, as far as he could tell. Not that she hadn't tricked him before, even if it wasn't for anything malicious. "So what do you want then, to take revenge? How does that make you any different from the Grimm? Or the Huntsman that ignored you, even if that is exactly what happens."

"Because Huntsman, the Grimm, the Kingdoms, even the council and the civilians. They're all symptoms. Part of a disease, a blight on the land, on the planet. The way things are is not how they should be, and they can be better than they are. My mistress has promised that she will make changes." She gestured at Neo with a wave, smiling almost sadly, "Even she is part of the problem, a victim of it, whichever you prefer to look at it as. People are usually both, really. I'm not an exception either." "Even if I am trying to make a change, I'm still a selfish creature. Another symptom of a dying system."

"And, wha, you're a hero then? Just a good guy trying to save the world? I don't buy it." Jaune raised a hand, palm towards her when she tried to speak. "There's procedure for that. Politics, the military, being a Huntress. There's a dozen and more ways that you could do what you're wanting to do, or do what you say you want to do, without having to resort to... terrorism."

Neo watched, listening intently, trying to get a read on the discussion herself. Unfortunately she was never the best at associating with other people, understanding what they mean and why they say something. Instead she tugged on his sleeve, the young Huntsman looking down at her with a raised eyebrow, "Do you even believe her, or are you just humoring her at this point? 'Cuz I don't believe her or what she's saying. I don't trust her as far as I can throw her. And I'm very small, I can't throw things very far."

" Little bit of both, Neo. I'm saying if she gave me an honest answer. She at least seems to be trying to do that, but I don't know how honest it actually is." The older woman across from him raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms under her chest, "What? Do you honestly believe that I would accept whatever you told me at face value?"

"No, not really, but it would have been nice if you had. Easier, in a whole lot of ways." "I'm not telling you things to make you believe exactly what you're told me. I may want my subordinates, even Neo and Roman, to obey without question whatever I order them to do. But that doesn't mean that I want that for you, you're too dangerous for such a position." " I keep them in the dark and demand absolute obedience because of their… nature as a throwaway tool." "You are not throw away I can't just use you up and be done with you. That is not in the nature of what I need you for. And besides, you'd be able to tell if that was going to happen."

"I'm not expendable…."

"They aren't expendable, no one is. We are all people, and we all have value. Honest, human, all of us. How do you expect to change the world if you can't accept the people in it?" Cinder looked offended, or shocked, he couldn't tell and he sensed both emotions off of her in varying amounts. " Or is that a symptom too?"

He felt the craft tilt harshly thto the left, the hull pinging and dinging, metal obviously bouncing off of it. Neo almost fell, landing on a hand and using it to spring herself up before grabbing onto the handles along the roof safely. Cinder and Jaune each stood, grabbing handles of the room, the latter throwing an arm around the smaller girl to hold her there. Protectively.

She let go of the handle, wrapping her arms around him and using him as an anchor rather than the handle. Distantly, he could hear her attempt to make more jokes about their position, but the harsh tilting and turning of the craft prevented that. As they descended The sounds intensified, metal striking the outside of the ship in a clear attempt to keep them from actually reaching their destination. Crocea Mors almost escaped his grip, his hands barely hanging onto the sheathed weapon.

The ship shuddered when it hit the dirt, the back ramp sliding open onto the back of a tree. The plant cracked and snapped under the weight of the metal. The young knight clamored over it and up the ramp, dropping to the ground behind it. The two women joined him a moment later, falling beside him and looking around. Their transport lifted into the air a short amount of time later, angling and flying off to safety. It would be needed later, if they wanted to leave. In the air around them, they could see a dozen more of the same sorts of ships, each having deposited an assortment of soldiers and terrorists to do their duty. At least, that's what they'd call it; he was certain of that.

He drew his sword, raising his shield protectively as he watched the forest. It was almost warm with men and women in their black and white uniforms, firing rifles, shotguns, and more ahead of them. One faunus, the only one that hadn't seen it coming, was cut down a stream of fire and dropped to the ground.

Cinder raised a hand in front of him, a shield of flames leaping out and spinning about before him. Rounds slammed into it, disintegrating into nothingness and sending vapor into the sky, spiraling above them lazily. "This is a war zone, Jaune. You need to pay attention, I won't be around to protect you the entire fight."

"What are we supposed to do? No one told me what we were supposed to do, so what now?" She rolled her eyes, letting the arm drop in the shield with it. Neo stepped past them, crouching behind the tree, her eyes watching for any threat that might come.

"That's the beauty of it. You do what you want. Advance with the common rabble, protect them if you want… well, if you can. Or you can just push through, cut down the enemy and take the day. Either way you can end the fight. But I'm not going to tell you what you can do, or what you should do. I won't hold your hand." She flicked out both hands, her wrists twisting slightly as fire danced down her arm. Two black and silver daggers formed, one in each hand, and she held them almost elegantly. "You go out there and fight, and everyone in every Kingdom will know you as an enemy. By the end of the day, your loyalty will be known one way or the other." "And if you happen to betray me, I will burn everyone I even think you care about. And that is a promise. I always keep my word."

"All right." He stepped forward, kneeling behind Neo and resting his right wrist on her left shoulder. She turned her head slightly, just enough to get an eye on him. Bright pink stared into blue, and he chewed on his lip nervously. "We have to end this fight, or people are going to die. So, I'm going to charge up the hill. Will you follow me?"

She smiled almost sinisterly, flicking her umbrella in front of her and using the open umbrella as a shield. He opened his mouth to warn her when he saw rounds ripping the dirt apart in front of her, but they bounced off the shield almost as easily as his own shield would have done. In front of them, forward and further up the hill in the trees, White Fang soldiers exchanged fire with whatever was at the top of the hill. Three of them, two men and a smaller woman. The two men each had small ram horns on their heads, and the third had antlers kind of like a deer might have. Neo stepped to the right, standing in front of the woman at Jaune's urging her to do so. He stepped in front of the other two, using his shield and body to block for them.

"I have Aura, and I don't think you do. Neo and I are going to push up this hill, I need you to follow us. We're going to break into whatever fortifications are up there, and we're going to secure a foothold." The group hesitated, the two men looking to the woman almost as though asking for permission. He got the impression that she was the one actually in command here. The uniforms, wisely enough, didn't really seem to imply anything about it. "I won't make you follow me, but I need the help. And we can stop a lot of your men and women from dying."

"Fine." She admitted, looking to the other two and shaking her head slightly, "Follow his lead, cover the advance if you can. I don't want either of you dying for a human though, so don't do anything stupid." "I'm not losing any of my men. Not here and certainly not for human. I don't care how important that woman feels he is."

He almost argued, mouth open, before he turned away and rushed forward through the woods. Rounds ricocheted off his shield and Aura as he ran, digging into the dirty around him. He used his Semblance to follow the movements of the White Fang behind him, making sure to stay in front of them the whole time. Eventually he crashed through a branch, swinging his sword around and decapitating a silver drone before he landed, half rolling and half falling onto the paved ground. He sensed Neo land near him, and looked up to see her legs wrapped around a drone's head while she stabbed it in the back of its metal skull skull gleefully. Smiling, he felt something new wash over him from her. His head lolled to the side, eyes drooping closed and sword limp in his hand.

One of the sliver drones turned from the perimeter barricade ringing the compound, and Jaune slammed his shield into it, knocking it down and using it to bludgeon its head a dozen times. Neo leapt over him, tackling another and slicing its head cleanly off. The White Fang soldiers leapt over the barricades a moment later, an action mirrored by more squads all along the perimeter, and Neo spun on her behind. Turning and crossing her legs, brown eyes watched Jaune tear apart the machine with a wide smile beneath them.

"This how you always feel when you fight?" The small girl and nodded, practically bouncing on the machine's chest in excitement. "I kind of... like it.…" He turned as another droid approached, impaling it and smiling slightly. He yanked the blade free, shoving the body to his right and slamming his shield forward and into the next, knocking it down and slamming a boot into its head. "I like it a lot."

Neo smiled, standing beside him and watching him closely.

The rest of the fight was quick and brutal, even if it was only machines trying to stop them from getting to where they wanted to be. The base wasn't all that large, just three large square buildings in the center of a small perimeter wall that went up to around a person's waist. Each corner of the buildings inside of the compound had small cannons. Tri-barreled, anti-air batteries that were mainly meant for keeping away smaller enemies that the larger surrounding fortresses let slip by in the air. Odds were good they were never intended to defend against a full-on military landing like this.

All the better for them.

Through the entire fight, against his will and against his nature in many ways, he found himself enjoying the violence. Neo stuck near as well as she could, enjoying watching him almost as much as she enjoyed participating the actual fight itself. An odd and new sensation for her.

Once the fighting was over the blonde sat on a wall outside, staring into the woods and drumming his hand on the shield at his waist lightly. More to ignore the thoughts of the terrorist surrounding him than to relax, really. He couldn't truly do either in any case. Adam approached him from behind, Banesaw trailing along off to the side.

"Arc. Cinder wants you with us when we open up the cell and free Blake." "I suppose more friendly faces are a part of it." Jaune nodded, grimacing and standing before turning to look at him. Adam's jaw worked for several seconds before he held his hand out to the knight, "You did well, and protected my men. More than can be said for Roman or Cinder." "Human or not."

Jaune took his hand after a moment, shaking it gently. The Faunus turned immediately, walking back the way he'd come. Jaune spared Neo's smirk a glance and rolled his eyes, "What are you grinning for?"

"Just that now I kinda wanna sleep with you~"

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