For the first few pre-dawn hours, Penny was frustrated with Jaune and his notes. The notes, if you could call them that, were barely a few words and sparse sentences. It was more like an association game. A game that was only usable when she sorted the files from alphabetical to newest. The newest file was a note to Penny herself.

Penny projected the note on the hard light monitor. It was a full explanation of most of what she saw already in a single document. As she read, Penny highlighted portions and started to go through and index the original 'notes' to this master letter.

Penny finished in time for the sun to rise on what she marked as the first day. She was not sure how a patrolman would conduct an investigation. But she was familiar with how Atlas would investigate an incident. Penny knew the only real difference would be that there would be no report except to Ozpin when it was all over.

Penny had ignored the warrant officers when they walked in to check the equipment at seven a.m. sharp. Deciding it was late enough in the morning, she looked to the two of them as they had just opened walked in. "I am sorry, I need to send a private message. I'll call for you when the station is free." Penny ordered. The two officers saluted and quickly left the hangar. She ignored the grumbling of the man as he wished he could have slept in longer. The door sealed shut behind them with a metallic clang. Penny took off the blue jersey just long enough to put on her coat underneath it. With the coat on, the jersey did not feel as if it would fall off at any moment.

Penny looked at the screen as it cast her reflection. Once everything was straightened, she dialed the headmaster. Ozpin took one look at Penny and the vest before he reached for the back of his chair and sat down. "Penny? What happened?"

Pennys' fingers gave a nervous twinge as she pulled out Jaunes' back up scroll and opened a new screen for herself on the hard light control panel. "Jaune went with one of the families. I don't have any other details. Junior was only able to pass along a few instructions. Jaune was worried they wanted to keep him occupied for the next five days. I was told not to involve the huntsmen. He passed control of the case to me in the meantime." Penny gestured to the vest she now wore.

"I see. Have you found anything that can point you in the right direction?"

Penny shook her head. "I am still going through Jaune's files."

Ozpin realized after the pause that she was going through them as they spoke. "Did you ever tell Jaune about your condition?"

Penny shook her head. "No. I did not plan on it, but I nearly did yesterday." The girl sighed. "Jaune left notes for me. He pointed out that if someone wanted to instigate a civil war in Vale, Watt's would need to make it so that the Families would need to see the attempt as worth it. That means more power, or some kind of influence. I just don't know where to start."

Ozpin nodded along as she explained what she would need to do. "One of the families made contact with Jaune. See if there is any reference to that in what Jaune left you. The huntsmen and I cannot help you beyond this. Our truce is built on non-interference. Vale is left alone so long as both sides do not interfere with each other. But you are not the only patrolman." The headmaster reminded her.

Penny looked at Jaune's scroll and found what she was looking for. The list of names of people from his hometown. "Thank you Mr. Ozpin."

"Good luck Patrolman." The screen went blank as the call ended. The screen collapsed in on itself in a blip of hardlight. Penny scrolled through the address book and blinked before she looked up to a screen that came to life behind her. She filtered out all the indexed entries for the Council. A single reference popped up for an assistant's phone number. Once she had the number and the name of the company she immediately found the reference she was looking for. Councilman Velt. Family Head.

Penny looked at the clock and figured now was a good time as any to call. The morning was in full swing for most businesses. The screen turned on with the word DIALING written across it.

"This is Velt Corp, Assistant Tipple speaking, how may I help you?"

Penny kept the video closed. "I am a representative of Beacon Academy."

The man paused for a moment. "Just a moment Ma'am, may I call you on another line?"

Penny sighed in relief. "Yes please."

The call was cut off immediately. Seconds later a new number dialed into her terminal. She clicked it on with a video feed this time. The man in his late thirties just glanced at the vest and nodded. "You people work fast. How can I help you?"

Penny almost allowed herself to get distracted by the observation. "I am looking to set an appointment with Councilman Velt."

"You will have it this morning if that is acceptable. Is one hour enough time for you to come to Central Vale Plaza building suite twenty-nine Miss?"

"Patrolman Polendina, and that would be wonderful." Penny cheered immediately. "Thank you Mr. Tiddle."

"Very well. Ask for me when you enter the building. I would ask you to forgo your vest for this meeting."

Penny thanked the man again before the line went dead. Penny sighed as she opened up Jaune's scroll and looked at the contact list. She started the call unsure what she would expect from an Anvil patrolman. A minute passed with no answer when she closed the line.

"I will have to try again later." Penny muttered to herself. That was unfortunate, she wished she could speak to someone before she went into that meeting. Penny let the thought go and looked over to the list that had been complied before her phone calls.

-o-

The plaza was more of a maze of streets where most of the sky scrapers congregated. Each one rose easily thirty stories. They were some of the largest buildings in Vale. Wind whipped her hair as a gust funneled between the buildings as she entered. Inside the office building Penny found the receptionist next to several elevators.

"Penny Polendina to see Mr. Tiddle." She announced when the woman waited patiently for Penny to speak.

The receptionist nodded and handed Penny a badge that said guest.

"Have a good day."

Penny glanced up from the badge a smile on her face. "Thank you! You too!"

Penny walked to the elevator and placed the badge against a sensor next to the elevator. The light above the doors turned green and the door opened. Once she was inside she realized there were no controls. Just the badge sensor.

"Huh." Penny raised the badge again, and the doors closed and immediately ascended to the appropriate floor. Penny was familiar with security measures but she felt an appreciation for that kind of controlled entry.

The elevator opened to a hall that split in two directions. Looking a little lost, Penny walked to the screen and found Velt Corp Financing. Penny went there first and found another closed door with a sensor. One that gave immediate entry. Penny gave herself a barely audible cheer as she walked into the office.

"State the reason for your visit please." A man said behind a desk. He hurriedly typed away for a moment longer before he looked up to her.

Penny walked up to the counter. "I have a meeting with Mr. Tiddle."

The door in the back of the room opened. Penny instantly perked up when she recognized the man from the call walk out purposefully towards her. "I have this one Nole. This way Miss Polendina."

Penny followed Mr. Tiddle to a private room. Inside, she spotted an older man who was in the middle of drinking a cup of coffee. He set it down and stood. "Thank you for coming, Patrolman. You wished to see me?"

Penny smiled slightly. "Thank you Mr. Velt. I am resuming the investigation from Jaune Arc. Were you there last night with my partner?"

The councilman looked to Penny's escort. Mr. Tiddle locked the door and moved to stand next to his boss.

"Have a seat Miss. I was there." He grunted as he sat down. "It was an odd conversation. But I was the only one that knew that Patrolman Arc was not there on behalf of the Council of Vale. I think it was the only reason why no one tried anything else. He was pulled away by a family head then he came back only to leave quickly there after. I am not sure what the family head wanted."

Penny frowned. "Does anything happen in the next five days?"

The councilman frowned and looked to Mr. Tiddle. The younger man nodded and bowed. "If you will excuse me, I will make some inquiries."

"Thank you Mr. Tiddle." Penny offered as he left. The patrolman leaned back in her chair. "My partner was under the impression he would be detained for at least five days."

Family Head Velt shook his head. "We will see what Mr. Tiddle finds. I can not guarantee anything I am afraid. I risk a lot speaking to you as is. I will say that Mr. Arc had spoken to the group that was present to assure them he was not there to investigate anyone in particular. I know a few of the branch families are no longer on edge with that assurance. So much so, they had moved from the lower levels of Juniors to relax."

"That is important?"

The councilman folded his hands in front of him and frowned at her. "The minor and branch families were as good as announcing they had nothing to hide from the Patrolman and from the other families. They did not want to be involved with any of it. The remaining families were not happy that someone drew attention to them all. If Mr. Arc was looking to plant doubt in them all, he succeeded."

Penny smiled at that. She did feel slightly disappointed that the change did nothing for her at the moment. If the families were paranoid, Penny knew she had to be careful if she looked around the families herself. She did not want any one of them to think she was a huntsmen poking around where she didn't belong. Not after Jaune's warning.

"I will consider that as I pursue my investigation." Penny finally answered.

The door opened a few minutes later in the uncomfortable silence. Mr. Tiddle spared a considering look to Penny before he immediately walked to Mr. Velt and knelt down to whisper in the older man's ear.

Penny watched the Mr. Velt's lip twinge. Once Mr. Tiddle stood up, he bowed before he quickly stepped out of the room again. "Mr. Tiddle found something? Am I able to know?" Penny asked carefully. A little of Jaune's paranoia filtered into her voice. The small exchange reminded her exactly where she was.

Mr. Velt kept the frown on his face and rubbed his chin. "I am not sure if it is related. But several people from different countries are coming to Vale to inspect their properties after the attack. They are coming by their own private agencies. They are not landing in Vale. I know for sure one of them is a Family from Mistral."

"You think my partner may have gone to visit them?"

Mr. Velt looked uncomfortable at the idea. "If he did, I hope he knows what he is doing."

-o-

Jaune walked off the aircraft ramp and looked around the landing. The afternoon sun was just near its peak. Jaune rubbed his arms for warmth and cold puffs of breath rolled from his mouth. The mountain air was twice as cold as it was at Beacon.

The patrolman took a moment to look at the wall of a mountain. Several structures protrude out of the mountain at right angles before disappearing back into the cliffside. As the family head said, the mountain getaway was more of a compound than a vacation resort. It was nestled high on one of the peaks in Valian range.

The airship took in an almost lazy ascent. The mass of metal cast a shadow over the group as it listed in the air before it was high enough to move slowly away from the mountain entrance. Jaune had no clue where he actually was. The sky yacht, the only thing he could think to call a ship that luxurious and slow, weaved through the mountains throughout the night and only began to ascend higher during the early hours of the morning. Jaune still felt a little fatigued with the sun being so high. Jaune had a feeling he had crossed the eastern mountains and was further east than his home of Anvil.

Jaune walked up to the five escorts that waited for him. "Good morning. Jaune Arc, awaiting a summons."

The men and women wore matching suits and bowed in unison. Each one walked with a confidence that was only found in aura users. Jaune eyed them carefully before the leader ordered, "Follow me."

Jaune remained silent at their near silent footsteps. His eyes glanced around to take it all in while he kept facing directly ahead. The vacation home was a resort for the super wealthy. A mural lined a single wall while the other was lined with different doors leading to some kind of conference rooms.

Jaune walked into the elevator and the group quickly ascended towards the actual resort. The patrolman stood at attention and smiled inwardly as the gesture seemed to make two of the escorts that were right in front of him uncomfortable. The elevator opened to a foyer. A single door laid beyond the waiting room. The escorts stepped aside and gestured to the door. The woman unlocked the door and handed him the key. "These will be your accommodations until you are summoned. If you need anything during your stay, please let the front desk know. There is a terminal just inside the walkway."

Jaune waited to close his door until the group reentered the elevator and it dinged as the doors were shut. Jaune walked into his apartment. It seemed like most of this floor was just this room. Kitchen as large as his room in Beacon with matching accommodations for the bedroom and the living room. A work out room was found along with a hot tub separate from the bathroom shower. Jaune stared at the wooden walls of the sauna with an audible, "Huh." then closed the door.

Jaune moved to the living room with its over furnished space. Lamps, paintings and viewing screens for entertainment did not even make the place look cluttered with how large of a room it was. Jaune sat down and took off his gloves. His hand still ached but it was not as bad as it had been for the last few days. Jaune took out his scroll that had been turned off with no battery since he boarded the airship that flew him here. Jaune stared at it and gave a frustrated sigh.

The patrolman opened the side and pulled out a small flat memory chip out of the scroll. Jaune gave the scroll a slight tug and the rest of the connector uncliped from the device. "That's the secure storage gone for now." Jaune played with the storage stick with his fingers. The only saving grace is he had a back up. He just wished he could see his favorite picture of Coco one more time. Jaune gripped the storage stick in his hand where it snapped like a wafer. Jaune went ahead and started to break it apart to make sure it was unrecoverable.

Jaune was not sure what he could find if he connected with an active scroll in this place. Would he get a connection? Would they be alerted and monitor what he does on the scrolls? He assumed they knew he still had it. It did not prevent him from being paranoid about the scroll accidentally connecting to a network used by the families while he had files on it. The scroll powered on without its storage stick. The scroll beeped a small protesting alert about the missing equipment but Jaune ignored it. It would still receive calls. It opened to a blank screen. Even the security badge showing it was a scroll for a patrolman was missing. It simply asked for a name to be entered to identify itself.

For all Jaune said he was a guest at the resort, this place was very much his prison until a member of the higher families meet with him. Jaune tossed the scroll onto the coffee table next to the destroyed storage. He leaned his head back against the plush couch back. "I guess all I can do now is wait."

When Jaune looked up to the coffee table, he was only vaguely alarmed to see a basket of fresh apples with a note that said 'Enjoy your stay Mr. Arc'.

-o-

Penny waited while the scroll dialed. Eventually the scroll call ended without an answer. Several beeps later and she was prompted to leave a message. "This is Patrolman Polendina calling on behalf of Beacon Academy. Jaune Arc is currently on an extended mission, and I was instructed to reach out to Patrolman Koben. Please message me back at your earliest convenience. Thank you."

Penny closed the line and shook her head. She was disappointed that there was no answer but hopefully they would call back soon.

Less than twenty four hours into searching, Penny felt she had run out of leads. The list of people she could speak to had run out with no contact. Her name had no clout to speak of. Mr. Velt had implied that it was inadvisable to not even look in that direction.

The screen showed several of Jaune's notes along with her own. The text started to write next to the Cin Family.

The Velt Family are not aware of any changes among the families. Most disenters have gone quiet at the last outing after Jaune spoke. Are they waiting for a reply from wherever Jaune was sent? Four days remaining until I can start to look for Patrolman Arc. If I can not get any council about the predicament with the families I will need to proceed with Jaune's original plan and look for an opportunity to make myself available to the families. But I can not do it as a patrolman.

Penny sighed. There were other options of course. She had been searching non-stop for signs of general changes that were out of place that lead up to and just after the invasion. The housing market and the moving of businesses were a good start, but they led to dead ends. She needed something more substantial.

When Penny returned from her meeting that morning, she had attempted to trace Jaune's steps to see if there was anything that would help make her job clearer. Unfortunately, she found the same things he had already pointed out. There were no other sudden changes in markets or property purchases in the last year. Not in the size and volume of someone abandoning Vale.

Maybe they just didn't know? Penny sighed and shifted slightly on her feet. She placed a hand on her hip and looked over to the notes that were nearly behind her. "Sort by pending purchases." She commanded the terminal aloud.

Several deals on property had not been completed. Two had been in the works for the last year. Only one of them stood out. "This was almost a completed sale but it was just cancelled. That tower is right in the middle of the city."

Penny pulled up the owner. A company she had never heard of local to Vale. It was an office building being rented out but maintenance costs were rising since the building was so old. Penny closed all the screens. It wouldn't hurt to stop by the building so long as she was careful. "I guess I can go pretend to have a lunch." She thought aloud.

Penny glanced at the patrolman jersey on the table where she left it that morning. Again, she hugged herself now that she was leaving it behind again. Having it on in the morning was a confidence booster she did not know she needed until she took it off. Penny went to her room and grabbed the handbag Bernedette had insisted she purchase and stuffed the jersey along with her small wallet and scroll. She looked at herself in the mirror and realized she had never changed clothes from the day before either. She quickly stripped off the dress and put on another set her friend had suggested. Penny looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. She had no idea if she looked 'ok' or not.

-o-

Penny walked around the block once and found a cafe to sit and drink while she observed the building. The skyscraper itself was an older design and stood apart from the others. Most of the buildings around here were uniform with flat panes of glass. This building was more stone than glass. Carved lines of concrete gave the building accents as floors rose from level to level. Penny could see how something like this would cost money to upkeep. The normal foot traffic inside the building did not seem too different from the other buildings. Did the businesses inside even stop in the middle of a sale?

Penny stood up. It was lunchtime and many people moved across the sidewalks in a hurried pace outside. Penny loudly slurped the last of her drink through her straw as she looked up to the top. Again, another difference from the others was the top. The final floors tapered into a pointed tower.

Penny sighed and felt like she wasted enough time and threw out the cup as she left the cafe. She spared one final glance to her scroll before she put it away to cross the street and enter the building. Penny eyed her reflection in the glass critically. She looked like a teenage girl from the magazine Bernedette pointed at. Penny tried to copy that coy smile. Her eyes looked like they were in pain or surprised. "Close enough. Time to just be curious." Penny actually felt better with the thought. It was rare for her to actually explore when she was a private.

Penny closed her purse tightly before she walked across the street. For once, she allowed her natural curiosity to run amok.

When Penny walked to the corner of the building she simply looked up and realized, yes, this thing had to be over a hundred years old. It was probably from old Vale and survived the last grim invasion. She nearly skipped with the level of pep in her step and leaned into the window to look inside near the door. Inside were two men guarding the elevator and three other men and women at the reception desk. One of the guards noticed her right away. She simply grinned at him and walked in to look around. No sense in not getting information about the place.

The main entrance was like a reception hall with how high the ceiling went. It was likely the first two floors were actually just this entrance halls' ceiling. She paid no mind to the reception team when they stood up straighter and waited to be addressed. Penny walked along the walls and admired the paintings. Several were of landscapes from places she never heard of. Two were actual photographs of what she assumed were pictures of this building during a groundbreaking ceremony. Penny could almost feel the confusion from the reception team as she made her way towards the elevator.

The guards were more alert. When Penny got close enough she just said, "Excuse me!" and went around them to see the rest of the paintings along the walls. The guards immediately relaxed. Penny nearly made a full circle when the elevator doors opened. The guards immediately tensed again. But they were still eyeing her not who exited the elevator. hmm...

Penny smiled as she finally moved along the wall to actually encounter the reception team. One member of the group seemed to have already written her off as a nosey kid. The other two stood at attention. They looked at each other before addressing the teenager. "Can we help you?"

Penny smiled. "No. I am Penny from the Poledina Family. I just wanted to visit but no one came to greet me. Let them know I will come back later. Have a nice day!"

Penny pivoted while sparing a glance to the desk then the guards. The guards and the two receptionists immediately looked horrified as she walked out. The one that seemed to have written her off never reacted like the others. He never reacted to the word 'Family'. I guess they employ from both sides then.

-o-

Penny decided she needed to change how she was looked at the problem. It was nice she knew that the building if nto owned by a family, was atleast in the know of the families and conducted business with them. With nothing else to look at, Penny shifted the notes on the computer to examine what they knew about Arthur Watts. A new screen along opened on her hardlight console as the others shrank and moved behind her to the side she decided to label the 'get back to' table.

The file reference for Arthur Watts opened and revealed that he was a weapons designer and programmer for Atlas since he graduated from the Academy at the age of fifteen. He was immediately drafted into the robotics program where he led the way with his partner and mentor Dr. Lunara.

Penny was unsure of the possibility that they were still in Vale. The only reason that Jaune thought they were even here was thanks to Councilman Velt. The councilman was concerned that the families had started an uncharacteristic change regarding Vales' rule. Was there any evidence that Watts was still in town? Mr. Velt had not said there had been any pushes for changes since the invasion.

Penny narrowed her eyes. Jaune would not have been taken to see anyone had the threat disappeared. Someone was still pushing for it. With that thought settled, Penny looked back to the night of the invasion.

That was faster than I was expecting. The voice rang clearly in her memory. Penny remembered he was surprised. It was as if he had been in the system before. He entered a closed system. That meant he was probably inside town when he talked to them. He could have been inside the tower but that was unlikely. The CCT staff had all hands on deck with multiple people across teh entire tower.

Penny recalled that the two men at the terminal during the invasion said they could not find a signal. "Let's assume he wasn't in the CCT." Penny thought aloud. "He would need an antenna strong enough to resonate with the signal in the CCT or he would not have been able to mask himself so well. That would require a lot of equipment to run. Like an entirely new tower."

Penny pulled up a map of the city. "A connection point would have to actually be line of sight of the CCT. If it was not in line of sight of the tower, we would have found the proxy. Watt's signal wasn't just undetectable. The system thought he was part of the network." The map panned on the screen. Beacon and the CCT were nearly eight hundred feet higher than the City of Vale. The CCT was placed at Beacon to help with coverage, but it made it so certain parts of the city would not be usable for what Watts would need to do. The map was cut across in a solid line from the CCT, the edge of the Beacon side cliff and into the city. All that would have been at a high enough altitude would be skyscrapers. Several points were marked on the hardlight monitor. "If Watts was already connected and inside of the system he would need some equipment. The hardware needed to connect to, be registered or hidden inside the security system and CCT would take well more than a few years to be brought to a place of such high altitude without being noticed. It had to be something that had been here for years that Vale has never paid attention to."

Five towers in all. Three of the towers had no antenna to speak of. Two had pointed tips. And one of them was the tower that was almost sold off. Penny scratched her cheek and looked at the time. Night fall would be in a few hours. Now she had to find a way to detect the equipment. Fat lot it would do to go there and not know what she was looking at.

Fortunately she had people from Atlas and Vale to ask about that.

-o-

Jaune was anxious when he heard the doorbell. He stood up and stretched. He had been sitting too long judging by how late it was getting. It was close to eight in the evening when he had the first contact with anyone since he was assigned the room this morning. When he opened the door, he was not sure how to take the sudden guest at his door.

"Miss." Jaune stepped back and opened the door wider. It was the woman who he had wanted to question before. What was her name? "Priscilla." He added quickly.

The pale woman frowned and waved a hand to the two guards behind her. "You're dismissed." The third person with the group stood still patiently behind her.

Jaune watched carefully as Priscilla walked into his room. "I apologize for my late arrival. I was only told that I would be needed this morning."

Jaune cleared his throat unsure of the other woman who walked in after Priscilla without an introduction. "Thank you for coming. I was not made aware you would be assisting me. The gentleman I spoke with at Junior's only said you would be my contact. I had assumed that would only be the case once I returned back to Vale."

"So was I." Was the woman's dry reply. "However, uncle had decided I should be introduced to the families that will arrive this week. I am fully taking my mantle of family head. He had been my surrogate."

Jauen gave an ah of understanding while he mentally filed away the information about 'uncle' for later. "You wanted to see me?"

"You will need a suit if you wish to speak to these families. Since you were brought here with just what is on your person, Uncle has decided to be gracious enough to purchase you a suit. But she," Priscilla gestured to the unannounced guest, "needs your measurements."

"My measurements?" Jaune asked carefully. "Your uncle has been very willing to help me…"

"Better the hand I know that will bite me. His words. Not mine. This is more to put me in my place than anything."

Jaune raised his arms as the woman came forward with some fabric measuring tape. Over the womans' head he gave Priscilla a sympathetic, "Family is like that."

Priscilla's expression was unreadable before she turned away.

-o-

Penny sat in her recharge station the next morning. Her legs crossed and her foot bounced on her knee while she reasoned out the current problem. The first years were to travel out of town in two days time. It was a trip that was weeks earlier than they had planned. But with the grim cleared of the forest, Headmaster Ozpin had trouble not using the opportunity to expose the first years to being out in the field with as little danger as possible. But that left the security of Blake Belladonna.

Penny could not afford to travel with the group. Not when she was on a time limit. After letting the problem simmer for a few hours in the back of her mind she made up her mind. The charge station beeped when she got up from her chair and walked up the platform to her work station. She sent a message to meet with Professor Goodwitch and Miss Belladonna after class.

With that settled, Penny looked to the specifications needed to create a CCT. It was all just a garbled mass of words and schematics. Luckily she had two engineers that had experience with repairing and checking the CCT these past few weeks. When they walked into her hangar two hours later, she stood in fresh clothes and her blue vest.

"Warrant Officers, I need your expertise."

-o-

Jaune had been awake for hours. It was hard going to sleep in an unfamiliar place. Especially here, with how silent the place was. He dozed lightly through the night and only fully awoke when he heard the sounds of an airship fly over head. Jaune watched as it passed his view of the mountains to a place below him. Likely the same landing pad he arrived on.

Jaune rubbed his eyes and poured himself some coffee. He turned on the closed feed television. It still retained a signal all the way from Vale. Jaune was pretty sure that should not have been possible over this long of a distance. Now that he knew the time in Vale, he realized he was two hours ahead of the capitol. Again, how was that even possible? He sat on the couch and leaned back to enjoy the smell of coffee that would hopefully get him more alert for the day.

Jaune immediately jumped off the couch at the knock at the door. Jaune touched his chest to still his beating heart. He looked at the coffee machine and the time. He had accidentally fell asleep. "I guess I really did need more sleep."

Jaune felt more rested now he blinked out the strain from his eyes. A second knock on the door made him move. He yawned for a moment. Two hours of extra sleep really did help him feel more rested. Priscilla waited patiently with her hands folded in front of her. Her pink one piece dress flourished around her ankles. Jaune stepped back when she immediately walked in without preamble.

"Your suit is ready. The first family would like to speak with you in twenty minutes."

Jaune eyes bulged as he quickly took the suit. "You were just informed as well then?"

Pricsilla nearly scowled around her makeup. "Yes. Hurry. We can not afford to be late."

-o-

Jaune was impressed by the suit.

Just wow.

Black and accents of silver and grey. It fit like a glove. The jacket snuggly wrapped his torso and kept his rigid back supported. Really, if he was not trying to distract himself he would genuinely enjoy it. Just focus on the suit Jaune. He fiddled with the cufflinks one more time when the doors opened to a small intimate hall with the glass wall giving him a view of the skyline. It reminded Jaune that this truly was a resort above the clouds. Below him were a sea of clouds and above him was a blue sky and the yellow sun.

"It's my favorite view."

Jaune nearly flinched. He swallowed and stood stock still. He tentatively answered, "It is beautiful. Thank you for allowing me a moment. Jaune Arc sir. Thank you for seeing me." Jaune looked to the older man. His posture was hunched over to peer closer to Jaune's face. The man looked older than Jaune would have thought possible. The man was tall, almost lanky with silver hair and deep wrinkles that crossed his amused face. His hand looked frail when he reached for the back of his own chair but it was steady as he pulled the chair back to sit down.

"Come sit with me. Priscilla will too of course." The man's voice was inviting, but the order was there.

Jaune very much felt the two of them were in the same boat at the table. The table was made for one or two people to sit across from each other. There was not enough space for Priscilla and him to stay apart and still be at the table and not backed away from it. Jaune felt like a child when the man's amused hum started at the two of them.

"Mr. Arc. I wanted to thank you for saving my company in Vale. When I had been informed of the invasion I had feared the worst for the work I had done for the past seventy years. To see it standing was wonderful. I understand you would like to speak with me about what occurred."

Jaune exhaled and gripped his knees. "Yes. Thank you again for seeing me. I am currently investigating an incident that occurred within the families." When the older man's eyes looked to the woman beside him. Jaune added, "The culprits that attacked Vale influenced the White Fang. When the families started to show uncharacteristic changes that focus on Vale as well as occurring so close to the incident, I had to look into it. My investigation led me to determine if the families had been influenced by the same people."

The man hummed to himself. "That is an interesting problem." The man gestured to his cup. The lone servant to the side took equal paced steps as he served his master tea. The older gentleman took his time to lift and sip the tea and set it down. It was only then did he start adding to the cup. Jaune felt it was a kind of ritual for the man and stayed silent. The man stirred his drink and tapped the spoon gently against the lip of the cup.

The small ting of the metal against the cup made the man smile. "Vacuan Navy Porcelain. Some of the rarest in the world. The family that made them died due to a grim attack a hundred and three years ago. They took the secret of the clay with them. Ever since I was told the story, I was fascinated by the cups the family had made. Like all porcelain, they were strong against chips and made to resist cracks from harder use. The family always made them with a beautiful blue sheen. There are so few of these sets left in the world because people underestimate them. They are hardier cups for sure." The old man lifted up slightly to allow them to admire the design on the cup. "But one careless moment and you will see just how fragile they truly are."

The man took his time to drink his tea in the dead silence. His gaze that never once turned away from his tea now looked at Jaune. Deep silver eyes pierced him. "You said there is still something infesting the families that did this to us?"

Jaune nodded carefully.

The man's hand shook with his teacup and dish in hand. He gently laid it back on the table. "If you find them. I would like to have words with them. Until then. I bid you good day."

The older man stood and lifted the cup one more time to drain it in a single draught before he lovingly set the porcelain cup back down on the saucer. Jaune waited until the man and his servant that cleaned after him had left before he exhaled. Jaune only then looked to Priscilla to see she was still shaking like a leaf.

-o-

"Finally!" Penny excused herself instead of breaking up the flow of her warrant's officers concentration. She had been waiting for this call. She went into the bedroom she was offered and sat on the bed as she opened the scroll to see the video feed of an older man. "Patrolman Polendina speaking."

"Patrolman Koben. Patrolman Andrew is present as well. What happened to Jaune?"

Penny saw the two patrolman jerseys and felt a level of relief she did never felt before. "He was escorted out of Junior's by a family head. We had conducted an investigation into the families participation in a coup. He left me with several instructions while he was gone. I can not interfere with the families until he returns. He said he would be gone for five days. I have learned that there were a few Families not just ones from Vale that were coming to visit Vale. I think he went to speak with them."

"But we don't know for sure." Andrew muttered aloud.

Koben leaned close to the screen. "How many days are left?"

"Today is day two." Penny said.

"Do you need help?" Koben asked carefully.

"I had originally called for advice about the leads Juane followed but I found a few of my own. But as soon as I confirm what I find, I am waiting for Jaune to come back."

Andrew rubbed his neck. "Do you want back up Patrolman?"

Penny paused at the immediate instinct to say no. She carefully said, "We still don't know for sure if Jaune will come back and in what state. I still don't know if I will need to take action before he comes. I could use some help."

Both patrolman nodded. "We will be on a ship tonight and see you tomorrow morning Patrolman."

"Thank you." Penny bowed her head. The line went dead and Penny closed her scroll. This was the correct course of action. There were too many unknown variables. Still, Penny did not know what she felt right now. But she knew she didn't like it.

Penny sat on her bed for a few more minutes before she rubbed her face. She had other work to do.

-o-

Andrew closed the line and looked at Koben. "What the hell is happening in Vale?"

Koben took his jacket. "First the White Fang, then the grim invasion, now this? If the families were involved, the council should have done something. All patrolmen should have been dispatched. I am going to speak with Jaune's father to let him know."

"I am going to see what Pearl thinks. We need to be there by tomorrow morning. I'll speak to Avery about getting a ship too."

Koben ran out the door and beyond the settlement walls. He wished he had checked his messages sooner. That was at least twenty four hours the patromen had not been able to prepare.

-o-

Jaune took the morning to process everything he learned that morning. After the meeting with the older man, Priscilla had dismissed herself without a word to him. Her hand was over her mouth as she quickly exited the hall.

Jaune sat there and waited to see if anyone would come for him. About ten minutes of just admiring the skyline, someone did. A man in his late twenties moved one hand across his abdomen like a butler and bowed. "Thank you for your patience. You have a meeting now. Would you follow me?"

Jaune stood up and adjusted his jacket. He had wondered if there would be more. The fact that Priscilla did not return made him conscious of the fact he had started to categorize her as part of his group. He still was not quite sure how he felt about that.

Jaune mapped out the area along the way. The elevator took them to a lower level and dinged to another hall. This one in the opposite direction than the upper level. Did this one go into the mountain?

The escort stopped at the door and bowed one more time before he announced Jaune to the people inside. Jaune followed the man's beckoned hand to a group of men and women. Each wore a suit surrounding someone in the center of the small room. Tables were strewn in rows. It looked like they had another meeting and just adjourned.

Jaune waited to the side until he was addressed. Two people left and five more arrived. Jaune would have felt ignored if the guards in the room did not follow his every movement. What he thought could have been a meeting in the group was actually mostly guards. Occasionally they took turns staring Jaune down. Ah, that might be why it is taking so long. They are arguing about me.

That actually comforted him more than he was willing to admit. The old man from before was just him and his butler. Jaune learned early in his training days. Don't be afraid of the army. Be afraid of the one that walks by themselves.

There was an audible huff before the dark skinned young man a few years older than Jaune emerged from the group. Jaune quickly stood up straighter.

"Good Morning Patrolman. Thank you for waiting. You have requested some of my time. Please speak." Jaune was not sure of the accent. But it was not Vale or Atlas.

Jaune swallowed at the greeting, "Thank you for seeing me." Jaune ignored the guards that seemed to slowly surround him as he explained the sudden activity in Vale.

"And you would try and pry into personal information?" The young man asked, a confident smile in place.

"I am looking for signs of Arthur Watts. The man responsible for the attack."

The man hummed for a moment. "What is it you want from me exactly Mr. Arc?"

"You asked if I would pry into the Families. I mean no disrespect to the families themselves. I simply follow where my investigations leads me. Which is why I am here. I would like to ask the families to look into the matter themselves. It is out of my powers to truly investigate the families with the level of anonymity they possess. I need the help of the families to find the people responsible in their own ranks."

"We families are lazy. We like the status quo. You will have to try harder than that to convince anyone to help you. You are one patrolman. You do not have money or influence for the families to listen to you. What would you do if you were forced to investigate the families for yourself?"

Jaune stared at the man for a moment. Not even a twinge to indicate a thought either way. "I would have to isolate and expose the family to bring them into Vale PD jurisdiction. If the families will not help themselves, I would have to force hands."

The man shook his head. "I'll correct your thinking there Mr. Arc. Vale PD would do you no good, it would lead to too many questions. The Council of Vale would prevent you from doing so. But your trial… Patrolman. They could stand your trial." There was a taunting tone that Juane didn't like in that smug statement. He probably knew Jaune was not sanctioned by the Council. "Thank you for your time. I must go now. I'll think about what you told me."

Jaune watched as the man walked away. His men stayed until he had left. Jaune kept his hands behind him and wrangled them in frustration. I don't like what he said at all.

He walked out of the room from the side he came from and noticed Priscilla was there. She looked up with an unreadable expression. "He did not request my presence. I had to stay outside. I have word from my uncle."

Jaune followed her to his apartment. Just inside the door she locked it and moved further in. Jaune watched as she looked around and rubbed her arms. "My Uncle has informed me that the Council now knows that you are investigating the families. They were notified this morning when a patrolman from a town in the sticks asked for a private ship to Vale."

Jaune sighed in relief. Penny was able to get help.

"What did they say?"

"I am not sure what the message of the council said exactly. But they have disavowed any action by the Patrolman that are in Vale. All patrolmen."

Jaune hissed and thought of Penny. "Thanks for letting me know. I guess that explains the last meeting. Will I meet anyone else today?"

Priscilla shook her head. "Tomorrow as far as I know."

"Thank you." Jaune went further into his apartment and ran a hand through his hair. He heard the woman leave his room and just muttered. "What am I going to do now?"

-o-

Only one of the warrant officers really knew how the CCT worked at the programming level. It gave Penny an idea how to narrow down the search and confirm that a secondary tower exists. The two engineers called for schematics for a frequency modulator. It would take too long to send one from Atlas. That meant they would need to make one.

Once she was satisfied they were happy to have something to do, Penny doned her patrolman jersey and left the hangar to speak with Professor Goodwitch and student Belladonna. Penny had broken into Jaune's room after Professor Goodwitch told her about Miss Belladonna. It only took a few minutes to go through the girls file Jaune had created. The cuffs were an interesting idea to keep her incarcerated while she had free movement.

Penny frowned at the free reign the girl enjoyed. She was former White Fang and had committed crimes. But the Belladonna girl committed none of them in Vale. And Atlas had already fumbled any chance of extradition when she was arrested. So long as the girl stayed clean, she got away with whatever she did in her life.

Penny let the key roll in her hand. On the other hand, the girl was instrumental to the success of the defense. So Penny could not be discourteous. The class was still in full swing judging from the grunts and clashing of metal and dust.

Patrolman Polendina opened and quietly closed the stadium door behind her. She came out of a side door and stayed in the shadows while the student's rounds finished. "Thank you everyone who volunteered. Class is dismissed." The students gathered their belongings as the two competitors went to the locker rooms.

Penny walked out to greet the professor. A few students who had lagged behind noticed the new girl and glanced curiously at the blue vest. The first years were there long enough to know what that meant. But that did not stop them from pointing out the new person in the vest.

Miss Belladonna was just as alarmed.

"Salutations Professor. And to you Miss Belladonna." Penny said in a chipper tone.

"Hello Patrolman. Blake, this is Patrolman Polendina."

Blake nodded slightly with a quiet, "Hello". Questions burned with every glance at the patrolman.

Penny smiled. "Patrolman Arc is currently on assignment." That seemed to relax the girl. Penny supposed that Jaune was her benefactor. She would care for his well being. "Which is why I would like to speak with you Professor. We are currently on an extended investigation. I am unable to fulfill the duties to be present for the trip to the forest with your first years."

Glynda raised her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "I have surmised. I wanted to speak with Miss Belladonna if she would stay at Beacon. She can participate in an exercise at a later date."

Blake touched her bracelets. "What about my team? They will want to know what is happening."

Penny looked over to the professor for a second before she looked back to the student. "You just don't want them to ask questions right?"

Blake nodded. Her faunus ears were low to her skull.

"Don't worry then. I'll handle it." Penny cheered. "Just don't ask any questions why your team is staying behind when Professor Goodwitch announces it to your team. You're dismissed."

Blake walked out of the stadium confused but would gratefully not say a word about why the team was suddenly ordered to stay behind.

Glynda crossed her arms. "I trust you have a good plan?"

"Absolutely. Could you call her teammates, the sisters?"

Glynda dubiously sent the notification. "Is this something Jaune told you to do?"

Penny smiled a little proud of the idea. "I just thought what would Jaune do."

Glynda's slight smile waned. "Is there any word?"

Penny shook her head. "Nothing. His scroll has been out of range since he left. Wherever he is, he's not in Vale. I am unfortunately coordinating two different plans if Jaune does not come back in the given five days."

Glynda looked away and swore. "For what it's worth, I trust him enough to get himself out of trouble."

Penny smile stretched her cheeks with how wide it was. "So do I. But there are no guarantees. I have to plan and be prepared." Penny looked up as the doors opened to see both Miss Xiao Long and Miss Rose. "Good afternoon ladies, front and center please."

Both students quickly walked forward. "Hi? Where's Mr. Arc?" The blonde girl asked.

"Busy," Glynda told her students.

Penny stepped forward, "Since he is unavailable, your team will not be able to go on the trip."

"What? Why?" Yang nearly yelled indignantly.

"Is it because we are on probation?" Ruby asked even as she flinched at the question.

"Yes Miss Rose." Penny answered. "It was his sentence, I can not go against that ruling. So your team will stay behind for the trip tomorrow. I suggest you do not ask any questions or offer answers to your teammates if they ask. But these things happen enough times where no one should blink at your team remaining behind. You will make up your session with Mr. Arc when he returns."

"But our team will ask questions. We are all kinda head strong like that." Miss Rose said. She eeped when the patrolman, who seemed to be even younger that Mr. Arc, snapped her head sharply at her.

"That will not be a problem Miss Rose. When your team is notified tomorrow, simply do not argue. It will work out. If there was nothing else Professor Goodwitch, I think they can be dismissed."

Glynda closed her scroll. "I agree. I will see your team tomorrow in class before the rest of the first years leave. I will inform your team then on what you will do during that time. Good day."

The two girls walked out of the class shoulders slumped.

"Patrolman Polendina. I appreciate the lengths you have gone through for my student's privacy. But this does seem a tad dishonest."

Penny looked up and smiled when she didn't hiccup. "Would we have had an issue if Jaune was here?"

Glynda shook her head. "Fair enough question. About Miss Schnee?"

"I actually need to do that myself. She was thankfully not arrested like the other three." Penny opened her scroll and dialed a number.

"Hello? Oh! It's you. Hello." The screen showed Weiss Schnee smile and nearly bow at the camera.

"Good afternoon Miss Schnee. Are you alone? I have a message I would like to relay."

"Yes? Let me go to the hall for a moment." Penny could hear the chatter on the other side of the line.

"Tomorrow your team was to take part of a trip into the everfall forest."

"Was?" Weiss frowned.

"Without Jaune Arc on site, your team is not allowed to leave the premises. Professor Goodwitch will inform the team tomorrow prior to take off."

"What! Why? What did my sister do?"

Penny shook her head. "I am not at liberty to say more Miss Schnee. I thought you should know ahead of time. Please keep silent about this to your team. Your team will have a make up trip with Patrolman Arc at a later date."

Weiss glared at Penny for several seconds before she just gave up and sighed. "This isn't fair. Why am I getting special treatment like this? I don't need a bodyguard."

"I can not say any more Miss Schnee. Have a good day."

"A good day…" Weiss inhaled ready to go into a tirade.

Penny shut the scroll and smiled widely to Glynda. "Done. If you excuse me, I do need to see what this message from the headmaster is."

Glynda watched the young girl go unsure if she preferred her or Jaune now…

-o-

Penny crossed her arms and looked down at the ground. "That isn't good. Do the Anvil Patrolmen know?"

Ozpin frowned as he finished reading the message to her. "They would likely be boarding or in mid flight this late in the evening. With the Council's decision, I am not sure what else I can do but suggest you close the investigation and wait to see if Jaune returns."

Penny looked at her scroll. Sensor relay is done Ma'am. Penny smiled at the message before she closed it. "Jaune said that the investigation was not sanctioned so it was to be expected if the Council found out. I will hold off on any further action tonight. But I want to speak about this with the other patrolman when they arrive. It was my fault for not telling them that we were not sanctioned. I was told but I did not understand what that really meant for the Council of Vale. I'm sorry."

Ozpin began to close off his computer and pushed back his chair. "It is a mistake but one you learned from Miss Polendina. Let's end the night early. Did you have something else to report?"

"No sir." Penny said with a near habitual salute. "Should I bring the patrolmen to meet you when they arrive?"

Ozpin frowned and thought about it. "Let's not just yet. Speak with them and see what they decided to do. If you need direction afterwards please speak to me. But they will be experienced enough where they may have options or advice of what can be done in the meantime."

-o-

Penny walked purposefully towards her hangar. Her warrant officers had put in extra time for this project to get it done as quickly as possible and they had told her it was done. Once she was inside she found the two on her hardlight station fitting the new equipment in her backpack. The new metal box was open while they were in mid reassembly.

"Thank you for finishing it so quickly."

The two warrant officers smiled. "Thank you ma'am. It was a challenge but we got it done."

"A day early if you file the report would be nice." The one officer elbowed the other. "Ma'am."

Penny nodded and walked to the pack. The two black bars that sat on her back flew into the air and folded in half and slid into the pack. She placed it on and adjusted the straps.

"Was it difficult to make?" Penny asked while her systems began to read the hardware.

"Sorta. It was hard until we knew what to look for. You can actually pick up the secondary signal from here. It's that strong. Be careful if you are looking for it, if you are too close you could just be flooded inside the focal point's range without knowing where it is exactly." Warned the young man.

Penny already knew where she would look first. "I will be careful. You are both dismissed. Take the next day off. If I do call, it would be for an emergency."

Penny watched them go and went to change her clothes. The girl took some time trying to find anything she owned that was dark. She settled on a pair of pants that were stretchy. Bernedette said they were a man killer for sure. Penny knew things would have to go horribly wrong for her to have to kill anyone. Hopefully yoga pants would not do any killing tonight. Penny pulled on a black loose shirt with a wide collar and sighed at all the white skin and hair exposed.

Penny crossed her arms and just watched the readout for the secondary CCT waves for the next five hours. If she wanted to hunt for the source she wanted it to be in the early pre-dawn hours. It was nearly three in the morning when she set off from the hangar.

Penny slid on the backpack before she walked through the campus then past the CCT. The patrolman eyed the main entrance path that bullheads would use to drop off new students. The main road was lined with pillars and statues to welcome students and parents when they visited. Penny ignored those in favor of the highest skyscraper in Vale rose into view at the end of the road. Four more towers appeared as she came closer to the edge of the cliff facing Vale. She stopped a ways before the edge and crossed her arms.

Penny's eyes gleamed green the moment that the new equipment activated and synced with her communications network. Penny looked towards the CCT on campus and nodded. The sensor could pick up a strong signal like a ping on a radar. Ahead of her she spotted the skyscrapers that were in line of sight of the CCT tower directly. If Watts had used a separate network, it would have to be from one of those buildings. She hoped that it was the one she suspected, but now she would know for sure. Penny jumped off the cliff edge before the two black bars on her back slid out from behind the backpack and unfolded into two jet thrusters that propelled her across the lake.

The closest tower was also the furthest east of the main four. Penny slowed and landed on a tower roof that had a top to observe it. From her perch, the tower in question still rose ten plus more stories. They were right, the signal got saturated in the city itself. Penny waved a hand and one of the black bars changed from a jet engine to a sword before it was thrust towards the building across the street. The whiz cord tied to it disappeared in the noise of the wind. Penny felt the tug of a secure line. She took a single step back before she vaulted off the edge of her perch and pulled by the wire towards the new building.

The patrolman landed softly against the side of the building and began to walk up while looking at her measuring equipment. The signal was not focused here.

Penny let the cord pull her upwards and she took solid deliberate steps up the side of the building towards the top. When she got to her sword, she was near the highest point of the building.

"The warrant officer was not lying about the signal noise." Penny grabbed her sword and pulled it out of the wall and leapt off the side. Her sword turned back into a jet and propelled her to the next building.

After the next building was clear, Penny sighed at the third. It was the one she thought was interesting. The problem she found out this evening before she left, is that the tower also acted as a lightning rod. Her equipment scrambled slightly when she approached the top but she did her best to walk along the sides of the building. This high in the air the windows were sealed shut. Penny looked in a few of them but shook her head at the offices. No signals from this one.

Penny left the building to find the final one and it proved just another building. It was the least likely of the bunch. Penny never felt so disappointed. The waves were there, but she could not lock onto it. She was sure something had to be there. Penny sat on the roof of one of the lower skyscrapers truly dejected at the failure. She knew she stayed too long when the sun began to yellow the morning sky.

The patrolman stretched and inhaled deeply in an effort to clear her mind. "Ok. No second signal outside of Beacon's CCT just noise. How would you just mask an open signal? A tower just doesn't just stop transmitting. How would Watts even know the CCT infrastructure so well in the first place to do something like that? The towers are all owned by Atlas. He wasn't even a part of Atlas Engineering when the first CCT began to be planned.

Penny blinked.

"Watt's wouldn't know about the current CCT. But Vale had a local network before it was built." Penny switched on the sensor one more time, but changed the modulation. The previous frequency did not have the ability to have the security checks the new system had. The encryption keys were not nearly as complex. Penny ran through her memory and found the frequency and matched the sensor to it.

"Bingo."

Penny turned her head and got a solid ping. The fuzzy all encompassing signal came into focus. She grinned widely at the antenna on top of the tower.

"So that one is the right tower. That's one mystery solved."

-o-

Jaune was able to sleep a little more soundly that night. He was mostly convinced that no one would walk into his room and kill him in his bed. That did not stop him from wearing his gear in bed. The alarm in his scroll blared to rouse him from his sleep. He rolled to one side and rubbed his face.

The patrolman was unsure how many of these meetings he was supposed to have. He just hoped they would come quick so he could return to Vale. When Jaune walked out of the room, he turned to the kitchen. Halfway there, he spotted a piece of paper that was slid underneath the front door.

Jaune read it under blurry eyes and groaned. "How much do these things cost?"

Now more relaxed, Jaune opened the front door and found two new hanged tailor suits covered in a protective plastic. Along with two new matching sets of shoes. Jaune just pulled them in and hoped he wouldn't be charged for the suits. His morning went by quickly with the extra rest. Priscilla knocked on his door just after two in the afternoon. Jaune quickly fixed his suit as he opened the door.

Priscilla gave him a once over and nodded before she turned to walk into the elevator. She said nothing else during the ride. Five dings marked the floor and the pair walked with purpose down several halls. This place was the furthest Jaune had been inside the resort. The new hall was much darker than the others.

Jaune slowed a step as he took in the whole wall of glass. Where the room he was in yesterday morning was a view of the skyline, this one peered inwards to an underground river that flowed from higher inside the mountain and down a cavernous reveane. Jaune could barely make out the roar of the water with how thick the glass was. As they walked down the corridor, the waterfall cascaded down out of view and out of his mind.

Priscilla stopped in front of a door and politely knocked. Inside, two men stood guard and walked out to inspect the two. With a single nod, they were both allowed to enter.

The roar of the water was louder in this room. The room opened to four grand transparent screen doors. A young couple stood outside in fine clothes to admire the view. The blonde man turned and grinned at his new guests. He leaned forward and said something to the woman at his side before he walked to the screen door and opened it himself.

"Come over here Jaune. I would like to discuss a few things with you. Priscilla? Please entertain Cassandra for me?"

"Of course sir." Priscilla said as she bowed.

Jaune walked out of the screen door and was immediately hit with how cold and humid the cavern was. It was loud with the smell of fresh water heavy in the air.

"Hello sir."

"Hello Jaune." The man said with a level of familiarity that put immediately put the patrolman on alert. "I wanted to speak with you in private, but even this place has ears."

Jaune followed him to the edge and looked down the balcony. Beyond the flood lights that illuminated the waterfall, the water disappeared into nothingness. "What have you thought of your stay?"

Jaune looked away from the ravine. "Every view is breathtaking sir."

"I am glad you enjoyed it. You can relax about the cost by the way."

Jaune shoulders did not relax. "For the room?"

The blonde man smiled and nodded. "The suits too. They are yours. If you leave them here, we'll be sure to send them to Beacon or wherever you decide to stay."

"Thank you. It is very generous. What is the occasion?"

The man tapped the balcony handrail. "You'll need them. If you are going to do what I think. You will need every little bit of help you can take. You will be fun to watch for the coming months." He said cheerfully.

"I am sorry I do not understand." Jaune admitted.

"Are you pretending you know nothing about the Vale Council ordering a cease and desist?"

Jaune's sweat ran cold on his neck. "The council has ordered a disavowment of my actions. As I have not been in Vale to receive the order, I am unsure of the contents. I will follow my investigation until I receive the orders."

The blonde man looked over his shoulder to see Jaune's straight face. He eventually laughed. "That is very shrewd of you. Very well. Have it your way. Investigate the families if you wish. Just remember that without the Council's approval, you will be seen as just another huntsman invading a private citizens land. That will start the civil war you wish to prevent. Only a family could fight another family. And I can say I am not willing to go that far. I doubt anyone is. It is not safe."

"What would it take to have a family fight another family?"

"Personal stakes." The man said simply.

"A war with the huntsmen isn't personal enough?"

The man shook his head. "You don't understand. How many families do you think are actually related to each other?"

Jaune tightened his jaw. He had never even thought about it that way. "Probably more than I would have considered."

"It is rare in the main families, but the branch families are more of a web of a wealthy social class. The branch families are so inter-married over the centuries, that it would be harder to find someone marrying into someone not in their own circle. Its directly opposite to the main families. The main families would never want to empower their own branch families so we tend to find someone who is not part of our world at all. Look at my wife for example. It takes a lot of trust to bring someone from the lower world to ours. I had courted Cassandra for six years before I married her. I will admit there were times when I wondered if it was worth it. But it was. I trust her with my heart and my life." The man gestured to the woman who had escorted Priscilla to sit down inside. The two women were talking with smiles. It was the most relaxed he had seen his escort.

Jaune resisted to urge to rub his eyes now that he understood what the man wanted to convey. "The families are disturbed that there is a traitor, aren't they?"

The man stayed silent and just stared at the waterfall. "You walked in with no warning and declared one of us has been... unfaithful."

Jaune did his best to quickly piece as many things together and then he remembered why the meeting was so sudden. "Did Priscilla believe there was a traitor in the family?"

"She was one of the first to say it aloud. It was why she was so alarmed when you asked for her. You confirmed everyone's worst fears. Plenty of people would be happy if you just disappeared. They are eager to pretend that nothing ever happened." The blonde man's eyes looked to the black abyss below them before he looked to Jaune.

Jaune stood perfectly still while the silent moment passed between them.

Just as quickly as it happened the screen door opened and dispelled the tension. "Sweetie, we are getting a little bored in here without you."

"Yes my love." The blonde man said. His voice was joyful as he left the edge of the balcony. Jaune would have allowed him to go in first but the man's hand rested on his shoulder. He smiled and leaned in to whisper in Jaune's ear.

Jaune stood stock still as the sound of his own blood blocked out the roar of the waterfall. The patrolman stayed still even after the man pulled back and left. It took Jaune a minute to get his bearings before he too walked inside. The roar of the river was finally, blissfully shut out with the closed screen door.

Jaune knew he was not himself during the conversation with the man's wife. His answers were short and nearly rude. It was even more disoriating that the family head willfully covered for him.

Priscilla finally escorted him out of the room after nearly an hour of idle conversation. Her looks at him were curious but she seemed happy to just escort him to his room and leave him be.

Jaune looked up and realized he was at his door without really recalling how he got there. When Priscilla turned to leave he called out, "Priscilla? Would you be willing to come in? I have a question I should have asked a long time ago."

Priscilla huffed but nodded. "I can spare a few minutes. Whatever he said clearly disturbed you."

The woman followed him inside and Jaune found two short glasses. "Would you like something?"

Prscilla seemed much more willing with an offer of a drink. "Just something cold and hard."

Jaune filled the two glasses with ice and handed her a glass half full of some kind of alcohol that burned and heated his stomach in a single breath. It did not bother him that his first taste of alcohol burned all the way down. When he looked at the glass he considered topping it off.

"You might want to go easy on that, I don't know if another family is here to call you today."

Jaune was in the middle of lifting the glass cap and gently put it back down to seal the bottle shut. "Thank you."

The two sat down across from each other. Priscilla seemed more patient than she let on as Jaune let the silence drag. "Priscilla? I am not asking you to name names, just... How do families come into power?"

Priscilla sipped her drink and lowered it to the table. "He said something about that?"

Jaune simply nodded.

Priscilla sighed and swore. "I was trained to be a family head when I was young. But my uncle is considered the Head until I am ready. I make the decisions but he gives the approval. It was not ideal, but the role had to be filled quickly. There are only seven main families in Vale Jaune. The branch and minor families are literally the children to all of those families over the generations."

Jaune sat down and listened. He had wondered how many people were present at the ball. It was far more than he would have thought for a gathering of a few families.

"My family has had running control of the textile market for six generations as a major family. But when we started, we had to wrestle control of those markets. A previous family that no longer exists had been hiking up the prices to fund their own excesses of wealth. From what I was told, my family took over the company with blood. My ancestor took over the company and divided the monopoly into several companies to spread the industry across Vale and beyond. The son that stayed in Vale started a long line of successful merchants. Our family wasn't one of the first families as we know it. But some way or another we just became a family. I can only guess we became a family through marrying into it."

Jaune frowned but seemed relieved at the story. "Have the families changed since then?"

Priscilla did not look comfortable when she finally said. "No. One family died out just from a lack of children, another family gave up their wealth to disappear. But there were always seven families. The branch families would fight for the chance to become one. But they had never understood that is not how it works. A head family is never earned or given. It has to be taken. It always has been. If you think you can find a minor family that has that kind of ability or power, you will just waste lives."

-o-

Penny watched the bullhead land with a feeling she could only really describe as nervousness. She would be judged by other patrolman now. Would they approve of what she did? Would they take over because she did not meet their expectations? Would they be willing to even keep going with the Council effectively announcing that the Beacon Patrolmen were on their own?

"Welcome to Beacon." Penny heard herself say when they got off the bullhead.

The man she recognized as Koben from the call took her hand in his with a solid shake. "It is good to see you Penny. Again, I'm Koben. This is Andrew."

Penny nodded to the other man, "Let's get inside. I got some news that will make our job difficult."

Both men looked grim at the news. Penny escorted them quickly to her hangar and up the steps to her hardlight station. The station instantly created three chairs made of white lines. Penny took a seat next to the monitor. The station moved the monitors around and made room for a table to appear for the three to sit around. "I should start with a briefing. Nearly two months ago Jaune Arc arrested a refugee from the White Fang…"

Penny spent the next hour describing what has happened in the last few weeks according to the report she read. She added a few bits of information she had observed herself. The black hearts and the interaction with Junior and Torchwick ended the briefing. Penny had no idea what to do with the newest information and informed the patrolmen. "I have been informed that the Council has disavowed any action done by the patrolmen inside Vale."

Both men grimaced but it was Koben who hissed a curse. "Does Jaune know?"

Penny shook her head. "Jaune is still out of communication range. I started to make a few plans to look for Jaune if he does not return by the date. But I also have this."

Penny pointed to the screen as it flashed to a picture of the building she had visited. "In an independent investigation I started to look for cancelled purchases and found this building for sale. It was in the closing stages of a sale but was cancelled after the invasion happened. I have since confirmed at the very least that the guards at the base floor know of the families if they are not working for them. And somewhere on the sixtieth floor stands a communication tower that extends through the building."

Penny pulled her bag off the table and took off a small container the size of a shoe box. "I used this to confirm that it is producing a telecommunications signal that piggybacks off the CCT. I am unsure if this is what was used by Arthur Watts when he communicated with Jaune during the invasion. But the equipment needed to do that feat matches what Watts would need."

Penny looked up after she put away the box. When she looked up she realized both men were smiling at her. "Um?"

Koben walked up to the screen to look at the signal strength that is being measured by the second antenna. Andrew rubbed his head and patted her shoulder. "Excellent job Patrolman. Can you go over what this building is officially used for?"

Penny let her shoulders relax. Her relieved voice just said, "Sure."

-o-

Jaune was very much in his own mind that afternoon when there was a knock on his door. The patrolman rubbed his eyes. He had not known how long he zoned out on the couch. He was just surprised that it was well past nine in the evening. The sun was long gone from the skyline and he had already started to half take off his suit. Jaune quickly slid on the shirt and took his suit jacket off the back of the dining chair. He made his way across the apartment while he fixed his cuffs.

"Just a moment." He called to the door as he quickly went to the bathroom sink to fix his hair. When Jaune looked at his reflection, he realized he had never actually seen himself in all of the suits he had been wearing. "Huh."

Jaune looked more relaxed in it now than he felt in the first meeting. He could almost see himself as stiff as a board back then. "Ok, maybe it was a good idea I never saw myself in the suits before now." It had become second nature now that he had worn them for the last two days all day. A fortunate side effect since he never knew when he would be called.

The door knob turned and opened to reveal Priscilla had lost her patience waiting for him. Jaune watched as she shifted from one foot to another in a slim deep blue dress with a single slit that went up to her upper thigh. She looked sullen with her arms crossed. "We need to go now."

Juane quickly walked out of the bathroom. "Sorry. Where are we going this time?"

"A private study in another guests' room. He had 'forgotten' he wanted to see you today."

Jaune grimaced at her unimpressed tone but nodded as he followed her into the elevator. The elevator ascended for several dings before they opened to another suite entrance. The lone door on the floor had a single number on it. Priscilla knocked on the door and stepped back to let Jaune stand in front.

The door opened nearly a minute later. Two women in suit pants and ties smiled welcomingly to the pair before they were invited in.

Jaune looked to the living room and realized it wasn't going to be a private meeting. There was a single deep tanned man who seemed to sit in the middle of a group of men and women in casual attire. The man himself wore a suit that had already been loosened. His vest sat loosely around his torso and the top few buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned. The man had carelessly had his tie rest around his shoulders.

Jaune watched as the entourage spread apart and allowed both Jaune and Priscilla a chance to sit in front of the leader. The man simply waved at the two women in dismissal. "Good evening Patrolman."

"Good evening sir. Thank you for inviting me to speak with you so late in the evening. I hope it was not too much of an inconvenience."

The man shook his head. "I had forgotten. My fault. Happens when you visit family. Hello Prissy."

Priscilla did her best not to scowl and nearly lowered her head. "Hello Mr. Grith."

The man sighed, "Shot down again. Me and Prissy go way back Mr. Patrolman. Childhood sweethearts."

Priscilla nearly ground her hands into her dress. "It was before we knew better. I learned when I grew up."

Mr. Grith gave her a soft eyed look. After a beat where the group around Mr. Grith lost their joviality. Mr Grith looked towards Jaune. "Is there something interesting over my shoulder Mr. Patrolman?"

Jaune looked away from the man who had nothing but tried to stare him down from behind the family head. "Nothing that is an immediate threat. I would like to ask why your man is ready to attack me."

The man frowned and raised two fingers over his shoulder. "Aaron, calm down. He isn't the one you want."

"Patrolman are all the same. Like hell am I going to relax with him here." The man named Aaron glared at Jaune.

The patrolman just took it. The Aaron guy would not be the last one that hated him for his job. "I would like to talk with you about what has happened in Vale."

Mr. Grint nodded his head and waved his hand in a circle of impatience. "Yes, I have heard. Someone was stupid. You are looking for someone to interfere. I will tell you now I don't care about Vale. It can burn. There is hardly anyone of value there."

Jaune watched Mr. Grith's eyes as they involuntarily lowered towards Priscilla for a moment. "Having said that, I was curious about you. I've never seen a Patrolman so young."

Jaune tucked the information away for now. "I started work as a patrolman about the time other kids would want to become huntsmen. That is all I know."

"I see. I had wondered. I was curious about you but Anvil security runs purely on written records. There is no database I could request files. It was annoying that my money could not buy something Patrolman."

Jaune resisted the urge to say thank you. The men behind him seemed to move closer. "You have run into us before?"

Mr. Grith smiled and looked at his group. "Most of us have. We don't really run our business in the cities. Settlements are a better alternative for my work."

Jaune took the statement at face value. He did not think the man would say more about what he did. "Was there something you wanted to ask me Mr. Grith?"

The man laughed. It nearly sounded forced and he looked to Priscilla. She still had not raised her head. "Not in particular. I was feeling nostalgic and wanted to see Prissy. She did not answer my summons earlier today."

Priscilla crossed her arms and looked at her knees.

Jaune felt it was time to go. "Then thank you for the audience then Mr. Grith. I know I am interrupting your evening. I would not want to take more of your time." Jaune stood up and waited for Priscilla to stand. When she did not stand with him, Jaune extended a hand to her. She looked up and took it. Her hand was cold and grip shaking.

"I wouldn't mind if Prissy stayed for a bit longer." Mr. Grith offered.

Prissy glared at him. Some of her vigor returned. "No thank you Mr. Grith."

Jaune escorted her by the hand towards the door.

"That wasn't a request Prissy."

Priscilla slowed to a stop. She gripped Jaune's hand with her eyes still low to the ground. Jaune scanned the room to the number of men and women that stood in front of the exit and the ones who suddenly began to stand.

Jaune smiled genuinely at the family head, "Unfortunately Priscilla is here as my guide. We still have to have our evening meeting."

Mr. Grith shook his head and gestured his hand at the door.

"That means that you leave now patrolman." Jaune's title was spat like a curse.

Priscilla looked around and almost looked ready to step away from Jaune. All it took for that resolve to crumble was Jaune simply giving the woman's hand a simple tug. She immediately grasped his hand as if it was her only life line.

Jaune looked to the guard. When the man realized that the pair were not separating, four more men joined him in front of the door. Jaune looked over to Mr. Grith. He seemed to become more impatient when Jaune did not immediately give up on the woman.

Jaune turned with a hardened stare at the family head.

Mr. Grith laughed. "You are not a threat here child. You are here because a few rich people wanted to thank you. You are no more important than those old fossils that want to thank you for saving their legacy. You can't arrest us here. We are not even in Vale's borders."

Jaune gently let go of Priscilla's hand. The patrolman began to turn his body and angled her between him and the wall. Jaune looked to the one person from the entourage that hated him. Jaune's fists were raised before they opened into two palms facing either direction.

Jaune moved his gaze to Mr. Grith. His blue eyes focused on the family head. "Priscilla is a daughter of Vale Mr. Grith. I am a Patrolman. I live, breathe and will die for Vale. I don't really need a reason to protect a citizen."

Jaune heard one of the men swear, "Filthy zealot."

Jaune stared down the tanned man. "You will let us go unharmed. This is your only warning."

The group stared at each other. Mr. Grith scowled and raised a few fingers towards the door. "Get out of here before I change my mind."

Jaune lowered his hands and offered Priscilla his hand. She took it and the two walked toward the door. The man Aaron grounded his teeth and pulled a dust pistol. Jaune heard the click from behind him. Carelessly he said, "A White Fang assassin tried to shoot me from point blank range. Do you think that will do anything?"

Jaune waited but heard nothing else.

Mr. Grith stood and lowered Aaron's firearm. He glared at Jaune's back before he waved them off. Finally the men in front of the door stepped aside. Jaune did not turn around when the door closed. Immediately he turned around and stared at the door to Mr. Griths' room. "Priscilla, elevator to my level please."

Priscilla nodded as she tried to enter her code. It took her a moment around frayed nerves and unsteady hands to call the elevator. Fifty tense seconds passed where Jaune waited to see if they would decide to follow. Only when the pair were in the elevator did Jaune relax enough to look at the woman. "Are you alright?"

Priscilla had been sweating heavily, so much so, her make up had begun to run. "Yes. Thank you Mr. Arc. I should have said something before we went in. I am sorry."

Jaune shook his head. "We walked out ok. Will you be ok in your room?"

Priscilla shook her head. "I will get a new room. I don't trust him to not sent people to my floor."

Jaune still held the woman's hand as he led her into his room and let her sit on the couch. "I think our time here is over Priscilla. Will you follow me back to Vale when I leave?"

"What about the others? You would be…" Priscilla stopped herself and crossed her arms and rubbed them for warmth.

"I think I have received the answers I was looking for." Jaune reached for the communications terminal to call the main desk. "Yes, this is Jaune Arc. How soon can a ship be prepared to travel back to Vale?" Jaune nodded along. "How long is the return flight? Thank you. I was to meet a few other guests this week. Could you leave them a short message if they ask for me?"

Jaune listed and nodded along. "I apologize for not meeting with you. I had to return to Vale urgently. Yes- let them know my contact number for Beacon if they wish to speak with me. Thank you."

Jaune closed the line. "We leave tomorrow morning at six. I didn't realize it would take so long to fly back to Vale."

Priscilla sighed. "It is a seven hour flight. I should get some rest. I'll call to get a new room."

Jaune watched as she unsteadily tried to stand up. She looked exhausted. "Do you want to sleep here? I don't plan on sleeping until we are on that ship. Really, I don't think I could sleep if I tried right now."

Priscilla looked at him surprised. "What?"

Jaune swallowed as he realized what he let slip. Quickly he added, "I just threatened a family head. I don't know if he has friends here and if he is gathering them tonight. Besides, there are a few things I need to mull over before we get back to Vale. If the ship is here in eight hours, I'll just stay up and rest on the way back. You can take my room. I'll just be here in the living room until we go."

Jaune walked into the kitchen and started to get water to make himself some coffee.

Priscilla watched as he quickly took off his suit jacket and unbuttoned his shirt before going to the bed room to grab his clothes. He went to the bathroom and changed into a pair of well worn jeans and a black shirt. His patrolman gloves sat limply in his back pocket.

Priscilla started to walk towards the room and hesitated. "Did you really stop a dust round like you said?"

Jaune looked over to her hovering next to the bedroom door. Jaune smiled and raised his hand. The welt was still there in a deep red circle that warped the skin of his palm. "From a few inches. It scared the hell out of me."

Priscilla simply nodded. "Thank you for letting me stay." She walked into the bedroom and closed the door. Jaune didn't expect her to stay awake for very long. That kind of stress would wear anyone out.

With a fresh cup of hot black coffee, Jaune pulled a chair to the middle of the hallway so he could see the window going outside and the door. If he was honest with himself he would be happy if it was a quiet evening. For most of the night Jaune seemed to just stare at his hands. It had been a long time since he surveyed them. Dark calluses covered his knuckles and finger tips. Veins bulged from the back of his hands and tendons flexed when he moved his fingers. He always seemed to take his hands for granted.

And then there was the angry welt on his palm. It was mostly healed. It still hurt but it no longer looked like it would break the skin and bleed. Jaune shook his head at that thought. "There's going to be enough blood on my hands soon. I don't need to worry about my own."

Jaune felt the fatigue set in some time around three in the morning. He had taken to do a short generic work out routine of sit-ups, push-ups and drop drills to keep the blood flowing. He had never attempted to stay awake for twenty-four hours before. Just turning his head forced him to jerk his head. He had allowed himself to nap near the door for twenty minutes which his scroll beeped him awake around five o'clock. It felt physically painful to see the sun rise above the clouds at five-twenty in the morning. His eyes were dry and heavy.

Jaune purposefully knocked on the bedroom door twice. "Priscilla. It's time to get ready."

Jaune looked at the three suits he was given. He wrote a simple note to send them to Beacon and let them hang in their plastics to be cleaned. He never did wear the third suit. It was a silver suit with a black undershirt.

Jaune stood by the door and looked at his scroll. The ship would depart in fifteen minutes. Priscilla walked out of the bedroom and closed her scroll.

"I am sorry, I was making additional arrangements for my belongings in my room. I am ready."

"Not a problem. Let's be on our way."

-o-

Penny, Koben and Andrew sat around the desk each with a cup of coffee. Penny scrunched her nose before she added another packet of sugar to it. "Aside from the tower itself, I was unable to get anything else. I consulted the engineers and they were able to find the make and model of the original tower. It definitely is the original tower. Same call sign and everything. The tower is still being used. And the security is still tight. From my early morning observation yesterday there are no other connection nodes. Someone is definitely using it as their private communication terminal."

"I wish we could ask around if the families were using it, but there is no real way without the fortune to ask the local informant."

Penny nodded. "Junior is unknown to me as well. I only had two short interactions with him. From Jaune's notes, he had been using his entire monthly salary for the small bits he acquired."

Andrew sighed. "That moron. Well, so long as he isn't in debt. I'll just remind him to be more careful."

Penny leaned forward in the need to defend him. "To be fair, there was a huge crisis last month."

Andrew and Koben nodded at the reminder.

"I guess all we can do is rest up and train. How is your training?"

Penny grimaced. "I have aura and was to start training to better control it. Jaune said I would kill someone if I don't fix it. I had not had the chance to try and learn better control." Penny really wished she could consult her father. Motor control was fine, she could stop within millimeters of a surface, she could even stop the flow of aura into her limbs. But the actual speed when she moved, it was too fast. Jaune said it was too sharp for someone that did not have aura.

"I actually have another way I could incapacitate people with no aura, but it relies on me being by myself. If either of you were nearby, you would be affected."

Koben finished his cup and stood to go to the counter to get another cup of coffee. "How so?"

Penny grinned widely as two black bars flew from her back and switched into two blades. "I can use sound wave modulation on my swords."

Andrew whistled. "Is it a sonic pulse?"

Penny nodded. "Yes. But the amplitude will ruptured eardrums. I do not want to do that if either of you are nearby. I can protect myself just fine."

"Noted. I suppose we should try and help you a little then. We'll work on it today to pass the time. Be prepared for a lot of watching and copying. You're about to get a crash course in target assessment."

-o-

Jaune woke to the quiet hum of the ship. He did not feel he slept at all. Every hour he seemed to stir awake and stare at the ceiling. A frustrated exhaustion claimed him eventually. Jaune sat up and looked around the private room. It was a simple soft bed and bathroom decorated with tiles and mirrors. Jaune grimaced at the tee shirt and boxers he wore. He wish he had time to bring clothes. These ones were ripe. For the first time in so many days he was able to fully dress down to something he could sleep in comfortably. His body felt better after resting, but his mind was still a jumble. His scroll said it had been seven hours. Nearly back to Vale.

Jaune sat on his bed and really began to think about what he would need to do next. The people he spoke to in the last few days reinforced how divorced the Families could be from the rest of the world. It was so simple for most of them. Jaune thought back to his meeting with the second meeting. "Selfish people." Jaune murmured to himself. He wouldn't describe any of the families he had met as lazy. But comfortable with their own affluence? Absolutely.

Jaune looked at his scroll and willed it to have a connection. He wanted to get in touch with people he loved. Get back into the world that made sense. Jaune pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew what that one guy was suggesting. But was this the only way? Was there no other way to out the family that helped the insurgents?

There was a blip of an intercom. "We are approaching Vale Air Space. One hour, twenty-seven minutes before we arrive at Vale."

Jaune stood up and put his clothes back on. He was silent when he walked out of his room and to the main lounge area. Priscilla had changed to a more relaxed skirt and blouse with her feet propped up on a stool. She set down the book she had read. "Feeling better?"

Jaune nodded. "I just needed some sleep. These ships have got to be the steadiest things I've ever flown on."

Priscilla sat up and set her book down next to her. "What will you do when you get back?"

Jaune swallowed thickly. Priscilla had said very little of how the last family became a family. He knew she hedged around the actual answer. She just implied it happened around a lot of dead bodies. Jaune just nearly realized he had not answered when he sat down. "I will reconnect with my partner. I did not get what I had hoped. But it was such a shot in the dark, I'm not too surprised."

"I am sorry to hear that. At least you got to see something nice?"

Jaune ignored how she teased her neck line when she brushed her ebony silken hair from her collarbone. He was sure she did not even mean to imply anything. Her thoughts were thinking about her own encounter at the resort. Really it just made him wish he could see Coco sooner. "I didn't leave empty handed. I should actually thank you."

Priscilla walked to the bar and poured herself a drink and raised a glass in offer to Jaune. He simply nodded a 'thank you' when she poured him one. "How so?"

"I learned a lot about the families. Some are things I don't think others are really aware of if they were not families themselves." Qrow never said anything about the dynamics of the families or the hierarchy. Jaune was pretty sure Qrow never learned the intricacies of their internal dynamics.

"The families we saw were very open." Priscilla admitted. "I was surprised they were and still let us go."

Jaune thought back to the atmosphere of each meeting. "I won't be alive for very long if I mess up this investigation. Two of the family heads have promised they would handle me in so many words." Jaune looked at his half empty glass and laughed ruefully at himself. When he glanced at Priscilla she sat uncomfortably in her seat. She was unsure how to respond to that.

"The two men before Mr. Grith." Jaune reminded her, "They have placed trust in my decision. The jury is out if they will be happy with the outcome. Not to mention any of the other families that I will have snubbed by coming back early. But even with the death threats, this was worth it."

Priscilla remembered what the patrolman had said last night. He was always prepared for his own death. She looked away. She did not like the idea she was looking at a dead man. Not when he still defended her when she was a family head. "You didn't get your agreement." She reluctantly reminded him.

Jaune smiled. A shine of optimism entered his smile. "No. But I think I learned enough to know how the families would react. If I can't get a family to interfere for me, I atleast now know how the other families will respond."

Jaune finished his drink. He let it burn his throat and he shuddered. "Priscilla? How long have you been a family head?"

Priscilla refused to look at him. She played with the lip of her glass with a delicate manicured finger. "Seven years. Father and cousin were assassinated. Uncle, the one you met, avenged their deaths for me, but I had been the family head since I was sixteen. Uncle made sure I didn't mess up too badly."

Jaune closed his eyes and hummed. "Not too far off what I am now. Thanks, I was curious."

"What did Mr-," Priscilla rolled her eyes. "His name is Aldain Larch. What did Aldain whisper in your ear when I was talking to his wife?"

Jaune thought of every conversation. They were all short and Jaune did not think many of them really wanted to spend more time than necessary with him. Aldain Larch was different. Jaune opened his eyes and stared at Priscilla. She stopped what she was doing and stared back, caught like a deer in the headlights and unable to look away from the hard blue eyes that seemed to evaluate her.

"He told me how I could ensure that there would never be another insurgency again. I just got to be brave enough to try it." Jaune finished his glass and set it down. He looked up to Priscilla with a sad smile. "Very soon I will be making a move against the families. When we get back, spread the word that if they see me, they should surrender immediately. I can't guarantee their lives. I can't afford to hesitate."

Priscilla felt her chest constrict. The threat was offered in such a warm tone.

-o-

Jaune walked to the cockpit at the pilot's request. "What's the problem?"

THe pilot said around his mic, "They are asking for a clearance code to land."

Jaune frowned. "Beacon has no such codes. May I?"

The pilot pressed a switch and raised his mic from his helmet and pulled down a push to talk microphone that hung above him. "Your on open channel now Sir."

"Patrolman Jaune Arc requesting clearance to land."

"Mr. Arc, no flights are scheduled to land at this time. I can not give approval to land. Please stand by while we request permission to have you land."

"I see seven landing pads along with the emergency landing pad for my exclusive use open. Why are we not given permission to land?"

The line was silent. Jaune lowered the mic. "What the hell? Pilot, make a circle around Beacon for a second."

Jaune turned on his scroll and found the number of blip alerts with the list of numbers… All the contacts were deleted. Jaune's stomach churned. He scrolled through until he found his scroll's back up number.

What is going on? I just got to Beacon to be turned away.

The scroll replied back almost unnaturally fast. Beacon on lock down by order of the Council of Vale. Warrant is issued for your arrest. Do not return to Beacon. I'm at Bernadette's store. All of us patrolmen are hiding. Ozpin is in a meeting with the Council right now. -Penny

Jaune clicked his tongue, "Pilot we need a new landing area in town."

Priscilla walked up when she realized the ship took to a cruising altitude again. "What happened?"

Jaune closed his scroll. "Beacon is on lock down. Do you have a place where we can land inside the city?"

Priscilla nodded. "My mansion." She quickly leaned around him and gave the pilot the instructions.

Jaune started going through the backed up messages. He felt really unlucky he had to destroy his memory for his scroll. Each message was from a scroll number with no name attached.

Jaune stayed silent until the ship landed. "Thank you Priscilla."

"Are you going to be ok going out there?"

Jaune looked down the long road towards the main gate that led into the city. "I know where I need to go. I'll figure it out when I get there. Please pass on my message. It will probably happen sooner rather than later."

Jaune turned towards the main road and accelerated to a quick pace within three steps. The gate had started to open when they spotted him and he ran past it when it was only wide enough for a single car. Now on the main road, Jaune figured he had a few miles of open road along the highway. He sped up to his full speed down the road. Penny's message concerned him for a few reasons. This was not the kind of retaliation he was expecting when he returned to Vale. He was not even sure if it was even related to the families.

Jaune was forced to slow down as he entered the shopping district and came to a walking pace as he got to the crowds. That was fine with him. Without a vest, he simply blended with the crowd with the exception of his blonde hair.

Penny spotted him as soon as he came into view. An eager grin greeted him as she ran up and waved cheerfully. "Jaune! You made it." The girl seemed happy enough to hug him quickly before she back away and turned to the other two that followed her at a normal walking pace.

"Andrew, Koben. It's good to see you both. Do we have a place we can talk?"

"There's a restaurant a little ways away that has private booths." Penny said helpfully. "Bernedette said it was a good place for private meetings." Penny copied the older woman's playful wink.

Andrew and Koben exchanged instant looks with each other and both looked up to the sky as they both agreed to follow her.

"How long were you guys here?"

"We had to leave Beacon around ten. Koben and I had gone to secure an additional room for Penny. Penny elected to stay here."

Jaune mind boggled, "You've been at the same department store for five hours?"

"Bernedette didn't seem to mind. She has been giving me tips on how to be a better me." Penny announced proudly.

"Penny, what is she teaching you?" Jaune said, doing his best not to laugh nervously as she walked closer to him.

"Bernadette showed me a magazine with the top ten ways to support my partner!" She let her shoulder lean close to Jaune and looked at him. "Is it working? Do you feel supported?"

Jaune ignored the sudden shrinking space between them and stayed quiet as they made their way down the street. Finally he said, "I think I need to speak to your friend Penny." as the group walked into the restaurant.

It at least had what Jaune had hoped for. Closed booths. Once the waiter was gone Jaune asked, "What happened?"

Koben scowled. "The council happened. They 'decided' in their infinite wisdom that you were ignoring their summons and breached the contract."

"Ozpin is talking to them right now. He's been there since this morning." Penny offered helpfully.

"Did this just happen today?" Jaune rubbed his temple.

"Yeah. To be honest, we weren't expecting you to get back to Vale for another two days." Andrew said. It seemed Koben and Andrew understood the timing for this all seemed too convenient.

"My escort had a rough encounter with a family head. Too rough for our liking and we decided to leave early. Do we know who exactly is pushing this?"

Penny shook her head. "Not until Ozpin comes back and lets us back in. He was the one that told Beacon to make sure all patrolmen were not on grounds by the way. He can't give official orders if we are not there to listen."

Jaune smiled at that thinking back to his conversation with one of the heads. "Were you able to make any headway with the investigation?"

Jaune listened between interruptions from the wait staff as they found a tower that was likely used by Watts and the unknown owner. Jaune could not help the impressed grin he beamed at Penny. "Nice job! You did more than I had hoped. I am sorry I left you in that position. But there was no choice. I have found a way we can go through with the raid with minimal interference. But what are we going to do with the Council? As soon as they hear we are conducting a raid they will send Vale PD after us."

Andrew shook his head. "Already on it. Mr. Julian had ordered us separately from the council to investigate Vale's intrusion. We had unofficially recruited Penny into our group and now you."

Jaune sighed. "Thanks. But that will only last so far. Capturing the tower would help prevent someone from taking over the CCT in the future. Unfortunately, it does not help us that the family responsible could get away to do it families are upset they have a traitor among them. But that does not extend very far. If they see a relative being arrested or attacked that will cause all the families to join in retaliation. The only way the families will not interfere would be if they saw one family take over another."

"Did you manage to convince one to fight then?" Koben asked with a hint of surprise.

Jauen shook his head. "No. What I mean is, my family has to take over."

Penny tilted her head. "I am not sure what you mean there Jaune."

"Families are taken over Penny. I will have to find the family head and take over the family that owns and controls the tower. Only families are allowed to attack other families with out lasting damages. As soon as I attack the head without my blue vest, I am as good as declaring myself a family head. Other families will be less likely to join in so long as they see it as a hostile takeover by one family over another."

Andrews' face was grim. "That means that if you die, they will get away with it Jaune."

Jaune shook his head. "We don't have any other options. Especially with the council the way they are. We need to root out the problem in one go or it will stay with Vale."

All four patrolmen knew what he meant. There would never really be a peaceful time in Vale with a group that was untouchable. They would be able to incite attacks without repercussions.

Jaune reluctantly said, "That is why after the tower is secure, I ask you all not to follow me. I had already passed a message along by my escort about my warning. I can't allow this group to get away."

Andrew whistled. "You're going to have to use excessive force Jaune."

Jaune nodded. He felt ashamed for admitting as much. "I will probably maim and kill a lot of people tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Penny asked as she sat up straighter.

Jaune inhaled sharply through his teeth. He mustered all the courage he had as he made the decision. "In the morning. Tower first. I want it cleared by eleven."

Koben gave a somber grunt. "Look at you. All grown up and giving me orders." He looked to the other two. "Any objections?"

"None." Penny offered. Andrew shook his head with a negative.

Jaune suddenly felt exhausted now that the knowledge that he would take on a family on his own was out in the open. "Where are we crashing?"

Jaune was relieved that the four had separate rooms in a hotel near the tower. Koben and Andrew had originally checked into window rooms to observe the sky scraper, but with the standing orders that the patrolmen should not return to Beacon, the rooms plus two more were used to actually have everyone rest.

The group of Patrolmen had spent hours going over their plan and several back ups. When everyone was comfortable with their role in the plan they had all gone to their separate rooms to sleep. That did really happen for Jaune.

After a fitful lay against his bed, Jaune stared at his scroll and sighed in relief when he found Coco's number. She had messaged him good luck a day ago. He only knew it was her for sure because she sent him a picture of herself cuddled up to his pillow in his room. Jaune groaned slightly and was considering calling her in the late evening when he heard the door to his room knock gently.

Jaune put away his scroll and leaned against the wall as he approached the door. He looked through the peephole to see Penny look up and down the hall with a nervous fidget.

"Penny?" Jaune called through the door.

"Yeah, it's me. Did I wake you up? I heard you move around for a while now."

"No." Jaune opened the door a crack and opened it wider when he noticed that Penny still had her same clothes on and trademark black bars on her back. "Come in."

Penny quickly ran inside. "Sorry, Koben said to leave you alone to sleep..."

Jaune suddenly understood why she was nervous. She was going against a perceived order. "We are equal partners here Penny."

That seemed to make her relax more. With so many people who were her seniors, Jaune could imagine Penny had a hard time trying to make sense of a chain of command.

"Thank you. I just wanted to talk to you about what you said at dinner."

Jaune took a seat on his bed. "What is it?"

Penny pulled around the chair from the hotel desk. "Andrew was training me with measured force today. He said Patrolmen should never use more force than what is needed. But you said you were going to do something else. Won't you get in trouble?"

Jaune gave an 'ah' of understanding. "Did Andrew tell you how you are supposed to judge every strike before you make the next?"

"Yeah. Even a bad strike or one too many can hurt or kill someone. I really had to work hard to figure that out. My aura makes it hard to do that."

Jaune sighed. "Where I am going tomorrow, it is a place where there are no real laws Penny. I already sent them my ultimatum. But I know I will have a large fight on my hands. With what is at stake, I can't afford to worry about others well being. I am sure I will kill some poor guy tomorrow. The worst part will be that I will not even mean to. Someone will just die because I do not have the luxury to check."

Penny frowned. "Is that why you are still awake?"

Jaune paused and looked at the time. He had no clue it was that late. His eyes blinked. "I guess so. I don't like the idea that I will not know how many died until after it's all over."

"Have other patrolmen done something like that?"

Jaune grimaced recalling things he would rather forget. "I've heard stories. It was never needed in Anvil. But in other places Patrolmen would need to do it more than I would have had a taste for. Andrew and Koben never needed to do it. And here I am just…" Jaune looked down to his hands. They didn't shake but he felt them tingle. His body seemed more prepared than he did about the whole ordeal.

Penny watched him as he went quiet. She glanced at the clock and knew he needed to rest. "Jaune? Lay back down. You need to sleep."

Jaune sighed. "I've been trying Penny."

Penny smiled and stood up. "I can help with that. Just lay down and get comfortable."

Jaune laughed nervously. "Is this something your friend showed you?"

Penny shrugged carelessly. "Sort of? I'm improvising. Just lay down."

Jaune laid down in his tee shirt and jeans with a slight sense of alarm in the way he eyed her every movement.

Penny raised an index finger, "Just watch my finger." She lowered it down with a slight sing-song hum before she tapped his nose. Instantly a soft gush of gas released from her finger tip into Jaune's nostrils. The teen was immediately unconscious.

Penny relaxed her smile and her lips formed into a sad line. She reached out and patted his head. "I'm sorry Jaune. You need your sleep. I don't know how to comfort you. Or how to convince you that I believe you can do whatever you have to. I've seen you in the worst of it. I know you will be alright. The only thing I can do is make sure you get some rest."

Penny moved his body slightly to cover him in the heavy sheets. She placed a hand against his chest and was rewarded with a slow steady breathing pattern and heartbeat. A part of her freely admitted that what she did was a little in retaliation. She was still upset Jaune just left. She did not like the feeling of being alone without any warning. Penny didn't like it at all.

Penny stood up and walked to the door and let herself out. The door latched locked behind her. Penny raised a ring finger and produced a magnetic surge and dragged the manual lock across the latch from the outside of the door. It clicked into place.

Satisfied with her job completed, Penny went to her room to wait for the morning. Jaune was happy she did so well, and she knew she was just happy to see him back alive. She safely removed all the plans she had set aside for a search and rescue operation. She wouldn't need them this time.

A/N: It took longer to get this one out that I had planned. When December ended I knew I needed to rewrite portions. But I am really happy with how Penny turned out. As we are nearing the end of this story arc I think I may actually end the series shortly after this story arc ends. I have ideas of what I would like to do for another story arc, but I am not sure if it would just feel dragged on as it would not really tie together with the story so far. If anything I might just set it up as its own separate short story.

This chapter also marks the two year anniversary of this story! I didn't realize it until I got ready to post it!

As an aside, I started this new year with a resolution challenge to write and complete a story before I publish it. It is hard not to post anything I got right now. Rip.