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Cover Art: Serox

Chapter 25

"Please try not to cause a scene. This woman is dangerous."

Roman had been complaining ever since the meeting was arranged, warning him incessantly on the so-called danger of threatening this woman. The thief either didn't realise how dangerous he was as well, or really didn't have a good opinion of him. If someone wanted to give him one of his family back, he wasn't going to go in guns blazing.

Telling Roman that hadn't eased his worry. Jaune stopped trying. In the backseat of the mundane vehicle driving into a car park behind a nightclub was Neo, now dressed in some semblance of clothing, though it was almost a mimicry of Roman's. She'd chosen it and the colours without much thought, literally copying the first person in front of her. Then again, she'd been sticking to Roman since they'd freed her. He wasn't sure why. Maybe it was the ice-cream or the drink he let her have, or maybe it was the lack of control he exerted.

For someone like them, trapped in a cage like an animal at a zoo, it was hard to put your faith in people stronger than you. Neo might have noticed the lack of shits Roman gave and the overall freedom he had to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted to, and decided she wanted that same freedom. It wasn't the worst reason he could think of to join someone. For his part, Roman seemed to know Neo was as dangerous as Jaune was and put up with her without complaint.

The car came to a stop and the engine died down. Neo slid over to open her door and Jaune did the same, the two of them climbing out while Roman pulled on his bowler hat, snuffed out a cigar and locked it behind them.

"I'm serious here, and it goes the both of you. As strong as you are, please don't start anything here. Do that as a favour to me if nothing else."

"We heard you the first three times, Roman. I'm not going to start anything."

"Don't finish anything either! She's a controlling type and isn't afraid to throw her weight around. You don't have to push back. If you want to say no, say no. Don't try and beat her at her own game or you'll start a pissing contest that'll end in disaster." He tugged his coat around him, shivering in the cold morning air. "Let's get this over with. Let me do most of the talking."

The nightclub wasn't Junior's. It was something much smaller and seedier and, at what was around eleven in the morning, closed for business. They let themselves in a fire door and a tattooed man with a bald head welcomed Roman, eyeing Jaune nervously over his shoulder. Even the hardened criminals appeared to know his name now. And his reputation, as much as that was exaggerated by Atlas. Roman exchanged some pleasantries with the man before he pointed them in a direction and told Roman she was waiting.

She was alone. She was a woman in a red dress with flowing black hair over one eye, a piercing smile and painted nails. She didn't have anyone with her, and his hand slipped down to Mors before he could stop himself.

"You said you had one of my family," he snapped before Roman could say a thing. "I hope that wasn't a lie."

Roman choked on his cigar, stared at him and flung his arms in the air.

The woman, however, simply chuckled. "A one-track mind indeed. I can respect that. Your mother is alive, well and here today. Allow me to assure you of that. The only reason I didn't bring her out immediately was because I didn't want you to react without thought and assume I was keeping her prisoner." Raising a hand, she clicked her fingers. "Mercury. Emerald. Bring Mrs Arc in."

A set of double doors opened and two people his age entered. Jaune paid only the barest attention to them, because behind them came someone who almost tore a whimper from his lips. Juniper Arc – mom – stepped into the room with haunted eyes and an outfit a little too tight for her in places. A grey sweater over black sweatpants and a brown coat that only reached her waist. Her blonde hair was cut short, her green eyes sunken and rounded by shadow. The lines on her face stretched like canyons and the way her eyes darted around spoke of the same paranoia he suffered every time he entered a new room.

And then she saw him, and there was no stopping the sob that broke from her. Stumbling between the boy and the girl, she rushed forward and crashed into him, so light that even at such speed he was able to hold his ground.

"Jaune!" she wept, hands on his chest, his shoulders and then his face. She ran them across him as though to make sure he was there and real. "Jaune. My baby. You're alive. Oh Jaune, I – I'm so sorry. All those things they did. I let them take you away from me-"

She didn't let anything happen. He wanted to hang onto her and never let go. He wanted to sink to his knees, babble stories of how the girls were okay and tell her she'd be alright. He wanted to squeeze her so tight she couldn't doubt he was real. There was so much he wanted to do, but he hooked a hand around her waist and pulled her behind him instead, placing one foot across her body so that they couldn't take her back if they tried.

To his surprise, no one did.

"Your mother is returned to you freely," Cinder said with a kindly smile. "We've done our best to look after, dress and feed her, but our resources are limited and none of our outfits fit her. I hope you understand. We've only had her for half a day now. Her injuries were superficial, and we did the best for them we could."

Jaune leaned his head back. "Mom?"

"It… It's true." Voice choking and face buried into the back of his neck, she said, "They saved me. And… And they weren't cruel. They gave me what medical attention they could. I owe them my life. My freedom."

Jaune nodded. Mom owed them, and that meant he'd refrain from walking away. He looked back to Cinder. "You have my attention."

"I'm glad." Not rising, she gestured for her two companions to sit and then pointed to the seats opposite. It was a round cushioned bench around a circular table. "Why not sit down? I assure you we're not here with violent intentions. If we were, it would be a bad idea for me to invite you this close. Take the fact I am as a sign of good faith."

She knew about his Semblance then. In which case she knew that however good she was, she was a single bullet away from death. As much as he wanted to take Juniper and go, he did owe them. If only a little.

I can't afford to burn bridges here.

That didn't mean he was prepared to trust. Not again.

"Very well."

He moved over, bringing Juniper with him. Neo was quick to take the spot on her left, holding onto one of Juniper's hands and looking up at her face almost lovingly. He was surprised to see Juniper squeeze her hand back and favour her with a tired smile. They really had been close. Or rather, they'd used his mother to calm Neo down and keep her compliant. He sat on her right, content that between the two of them, she would be safe. Roman took the final spot to Neo's left, not wanting to be anywhere near him.

"I'll skip the small talk," Cinder said. "We found your mother in a convoy from Chivalric Arms we hit for our own purposes. We didn't expect to find her there, but we knew about her and your family thanks to our arrangement with Adam Taurus. It was an accident, but a happy one for everyone involved. Has Adam mentioned us?"

"He's mentioned you."

"That's good. Our objective in the attack was to claim the prototype Paladin you've recently come into possession of. We assumed, incorrectly, that the convoy would be protecting it. Exposing it would have sparked chaos between Atlas and Vale, bringing their alliance into question. Your own actions in the city must have spooked them, however, because they were trying to move your mother out the Kingdom entirely. I dare say if we hadn't found her, she would be long gone."

Out…? Jaune's entire body shuddered. If they hadn't found her, his mom would already be on her way back to Atlas, and him stuck in Vale thanks to Blake's betrayal. She'd have been well out of his reach. That he only had her now due to blind luck and the actions of another made him feel incredibly small.

He squeezed her hand and felt his heart sing when she squeezed back. She was real, here, and he wasn't going to let go of her anytime soon.

"Thank you," he said to Cinder. "For saving her."

Cinder leaned forward. "If you want to thank me, I will accept the Paladin as that."

"A trade?"

"No," she said quickly. "A trade suggests I will be keeping dear Juniper until you uphold your side of the bargain. That is not the case. Our… work isn't conductive to an innocent like her, and we'd not be able to look after her as she deserves. We also don't benefit from holding her. You may consider her safe return a gesture of good will regardless of what you decide here. I'm simply asking if you will allow me to take the Paladin as recompense."

That was unexpectedly generous, though perhaps it shouldn't have been. Cinder knew of his Semblance and Adam had said she was interested in him. Withholding Juniper would be a quick way to annoy him, and while he wouldn't go crazy and start shooting when she'd offered a way out by trading the Paladin for her, he wouldn't have been interested in working with her afterwards. He still wasn't. He did owe her, though.

"You can take it." There was no argument from Roman. It really wasn't something they needed. "The White Fang have it now, but I can tell them to relinquish it to you. As a sign of gratitude for helping my mother."

Cinder's smile was a satisfied one. "I'm pleased to hear that, and I graciously accept. I'll throw in some free information you may find pertinent too – Juniper already knows it from Mercury and Emerald, so she would have told you anyway. Atlas is also looking for members of your family as you might have expected. What they have been less open on is that they have acquired some."

"Do you mean Saphron?" he asked. "I saw about her on the news…"

"There's another too. The Bullhead that travelled to Vacuo was intercepted by Winter Schnee. The cargo was recovered and brought back to Atlas." Cinder frowned. "The name of the sibling in question eludes me, but Juniper knows it…"

"Sable." Juniper answered immediately. "Ironwood has Sable."

Sable and Saphron were held by Atlas. With Hazel, Jade, Lavender and Coral in Menagerie, that only left Amber behind – the youngest. While it was frustrating to know Atlas held them, at least they were in one place. It would save him having to travel to Vacuo. That meant Amber was still in Vale somewhere too. He was in the right place.

"Thank you for letting me know," he said, with a genuine nod of respect. "I'll find a way to get them from Atlas once I have Amber safe and sound. I need to get mom to Menagerie first."

"I'm sure the White Fang can aid you with that," Cinder said diplomatically. "I'm afraid it's not within our capabilities currently."

"There's more, isn't there? The Paladin is useful, but I doubt you'd have called me here and done all this if it were just for that. You could have had Roman organise this without ever putting yourself in harms way."

The generous gestures. Making it clear they'd looked after Juniper. Calling it a request instead of a trade. All of it spoke to her trying to butter him up for something, and after Blake's betrayal, he wasn't sure he was prepared to trust some random person. Especially not one with black hair and yellow eyes. Cinder was cat ears away from being Blake's long-lost sister.

"You're perceptive. Or maybe paranoid. I would like for us to work together in the future…"

"Not interested." He cut her off before she could finish. "I'm only here to save my family. Anything else going on is none of my business."

"You ungrateful-" the green haired girl made to rise but Cinder placed a hand on her knee and pushed her back down.

"Emerald, dear. Don't be rude. This isn't unexpected." Cinder smiled his way, a subtle apology for her companion that had his hand slowly moving away from Mors. "And I'm not interested in forcing your hand. I'd rather you be an ally, but I'll accept our relationship being favourably neutral over antagonistic. If I may, would you interfere in any of my goals?"

"Are they aimed against my family?"

"They're not. My work will primarily focus on Beacon."

"We won't have any problems then," he promised.

"I'm relieved to hear that. I'm looking for something, and that does require someone to die, but that person is not related to you. I promise you that. She is already on death's door and has stolen something from me. Still, I understand you were willing to work with the White Fang because they assisted you in rescuing your sisters."

"That was because I needed them."

I don't need you went unsaid, but Cinder heard it.

"Understandable. Then, if I may enquire, were we able to locate your final sister and assist you in rescuing her, would you be prepared to assist us? If we saw them all safely to Menagerie and offered to aid you in reclaiming Sable and Saphron from Atlas as well?"

Jaune's hands gripped the table. "Do you know where Amber is?"

"No. I would have said so if I did." Cinder spoke quickly. "There are no tricks here, Jaune. No deceit. I don't currently know where your missing sister is, and I may never find out, but if I knew your assistance might be mine if I were to find her, I would divert resources to looking. I'm laying my cards on the table," she said with a flourish of her hands. "I want your Semblance. That much is obvious. If it is also on the table, I'll do my best to acquire it. Not as Chivalric Arms has, but in the same manner Adam has. Mutual aid. Just as you're not interested in helping me, I'm not really interested in helping you find Amber Arc. But I do want your Semblance. It would be useful to me. So, if you tell me that you would work with me, I'd consider it worth my time to try."

She was quick to assure him of that. The whole meeting had been nothing but it. For someone who Roman called dangerous, threatening and not afraid to throw her weight around, she was being incredibly diplomatic. She'd as good as said why. She wanted him for his Semblance, but she knew how dangerous it was and that he couldn't be threatened.

Or he could be – she could have threatened to kill Juniper – but they both knew that would only end one way. If his Semblance was anything less, she might have done that, but it wasn't. It didn't matter how strong she was. It didn't matter what her Semblance was.

Cinder was less than two metres away from him. If he wanted it, she would die. Juniper might fall in any crossfire and he had no idea what Semblances she or her companions had, but none of those would matter if he activated Null.

And yet here she was, prepared to risk it all for her goals. Goals he didn't know and, even if he did, they were goals he wouldn't be interested in. Vale wasn't his home and after siding with Atlas, it wasn't a home he wanted. The girls were waiting in Menagerie. That was the only thing that mattered. That, and getting hold of Amber, Saphron and Sable. Terra and Adrian too.

"If you find Amber before I do, I'll listen. If you help me get her out of Vale and to Menagerie…" He met Cinder's eyes. "I'll help you. Within reason. I'm not giving you ten years of my life for this, but if it's a few jobs then I'm yours."

"Within reason is all I ask. At most, I'd want you assistance in a single attack. It might take two, three days – but only one day of that would be action. Only a few hours, in fact. After, I'm content to go our separate ways or even help you in Atlas. I have business there eventually, so it will hardly inconvenience me."

"Then I'll agree."

Cinder looked pleased. "Thank you. I can't promise results, but I'll have Mercury and Emerald look into this more than we originally planned to. I'll contact the White Fang tomorrow to arrange for the transfer of the Paladin. Please let them know ahead of time so we can avoid any misunderstandings. If I learn anything about your sister, I shall let Roman know."

"Agreed."

Jaune stood and reached out a hand. Cinder stood and took it, curling her fingers around his and shaking it firmly. No Semblances, no threats and no veiled words. Once that was done, she wished them well, congratulated Juniper on reuniting with him, and excused herself.

They left too, Roman silently pugging on a cigar as they four of them walked back through the halls and out of the club, back to Roman's car.

"Fuck me." It wasn't until they were outside that Roman finally spoke, and it was a whispered and hysterical breath of air. "That – What are you? Cinder asked. She was polite. She gave you a choice." Roman looked down on him with naked fear. "What exactly is your Semblance that she'd treat you like an equal?"

"Not something you need to worry about as long as you're helping me," Jaune replied. Letting Roman know would only give him time to find a way around it. He watched Neo help Juniper into the back of the car and climb in after her. The mute test subject looked deliriously happy to see her again and hadn't let go of her hand since they found her. Maybe she'd be coming to Menagerie with them. "I need a way to get my mother out of Vale," he said. "I need her on her way to Menagerie before Atlas or Chivalric Arms find us again. You're the master thief. How do I sneak her out the city?"

"I'll come up with something," he promised. "Just give me time."

"You've got some. I want to get mom back to our safehouse and then on a call to the girls in Menagerie." A rare smile appeared on Jaune's face. "They'll be thrilled to see her again."

They were so close. So close to a family once more. Just one more sister to find in Vale, and then Saphron and Sable were together in Atlas. They were on the verge of bringing the Arc family back together again.

/-/

"Miss Belladonna."

Team RWBY looked up from their dorm room floor and the game of Remnant they'd been playing. To see a General in the doorway flanked by two soldiers calling out the name of your partner wasn't what she'd consider a normal or good thing. It felt like they were coming to arrest her, which was bullshit since Blake hadn't done anything. Even so, her partner stood up, all but acknowledging they had a right to call on her.

"Hey! Hey!" Yang scrambled to her feet. "What's all this about? Blake hasn't done anythi-"

"It's fine." Blake waved her back down with a smile that didn't quite hide the fear in her eyes. "There's nothing wrong. I've been expecting this."

"Your teammate is not under arrest," General Ironwood said. "I simply wish to speak with her and, as an official of Atlas, must travel with an escort. Miss Belladonna will be in meetings with myself, the headmaster and Winter Schnee for the rest of the day. I promise you she will be back with her team before nightfall."

"Will she need a lawyer?" Weiss asked icily.

"Not unless she wants to sue me for something," the grown man replied with a little chuckle. "A pleasure to see you as well, Weiss. I understand you're somewhat upset with Winter right now."

Weiss raised her nose. "Somewhat."

"Your sister has your best interests at heart, even if I can understand why you might find her manner of conveying that to be rather blunt." He moved aside so Blake could slip between him and the door. The two soldiers outside flanked her but didn't try and put her in cuffs. "I am sorry for the disturbance; both this and your curfew to Beacon. We're trying to address the issue and see some sense of normalcy returned to Vale."

"And Blake is a part of that?" Ruby asked.

"In a manner of speaking. I really cannot say more, and that is more out of respect to your teammate than anything." He smiled and nodded his head slowly to them. "Rest assured, no harm shall come to her. Miss Belladonna is going to assist us. That is all."

"I am," Blake said. "Don't worry. I expected this to happen. I'll see you all later."

You expected this and you didn't tell us, Yang thought. Typical Blake to be honest, but that didn't make it any easier. There was nothing they could say to it either. Ironwood turned away and closed the door with a short `good day` and then it was just the three of them. The board game called, but no one was in the mood now. Yang tossed her cards down angrily, upsetting the pieces.

"This is stupid."

"Blake didn't seem surprised," Weiss said. "This wasn't a shock to her."

"Still could have forewarned us. Maybe before I got up and basically told off the General of another Kingdom." Yang scowled at Ruby, who was giggling away. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. I could have been arrested."

"I doubt Ironwood would do that. He's a strict but fair man and all you did was show concern for a teammate. What do you think this is about?" Weiss changed tact quickly, leaning forward. "This has to be related to why Winter has placed me on curfew."

"The serial killer?"

"What else can it be? Everyone knows he started in Atlas and came here, and that Ironwood is the one tasked with stopping him. Now he's come to Blake to ask questions? That can't be a coincidence."

"Why would Blake know anything about a serial killer, though?" Ruby asked.

That was the big question, wasn't it? Their teammate was private at the best of times, but not unfriendly. Sure, there were some things about her that were a little weird, but most of those could be boiled down to her being anti-social. Not awkward like Ruby, but just not much of a talker. Blake interacted with them in their rooms and spoke up in class, but she didn't try and make friends outside of it. Nothing unusual about that, though.

"What if she saw him kill someone?"

With a start, Yang looked to Ruby. "What?"

"That's a bit of a jump in logic," Weiss pointed out.

"Is it? The only reason Ironwood would be interested in asking Blake something is if she knows about the killer, right? And do you remember when Weiss' sister came down? She looked at Blake like she recognised her. Then when she put the curfew on Weiss, Blake was the only one who didn't argue."

"She agreed with it," Weiss said with a frown. "She was the only one to agree with my sister's decision and side with us not going into Vale. I see what you mean. That is odd. Blake doesn't strike me as someone easily intimidated, but she's been very quick to remind us of the curfew every time we mention going out. It's like she's trying to stop us going into the city."

"It's not just you, Weiss," Yang said. "I asked her if she wanted to go out dust shopping the other day and she couldn't have turned me down faster. Absolute shut down. Wouldn't even hear of the idea. If I didn't know better, I'd have said she was agoraphobic."

"Except that she was fine in Initiation."

"Yeah…"

"Something is up," Weiss said. "Good catch, Ruby. Perhaps Blake witnessed him in action – that would explain why she's so dismissive of our ability to fight him."

Yang scowled. That was still a sore point, especially from her own partner. They were huntresses and accepted into Beacon. That was no small feat, not to mention they were some of the best in class, second only to Pyrrha Nikos. And come on, second to Pyrrha Nikos was a glowing recommendation. This guy was known not to have any huntsman training, and while he worked with the White Fang, the whole reason they were dangerous was because it was an organisation. They had numbers and resources. Individually, they weren't all that tough.

"So," Yang said. "Blake sees something – probably before Beacon started since she hasn't left since. Didn't she arrive late, too? I never saw her on the Bullhead."

"She was escorted in by Ozpin while everyone was preparing to sleep," Weiss said. "Perhaps she was late because of whatever incident this was. I don't think she would have been a victim since she took part in initiation the very next day, but if she were a witness to a crime then she might have been kept behind at a police station to give a statement."

"But she can't be kept for too long because initiation," Ruby chimed in. "So Ozpin comes and brings her here so she can continue as normal, but on the condition Mr Ironwood can come and ask her questions later!"

It was a lot of random leads put together, but she couldn't say it sounded unbelievable. It was about the only thing that made sense. Blake obviously had something with that Jaune guy, otherwise she wouldn't be so cagey about the team fighting him. Since she obviously wasn't a coward, she must have seen something that spooked her. Yang had seen bad injuries in her time in Signal, some gory, but she'd never seen death first hand. She liked to think if it were a gunshot that did it, she'd be able to stomach it, but who could say how visceral what Blake saw was. It might have been like something out of a slasher movie.

"Does this change anything?" Ruby asked nervously.

"Not really." Yang said. "It's not like she's done anything wrong and it's not our place to ask what she saw if she doesn't want to tell."

"I'm still upset she sided with Winter over us!" Weiss said.

"Yeah. That's a bit crappy of her, but maybe she just doesn't want to go out there and see it again. Maybe she wasn't so much siding with Winter as clinging onto an excuse, you know? Like she doesn't want to admit what happened, so she goes with the easy way out. The curfew was only for you but she acts like it's for all of us."

Weiss' frustration faded a little, replaced with contemplation. "That would make sense. We always tend to exaggerate things that frighten us, so it would also explain why she's so sure we couldn't beat him."

"Exactly. Blake's just afraid – and maybe there's a good reason for that. We shouldn't push her." Running a hand through her hair, Yang sighed. "Now I feel bad for inviting her out the other day. Must have put her on the spot when she had to say no."

"I'm sure she didn't take it personally," Ruby said.

"Yeah, I know. Just something to keep in mind next time. Must have been pretty bad if it spooked her."

"The guy is a psycho," Weiss said dismissively. "What do you expect? He's murdered people in Atlas, Mistral and Vale now, like some it's some deadly game of bingo. I'm only glad that if Blake did see something, she was able to escape. I expect her Semblance would have helped there."

"We'd be the same," Yang said. "Ruby's speed, my resilience and your glyphs. We could run for it easy."

"Exactly!" Weiss crowed. Even Ruby was nodding. "I'm glad the two of you agree that Winter's curfew is unnecessary."

"I do, and you know what." Yang grinned. "How about we skip it?"

Weiss hesitated. "But she said she'd make it a rule."

"No, she said Ironwood would make it a rule and that he'd have the authority to do so once he got here. All she did was ask you to stick to it. And I didn't hear him say you had to stay. Did you?"

"No. But Blake threatened to tell if we did."

"And Blake is going to be busy until tonight. I'm not saying we go risk our lives chasing some killer. Just the three of us go for a walk around Vale, pick up some dust and come back. Prove to everyone we're not babies that need to be coddled. Once Blake realises that, she'll probably relax enough. Maybe not to go out herself, but she'll stop threatening to tattle on us if we so much as breathe a word about the city." Yang grinned and reached for her boots. "What do you say?"

"I don't know. I don't want Winter angry at me…"

"But you do want to prove her wrong."

"Yes. Yes, I do! Fine!" Weiss huffed and pushed herself up. "And if anyone gets in trouble, it would only be me. The two of you aren't confined here like prisoners. Alright, let's go. I've been wanting to explore Vale since I arrived, and I'm not letting some psychopath frighten me out of doing so."

"Waheyyy! That's the spirit."

/-/

Jaune told his sisters he had to speak to someone and left them on the scroll talking to Juniper. He wiped a hand over his eyes as he left, only a little embarrassed for the happy years that'd been shed. Seeing Lavender, Coral, Hazel and Jade again was great – but seeing them on the verge of tears at being reunited with mom was better still. The call had been wild, loud and honestly hard to follow, but the babbling brook of voices was music to his ears all the same. He'd even seen Ilia in the back, protecting them as she'd promised to.

Neo was waiting at the door and looked caught somewhere between happiness and jealousy, watching Juniper fuss over someone else. Unsure if he liked that, he laid a hand on her shoulder and said, "If you want, you can go to Menagerie with them. Mom has a lot of children. I'm sure she'd be fine with one more."

The girl looked up at him and tilted her head to the side. She looked back to Juniper, then to him. Her head shook from side to side and she formed two letters with her fingers. A C and an A. It didn't take a genius to figure out what she wanted.

"You want your revenge on them too?" He wasn't surprised by her nod, but he was by the way she pointed at his mom. "You're worried they'll come back for her?" Another nod. "Me too. The sooner she's in Menagerie the better."

Neo mimed holding a cigarette in her mouth.

"I'll go ask him now. Once everyone is safe, I'll be going to Menagerie. You're welcome to come with me then if you want to." He saw her frown uncertainly. "You've got time to think. I'm not going to force you into something. We've all been through that."

Nodding, Neo stayed in the room to watch Juniper like a loyal hound. It wasn't a fair way to describe her, but it fit, and they'd all come out of those testing labs just changed. He could still remember the reports Blake had found and didn't have the confidence to ask his mother if they'd followed through on that. He wasn't sure he could handle the answer.

It doesn't matter. She's safe now. Just got to get her out of Vale.

That had been easier when they'd been in the wilderness with as much access to White Fang controlled waters as they needed. Vale was on lockdown and looking for him. There was no way Chivalric Arms wouldn't be watching the routes in and out, and they knew who to look for. Juniper wouldn't be safe if he sent her alone.

He arrived in the living room of the safehouse in time to hear Roman on his scroll at what sounded like the tail end of a conversation. A dust robbery by the sounds of it. Or planning another one for the White Fang.

"-shipment coming in by the docks. This is a prime chance to make up on everything we've lost, and there's more than just dust we want to ship out. Can you get your side ready to retrieve it?" He listened to someone on the other end. "No, it won't be subtle but what do you expect? We can't shift that much dust without causing a scene. We'll get it done quick and trust in speed to get us out. Don't worry, I know how to set up a false lead."

Spotting him, Roman held up a hand for him to wait and finished the call. "Yes, that's fine. No, I'll handle the particulars. No offence, pal, but your recruits aren't exactly the best. Give me a few to work muscle. No, there shouldn't be any combat. I just need boots on the ground and hands to secure winches to containers. I can rent pilots unless you have some. You do? They any good? Alright, as long as they know what they're doing. I'll leave the rest to you."

Roman hung up and slid his scroll into his pocket.

"Another robbery?" Jaune asked. "I'm not excited about drawing attention to myself when mom is at risk."

"I know. I was thinking we could deal with both problems at once." Roman pulled up a map of Vale on his scroll and set it on the table, bringing Jaune over to take a look. It wasn't the full city but the north-west side and a stretch of the ocean. "There's a Schnee dust shipment coming in here today." He tapped the docks. "It's insurance buyout material to restock all the dust we stole. Most of the shops we hit are insured against theft for obvious reasons. Part of why we choose them. Keeps the economy running. They get dust, we steal, they get it back, they profit, they stay in business so we can steal from them again in the future."

"Right. I guess that's nice of you. Sort of…"

"It's efficient. No point ruining the people we make money off. Anyway, the White Fang still need their dust and I need to supply it – but you also need a way out of Vale for your mother, and that's not going to be through any legal channels. That's why I think this'll work out."

"You want to smuggle her out with the dust."

"Got it in one." Roman tapped a finger out to sea. "Tonight, there's going to be a faunus operated trawler out here. We're going to hit the docks here using three Bullheads. We secure three containers of SDC dust and take it out to sea to the trawler. It's secured there and taken to Menagerie. We put your mother on one of those Bullheads and we're set."

"Won't Atlas go after the trawler?" he asked.

"Nah. See, we're going to go out to sea and then divert back into the city with several decoy containers picked up from the trawler. That way it looks like we only went out to sea to avoid flying over the city. We then ditch the containers and it looks like we took the dust and ran. Meanwhile, the trawler – which is legally allowed to be in those waters – carries on to Menagerie."

It sounded like a good plan. "Are there any risks?"

"The docks may well be guarded, and we can't rule out the possibility of Chivalric Arms, but that's why we're going to be present and visible there. They'll come for us. As for security, I don't see us having any problems disabling them. Peacefully," he added. "This isn't the kind of job that needs a body count. This is going to be a quick thing. We sneak in, disable the guards and locate the SDC containers. Then we call in the Bullheads, hook them up and get them out. Done properly, they'll only be over the city for three to five minutes tops. It takes longer than that for anyone to mobilise a response, and if they do, it'll be to the docks. Not to chase Bullheads already going out to sea."

"Hmm." Jaune looked at the map and nodded. "I want mom on the first Bullhead."

"Fair enough. It's not like her weight is going to drag it down. First out, and then she'll be safe on her way to Menagerie. This is the best I can offer, and believe me, I've been looking. Junior had one or two smuggling routes we might have gotten her out through, but he says two have been shut down this week. Not by the authorities, either."

"Chivalric Arms…"

"Yeah. They know you're looking for a way out. They're posting guards. Probably some are undercover, so it wouldn't surprise me if any boat or airplane you got her on ended up mysteriously diverted."

"They'll stop at nothing." Jaune closed his eyes. "Fine. Tonight is… It's soon," he admitted. He'd only just gotten her back and now he was saying goodbye. It didn't seem fair. "But it's for the best. I can't let her stay here and be in danger."

"I get it." Roman pushed off the table and picked up the scroll. "We'll get her in a White Fang outfit and mask. Might as well have her fit in as a faunus. I'll make sure they know who she is, and since they're loyal to Adam and he's told them to help you, I can't imagine it'd be an issue. Spend some time with her, yeah? I can handle this."

"Thank you." Jaune favoured him with a rare smile. "I think I will."

"Does she know?" Roman asked.

"About what?"

"What you've done. The things you… well." Roman nodded to his gun. "You know."

He did. "No. I… I'm going to tell her. I don't know if she'll be – no, she won't be happy. I'm not sure if she'll blame me considering what CA did, but I know she won't be happy knowing I'm in that much danger." He laughed. "Guess I'm going to get a telling off."

"You sound like you want it."

"Maybe I do," he admitted. "Just having mom here able to yell at me like everything is normal." He smiled awkwardly. "It's nostalgic. Right now, she's too ecstatic to see me to ask who you are, what all this is and why I'm dealing with people like Cinder. I don't want to ruin that. I'll let her get her fill of talking to the girls, then open the can of worms."

"Fair enough." Roman picked at his cheek awkwardly. "I'll try and give you some privacy. There's booze in the fridge if you all need something to calm down over. Maybe leave out the number of people you've killed."

Maybe. Juniper was smart, though. Once she calmed down enough to think things through, she'd know something was wrong. Still, this way had worked so far, and he wasn't going to change with only Amber left to find.

Soon. They'd be a family again soon.

Not much to comment. Cinder isn't willing to try and threaten Jaune into serving her with how dangerous his Semblance is, or perhaps she considers that he's already doing enough to disrupt Ozpin and Ironwood as it is.

Next Chapter: 3rd August

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