Chương 15: Something Amiss
Things began to shape up a little better for students at Beacon, Ruby and the other members of her team were becoming more friendly with each other though some couldn't tell if Blake was or not. While Jae and his team were doing their best to keep their studies going in the library despite Team RWBY playing a board game rather…eagerly.
Jae had been reading a book on Demons to learn more while Pyrrha was currently watching Jae study; she didn't exactly know how to explain it but she did like seeing how intense his focus was when it came to studies, Nora meanwhile had been pestering Jae non stop ever since she heard that he had a hammer now. "So when do I get to see it." Nora asked for the tenth time in that span since classes ended.
"When we next fight or train…but right now I gotta find out as much as I can before this specialist shows up." Jae shrugged it off; He had since come to terms with calling himself a Demon and since then he had been noticeably stronger, faster and more durable during the training classes to the point he had to start trying to hold back. He knew that his team, Ruby's team and Oz plus Goodwitch knew but that didn't mean he wanted everyone to know yet."
"Aw, come on! that's still ages away plus you got your nose in a book ever since we got Blake back." Nora pouted to herself as she rested her head on her hands.
"Sup losers." Sun would say jovially as he broke both Nora's grumbling and the emotional onslaught that Team RWBY were going through on their game.
"Hey Sun, how goes it?" Ruby asked him as she then saw another boy with him; blue haired and wearing goggles; "Is he your friend?" She remarked curiously.
"I thought libraries were meant to be for learning." the Bluenette would say; prompting Ren to let out a rather emotional thank you.
"Uh Jae, I think that blonde professor…the one who looks moody, she said that you need to go see Ozpin for something." Sun would mention to the group.
Jae closed the book and began to head off; "Nice to meet you guys again." He said to both Sun and to Neptune as he rounded the corner towards Ozpin's office.
"Oh, that's Neptune." Sun would say as Neptune gave Jae a cool looking "Sup." as he then saw Blake quickly follow after; mentioning something about not being in the mood to play games.
Pyrrha on the other hand felt like someone should at least go with Jae as it looked like Ruby and the others looked concerned about Blake's more then usual aloofness. As she rushed past the door to regroup with him, she noticed what looked like a fleet of ships hovering in the air outside of Beacon; While some looked like transport ships for the students arriving, there were some that had the Atlas Military emblem on the sides.
Jae on the other hand was standing in front of the elevator and waiting for his trip up to Ozpin, normally he wouldn't be bothered about being sent there but his face was a little more pale since this had become more then just his progress at the school. "Alright…Just take it easy, if it IS about that specialist then now's the time you find out who you are….who you really are." Jae thought to himself but was then brought out of it when he heard Pyrrha calling his name; "Pyrrha? what're you doing here?" He asked her curiously as he did his best to put on a smile for her.
Pyrrha however didn't need a second glance to see that worry was written on his face but decided to give him support rather then letting him worry. "I thought that you'd like to have someone with you for solidarity." She mentioned with a small smile and gave him a gentle pat on the arm.
"Y-Yeah…I'd like that." Jae mentioned as he watched the door open up and the two stepped in for the long ride up the tower; "You noticed the ships too?" He would ask as he could see the glass tube and peering out of it made him able to see the skyline.
"It does seem odd that there's all those ships but then again…Atlas is rather defensive when it comes to their students." Pyrrha mentioned; "But I suppose that is a fair action, Atlas doesn't hold the same defenses that Beacon does."
Once the doors opened at the top, Jae and Pyrrha could see Ozpin at his desk with Goodwitch looking like she was deliberately ignoring the new face in the office, a man with a strip on the side of his head and wearing what looked like a military uniform: General Ironwood.
"Good to see you have arrived, Mr Cielo…Though why did you bring Ms Nikos with you for this? Do you not want this to be a private affair?" Ozpin asked as he was curious as to why Pyrrha came along, was it worry for her leader or perhaps answers regarding him?
"I came because I know about him and his…background, I wanted to be there to give him some support while he finds out about himself." Pyrrha explained with her head held high and not shrinking from the focused stares of both Ozpin and Ironwood.
"I see…Though I must preface that this can be unpredictable, I suggest that Ms Nikos stay out here while the tests are performed." Ironwood said with a rigid stance as he started to take stock of Jae; he was drastically different to what he had expected with what he heard from Ozpin.
"James, regardless of if he is a Demon or not, he is still a child and if he needs someone with him…then let him, Ms Nikos already knows about it so what harm can it do?" Glynda pointed out as she couldn't help but feel a little sympathy towards Jae, especially since she knew what Ironwood could be like.
"I would rather avoid running the risk if anything would…If anything should happen." Ironwood explained; "Dealing with a Demon is all hypotheticals and even now while we are looking into genetics…Anything could happen."
"It's okay, Professor…I can stay out here and wait." Pyrrha mentioned to keep things even with everyone; "You'll be fine, Jae…Just remember that no matter what, you'll have your team to look out for you." Pyrrha called out to him as she watched him and Ironwood disappear behind the door.
—Meanwhile, on an Atlas Medical ship—
Ironwood guided Jae into one of the rooms where several nurses and doctors were there, each one of them ready with a new test for him. "Mr Cielo, this will be a series of tests conducted as part of an Atlas program to help determine your genetic heritage. It should be able to confirm what you are and more specifically, how you can confront or deal with what you have been granted." Ironwood explained as one of the nurses grabbed a syringe; "First we will take some blood to see your genetic makeup."
"Heh…I-I guess that I don't get a cookie and an apple juice for donating?" Jae would say, nervously laughing once they started taking some blood. Though his response from the serious looking nurse was a rather unamused look.
Once this was finished, the next step had Jae taken into a shut off room with a doctor to run a physical on his body; this included seeing how much he could lift, how long he could run and a general scan of him and his Aura while he lay on a table. "While we examine your blood, this will have us look into your Aura's makeup…Since your Aura is tied to your soul then if there is something that is unlike a normal human's then we will find it."
—Several tests and a few more questions later—
Jae and Pyrrha were advised to leave as the three teachers needed time to get the results; "Once we receive the details, then we will call on you." Was what Glynda had told Jae and while Ozpin was willing on keeping both him and Pyrrha in the loop. Ironwood still rubbed him the wrong way, whether it was his lack of sincerity or the fact that he felt like a glass half empty person.
"I'll go on ahead, I think that the others might still be playing in the library." Pyrrha mentioned as she left Jae on his own to go find Nora and Ren to bring them up to speed.
Jae meanwhile decided to head back to the dorm to get himself rested up but found himself bumping into someone in the hall. "Oh, uh…sorry…I was miles a…way?" Jae apologised but trailed off when he noticed that the students in front of him weren't wearing uniforms that belonged to Beacon.
"It's okay, just watch out where you're going." the dark skinned girl with green hair would say and gave him a smile as she walked past, waving it off as she listened to Ruby welcoming them to Beacon. As soon as she saw him walk away towards his dorm, Emerald would rush a little to catch up with Cinder; "I think that's the guy…" She would whisper to her and Mercury, that once sweet but fake smile now gone.
"He's the guy that weirded out Torchwick? He must be losing it." Mercury shrugged it off as he and Emerald were still skeptical about the fact that he was made into such a big deal though Cinder never elaborated on why. "Besides, I don't think that guy can be a De-"
Cinder quickly rounded on him; "Not here! If you want to discuss things, wait until we are back in the dorm." She would say before turning back to follow the path for their room, "If what that thief said was true and that kid IS a Demon, then we shouldn't take any risks…Especially if we want this plan to work perfectly."
Jae meanwhile was entering his own dorm to meet with the others when he saw Nora giving him a smug look; "You finally pulled away from that new group~?" She asked him with a teasing tone as Pyrrha looked confused and Ren was just nonplussed.
"I just knocked into them by accident, they were more focused on getting to their dorms." Jae mentioned as he sat on his bed; "They looked like Haven Students anyway so I think they might've gotten lost."
"Well, it's a new place so hardly a shock that people get turned around...Even Nora still gets lost sometimes." Ren mentioned, earning him a puffed look from Nora as she crossed her arms.
"So what happened in the Library? Last I saw, things were a little exciting." Jae asked Ren and Nora since he and Pyrrha wandered off.
"Well, I think Weiss has a thing for the blue haired guy and Blake's kinda….Well, she's still Blake." Nora mentioned as she lay on her bed.
"What exactly do you mean?" Jae quizzed her as he headed over to his bed; "I figured after everything that happened, she'd be a little more relaxed around everyone."
Pyrrha shook her head; "Jae, a lot went on back there…There was that whole thing with Weiss and not to mention that you were caught up in that heist with that Torchwick guy…I don't even think they caught him after what happened." She pointed out as it still concerned her about that day.
"Well, if Ruby's able to get one over on him then I don't see any reason why we can't…Besides that's part of the reason we're here, to kick butts and to protect people." Jae mentioned with a rather excited look on his face, one that seemed to be shared by Nora.
"So what exactly do you think we should do? We're not exactly trained Huntsmen and Huntresses yet, I hardly think that we're in any position to start going up against criminals like Torchwick and the White Fang." Ren mentioned; It was common knowledge between Team RWBY and Jae before he filled them in that the two were somehow linked but the question was how and why.
"That's still dangerous even in theory, Jae…This isn't something that we should treat like a game." Pyrrha added; "Though, I suppose if we really must pursue this; We should probably talk with Ruby and the others, they seem to be the more knowledgeable about the two factors.
"So, we talk to them…We can talk things through and find out if there's anything going on." Jae mentioned, the idea that a conspiracy was right there had gotten him motivated. "Besides, I don't think I'd have much else to do besides waiting for the Atlas group to give me results…Let's get some sleep for now and then once classes are over, we can meet up."
—The Next Day—
Port's class seemed to drag on for the longest time; In most usual cases for Jae, this wouldn't bother him as he liked the anecdotes and the details on Grimm that Port came up with. But with the super secret detective work that could be waiting for him, that seemed to make time like a snail for him.
Pyrrha seemed to notice her leader's antsy squirming as he watched the clock, she understood why he was taking this whole sleuthing thing seriously. However the fact that the class seemed to have him sat next to Weiss of all people rubbed her the wrong way, especially after the things she said to him. "I'm watching you Schnee…Jae might be civil with you but I'm not convinced."
Weiss however had been more subdued following the docks, she had issued her apologies to both Blake and to Jae, while her teammate was willing to make it work…Her proximity to Jae seemed to make things more than a little awkward: she found it hard to look him in the eye when he talked to her and the pointed looks from his team showed that they weren't forgetting her past behaviour anytime soon. Though she broke out of her mental lapse when she saw a small slip of paper graze against her fingers, careful to ensure that Port wasn't looking; she opened it up and saw it was a note.
"I heard about your plans to look into what happened at the docks, I want in." The note simply read, even though it didn't have a name attached to it; Weiss could tell this was Jae's handwriting.
"Stay focused! We're still in class…But why do you want to know?" Weiss scribbled a note on the other side, not denying his claim but she was still a stickler for school rules.
"Come on…I know that the whole Torchwick thing is still on you guys' mind…If there's something going on then I can at least help." Another note came back to her, "At the very least, I can be an extra pair of eyes."
Weiss groaned to herself, she might've been willing to help Blake and she was determined to make things right with Jae; but some part of her was still uncertain about dragging him in to their problems. However she didn't get a chance to write back as she heard the bell ring and Port's dismissal of the class; "Alright, come with me." Weiss whispered to Jae as she quickly grabbed his sleeve and took him out of the class quickly and rounded a corner. "What is going on with you?!"
"Me? I was trying to see if I could help, Nora mentioned that Blake was being a little off and with the whole thing about Torchwick and the White F-" Jae started but he was immediately cut off when Weiss shushed him with a finger to his lips.
"Not. Here…If you really want to talk about this then….dorm…Come with me, back to my dorm." Weiss started out with a strict tone and then took Jae with her towards Team RWBY's dorm.
"Weiss, whatever this is…Can't you just say it now?" Jae pointed out with a confused look on his face while she dragged him to the dorms.
"Just trust me on this, because first of all; I'm not talking about this in the open…and secondly, I want to clear the air with you but away from your teammates." Weiss would say to him as she pulled out her key and nudged him in to their room.
"Alright, what exactly are we talking about?" Jae asked her as he grabbed a chair by the door while Weiss sat on one of the lower bunks and began to explain.
—A Few Minutes and more then a few Words later—
Ruby, Blake and Yang had shown up to discuss their plan and what they were going to do; though Yang was still confused as to why Jae was sat by the window; "So you want to come along and help?"
"Of course I do, if something's going on with that Torchwick guy then I'm all in." Jae stated as he smirked; sharing a little of Yang's enthusiasm and partly because he wanted to pay Torchwick back for dropping a container on him.
"Then our plan BEGINS!" Ruby said and cheered with gusto as she looked to the others.
"I am so glad we are taking this seriously." Weiss grumbled and sighed to herself as she noticed Blake wasn't speaking up about it and Yang was going with it.
"Well, we do have a plan…That is somewhat serious." The blonde haired girl said with a light shrug; "Besides we all know what we're doing anyway; I've got to check on an old friend who knows ALL the shady stuff going on in town."
Blake nodded as she crossed her arms behind her back and looked professional; "Meanwhile, the White Fang hold regular faction meetings to discuss and recruit new members…All I have to do is sneak in and find out if they're planning anything."
"Don't you have to worry about people recognising you?" Jae would ask curiously; "I mean, if you were a former member then one of them would probably recognise you if they try to scout you…Wouldn't they?"
This little revelation managed to put a nugget of worry in Yang and Ruby's minds; "Y'know…that is kind of a good point, you sure you can do this?" Yang asked Blake as she raised an eyebrow.
"The White Fang normally hand out masks during the recruitments for the newcomers so I'll be able to hide my face…if I absolutely have to then I can hide in the back of the crowd." Blake elaborated with her crossed arms; "Besides, you guys should be more than aware that I'm really good at infiltrating." She added as that seemed to reassure Ruby and the others.
"So we sticking it to that Torchwick guy?" Another voice would say from the window and took everyone by surprise as Sun was hanging from a tree branch, unaware that he was eavesdropping.
"Sun….How long have you been there?" Ruby would ask, being polite but still shocked that someone was there the entire time.
"Eh, it's alright…I've done this loads of times." Sun waved off her comment with Weiss looking more suspicious at that excuse.
"I'm sorry, you do what all the time?" The Schnee asked with a growing anger as she thought he had been peeping.
"I climb trees all the time, besides…I still wanna help you guys out since I got wrapped up in the Torchwick stuff…" Sun added; "Besides, I'm pretty sure that you could use what help you can get."
Blake however was the one to speak up on this; "This is something that we need to do for ourselves….As a team." She would say; making it clear that she didn't want to involve friends or at the very least people who didn't deserve to get caught up.
"Come on, you should always get friends involved! Besides, I see you got Jae in on this too." Sun pointed out to the four, giving nearly everyone a reason to give Weiss a questioning look.
Said white haired girl looked away awkwardly before clearing her throat; "I-In any case, I have a plan to go to the CCT Tower in Vale and look into the recent thefts and activity regarding Dust, since I'm the Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company…It'll be easy for me to get that." Weiss finished the plans. "Though that leaves the question, we have six people here so we should probably split up into teams of two."
Ruby nodded and then tried to plan it all out; "So how about I go with Weiss to the Tower, Blake and Sun can check out the White Fang stuff which leaves Jae and Yang to do the questioning at her shady place." She rounded it out as everyone seemed to be on track with what they were doing and split off.
While Ruby and the others went to do their own thing, Jae was clinging for dear life to Yang's waist as she rocketed down the roads on her bike. Riding an airship was one thing but this was something else. Jae had seen motorbikes being rode before but he hadn't rode on one himself; though something inside him made this feel…right, like he felt both at peace and at the top of the emotional mountain by being on here. "THIS IS INSANE! HOW IS SHE NOT HITTING ANYTHING?!" Jae screamed internally as he watched Yang dip and weave through traffic at breakneck speed.
They soon came to a stop with the sound of the dying engine and the thumping dance club music; "Come on, my friend's in this way!" Yang called out to Jae who still looked dazed from the ride; but whether it was because he had been windswept and overwhelmed with adrenaline or because of the fact he spent most of the time hugging his arms around Yang's waist for dear life, she didn't know but she smirked to herself as she enjoyed the fact that she had one of the toughest guys she met at Beacon get frazzled like this.
"Y-Yeah, but remind me why we're looking for your friend at a dance club? Seems like a double negative if you can't hear them." Jae mentioned as he took stock of everything around him, it tracked a lot when Yang said it was the shady side of town; a lot of buildings look run down and plenty of the people walking around were the kind of people who'd hit you for looking at them wrong but for some reason, they seemed to back off around Yang.
"I wouldn't worry about it too much, I come here all the time and these guys help out a lot." Yang remarked as she walked into the club; "Plus we're in the underbelly, so if someone's giving you grief about something or trying to mug you then just slug 'em~" She chuckled as the music got louder when the two entered into the club and waved at the bouncers.
"Hey guys! Just stopping by for something, don't mind me!" Yang cheerfully announced while the two smartly dressed men rushed into the club like they were preparing for an invasion. "See? They know me here~"
"Yeah…But isn't this a little much for just a "Social Visit" as you called it?" Jae mentioned with confusion; sure he was down for the whole secret hunting and investigation with someone but this level of animosity was concerning.
"What? You're telling me that you're NOT interested in beating up a bunch of bad guys if they give you the chance?" Yang asked with a coy smirk, unfurling her Ember Celica to get ready for some fun busting heads.
There were two reasons why Yang had opted to go with Jae; the first one was that throughout the time the group spent at Beacon, Jae always shared Yang's straightforward approach and most times Blake seemed to think that the two shared a braincell on certain things like when it came to fighting and to training. Thinking on it more; Jae started to see the upside on this: he could practice his new abilities AND be within the law to do it, "You know what? Fair enough, let's do this thing." Jae smirked as he cracked his knuckles and reared his leg back.
Junior Xiong was a man of few things; Criminal enforcement, information peddling and Club running…Though all of them would be useless when he saw a bunch of his men frantically trying to bolt the front doors; "What the hell are you idiots doing?!"
"Sir! It's the Blonde!"
"She's got a Friend!"
"She's gonna bust down th-"
BOOM!
Right on cue, the doors busted open with a loud noise as the two "visitors" both blasted and kicked down the doors and stepped in as new music started playing. "Guess who's back~!" Yang announced with a dramatic flair before her and Jae had a set of guns trained on them. The awkward silence permeated the air along with the now skipping music. "So we're just gonna be doing this now?"
Jae turned his head to glance at Yang while maintaining a fixed look on the guns; "Yeah, remind me how they're friends again?" He asked as he noticed a gun being pushed more into his face; "Okay, back it up before I break it!" He threatened as he grabbed the barrel and pointed it away from him.
"STOP! Nobody shoot!" Junior yelled out as the other men seemed to back down; "Blondie…." He trailed off as he remembered the last time she stopped in his club; "What're you doing back here?" Junior asked her with confusion before Yang dragged him away with the threat of still owing her a drink.
"Damn…She's something…" Jae would remark as the other minions of Junior started to back off to their usual spots; "She must've done something big if she frightens these gangsters…" He thought as he grabbed a seat in a booth, seeing as he had nothing else to do while Yang was grilling this bigger guy.
Melanie and Militia Malachite had dealt with Yang before when she stormed their club and while the kick using sister was smug about the fact that she could potentially get the blonde on the back foot, the stinger came from still getting their collective asses handed to them. "So, what brings you to our club along with that firecracker? You looking for something or did you hear that we were here~" Melanie asked as the two girls sat on either side; if they couldn't steal a win from Yang in a fight then they could certainly steal the man she came in with or at least fleece him.
Militia smirked as she decided to join in; "Yeah, she just left you all alone in the club, but we're nice girls so we can keep you company." She whispered in his ear playfully, the two interlocking their arms around his as they ramped up the charm on the flustered Jae.
"I-uh…That's a nice offer but I don't really that's a good idea, I'm only 17 so I really can't buy drinks here." Jae admitted, the knot of anxiety sitting in his stomach as these two girls came out of nowhere and started offering to party with him. "That right? Well, I can assure you that we won't tell if you don't~" Militia cooed as she leaned in close and lightly pressed a finger to his chest; "Oh you're pretty toned~ You work out a lot?" She asked with a surprised smirk on her face, this boy was just full of surprises.
"Plus we can offer Other things if that takes your fancy to pass the time~" Melanie added as she let her leg rub up against his to accentuate the point; "We can make things unforgettable with your time here~"
"Still 17!" Jae was starting to feel overwhelmed, this sudden bout of affection was messing with his head and not in the way that the two sisters were thinking; "B-Besides, Yang isn't gonna be happy that you're trying this with her friend…If what I heard about you is true."
Confused about his wording, the two tried to up the pressure on him in their plan to spite Yang; "We're pretty good at keeping secrets, plus you don't have to worry about making me or Melanie jealous…Unlike Blondie who's loud, rough, obnoxious and rude." Militia insisted as she whispered in his ear; "We're sisters and we share everything~"
"So…This is what you get up to when I'm not around?" Yang would say as she had come back from her grilling of Junior, smirking a little as she saw the embarrassed/flustered look on Jae's face but equally trying to not get mad at the fact that the twins were badmouthing her.
"Uh…I can explain this." Jae tried to justify, thinking that she was directing her accusations toward him but quickly found himself not needing to when Melanie and Malachite climbed off to confront her.
"You snooze, you lose~! Since you decided to leave this poor boy alone, WE decided to take care of him and give him the luxury of our company." Melanie snarked at Yang, eager to rub in the fact that both twins had their arms interlocked with Jae's.
"Looks like fun but right now, we've got business to attend to….Remember Jae?" Yang asked with a pointed nod to the door as she got whatever she could out of Junior and while she was amused at Jae's awkwardness; something inside her was screaming at the twins to get off of him.
"Oh, right!" Jae said as he carefully pulled himself free of the girls and straightened himself up; "I'm sorry to leave you like this but we do have work going on…It was nice meeting you both." Jae would say politely as Yang dragged him away by the sleeve.
As soon as they left however; Yang let her frustrations slip as she angrily kicked a trashcan. "Damn it! Nothing from Junior was helpful!" She yelled out as she headed towards her bike; "You certainly seemed popular back there with the twins, normally they just try to fleece the guys that even look in their general direction." Yang decided to focus on a different subject before she trashed something.
"That…I don't even know what that was about…I just grabbed a seat in a booth and suddenly they were right on top of me and…well..very touchy." Jae explained; despite the fact that he did find both Melanie and Militia kind of cute, the fact that they were so…forward still kind of shook him.
"What? Don't tell me that an attractive guy like you has a phobia of girls?" Yang teased him playfully, thinking this was just something similar to what Ruby gets like around new people.
"It's…It's kind of…A growing up thing..." Jae mentioned with a rather uncomfortable look on his face; "It's hard to talk about.
"Well...Then simplify it...You can tell me, I'm not gonna judge you ." Yang mentioned with a softer expression on her face as she felt a little guilty for teasing him about this now.
"I was always told th-" Jae began to elaborate but found himself cut off as Blake's voice rang through both of their scrolls.
"Everyone! If any of you can hear this, we nee-"
"HEEEEEEEEEEEELP!"
Yang frowned, this had to go on the back burner as she answered; barely able to discern Sun's ramblings about a giant robot chasing them. "Where are you two, we can try helping out!"
"Hurry!" Was all Jae and Yang could hear followed by the very loud and very metal footsteps of a colossal robot chasing Sun and Blake down the street.
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