Commission -- The Cat's Out of the Bag 009

 “What do you think is happening in there?” Nora asked after nearly twenty minutes of silence. It was a testament to how serious this was that Nora of all people was able to keep quiet for that long, but Jaune knew that when required, his teammate was all business.

They were crouched down low behind an old dumpster, keeping an eye on the entrance Blake and Sun had disappeared through. Since they’d gone in, there had been only two more new recruits that followed their path. After that, things had been completely still.

“Quiet is good, right?” Jaune replied, though he couldn’t help how his stomach roiled with butterflies. He was getting better at suppressing his nerves but knowing that one of his friends was surrounded by enemies made him worried. “If they’d been caught, we would have known by now.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Blake wouldn’t go quietly.”

Jaune just really hoped she didn’t do something stupid. At the docks, she’d let her emotions get the better of her. As reserved as Blake liked to act and appear, Jaune was starting to see a habit of impulsiveness that clashed with the visage she liked to portray.

Blake was an emotional girl.

In itself, that wasn’t a bad thing. But when your passionate nature gets away from you, then it can be cause for concern. She had Sun looking out for her, thankfully, but it did little to ease his worry. She’d had Sun with her last time, as well – and things could have gone very wrong, very quickly.

“So this Sun guy, he’s the one that helped out last time, right?” Nora suddenly asked.

Jaune nodded. “Yeah. That’s right.”

“Are they like an item or something?”

Jaune had no idea. When he’d come across them earlier, he’d genuinely thought that they’d been on a date. It was pretty clear that Sun liked Blake, at least somewhat. He wasn’t exactly trying to hide it. Where Blake fell on the spectrum, Jaune didn’t know. She obviously trusted him enough to have her back, and to include him in all of this, but as to her personal feelings…

“I don’t know,” Jaune shrugged, feeling weird. He shook his head. “I thought they were on a date earlier but Blake made it pretty clear that wasn’t the case. I think Sun likes her, though.”

Nora hummed. “He is pretty handsome.”

Jaune laughed softly. “Don’t let Ren hear you say that.”

She frowned at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jaune fought against rolling his eyes. “Nothing.”

“Why would Ren care if I think Sun has a nice body,” Nora continued petulantly. “Did you see those abs?”

“Yeah, they’re kinda hard to miss,” Jaune joked. Sun walked around with his shirt open, completely unashamed. He didn’t blame him. He had nothing to be ashamed about. He was ripped.

“Do you think he’s Blake’s type?”

“I don’t know if Blake even has a type.”

Jaune felt his scroll vibrate. He had a message from Pyrrha.

Pyrrha Nikos: See anything?

Jaune quickly replied.

Jaune Arc: Nothing. You?

Her answer was swift.

Pyrrha Nikos: We have an angle through one of the windows but we can’t see much. There are a lot of people inside. More than fifty. They’re cheering but we can see at what.

Jaune’s fingers itched.

“They see anything?” Nora asked.

“A lot of people, apparently,” Jaune pocketed his scroll. “Cheering. You think that is good or bad?”

He shouldn’t have asked.

A moment later, they heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire, a single shot that pierced the silence. Jaune froze for a moment, surprised, before surging to his feet. Nora joined him a second later, her warhammer unfurling in her hands as she readied herself.

Glass shattered several dozen meters away, around the corner of the warehouse beyond their sight before something much louder met their ears, the sound of splintering stone. The ground shuddered, and they heard something striking the asphalt, almost like popping. Jaune rushed forward, Nora by his side as they dashed to the end of the alley and saw fractured concrete and shattered bricks littering the old, unused parking area.

“There’s Blake!” Nora shouted, pointing.

Jaune saw her scaling the next building over, Sun already at the top, his blond hair a beacon – before his eyes settled on the massive machine that thundered across the parking lot, each step cracking the ground as it took off in pursuit.

It had run right through the wall of the warehouse.

“What the hell is that?” Nora asked incredulously. “How do they have something like that?”

Jaune didn’t know but before they could help, White Fang poured out of the breach in the wall, dozens of Grimm masks illuminated by the light of the fractured moon. They were all armed with assault rifles or swords, and they were spotted instantly.

Those rifles were pointed straight at them.

“Nora, move,” Jaune ordered, deploying his shield moments before a hail of bullets slammed into him. Most of them pinged off his shield harmlessly, but several punched into his legs, his aura flaring in protection. He winced as pain lanced up his shins and thighs, but ignored it as he charged into the fray.

“Up!” Jaune shouted, falling into a crouch and spinning around. Swinging his shield up, he tanked the remaining bullets on his back as Nora dashed towards him, leaping onto his upturned shield. As soon as her boots touched the broad face of his shield, Jaune heaved her into the air with everything he had, shoulders screaming as Nora vaulted into the air.

“Yahoo~!” Nora cheered, hammer reared back. They shifted their aim but it did little, Nora falling like a comet amongst them. The ground shook as she slammed her weapon into the floor, pulling the trigger, a massive explosion tossing dozens of people off their feet, ragdolling through the air.

“Are you okay?” Pyrrha said as she appeared, Ren dashing into the crowd of disorientated White Fang members.

“Fine,” Jaune waved her off. “Help them!”

Pyrrha nodded and moved. She was swift like the wind, appearing in a burst of speed, Miló flashing in a streak of crimson and bronze. Even though she was surrounded on all sides, they couldn’t touch her, each movement graceful and powerful, her sword slashing them to ribbons as she danced, for that was the only suitable word for it. Weaving in and out of gunfire, bullets pinged as they ricochet off her blade before she punished them with brutal kicks and vicious slashes.

“Human scum!” A larger man with muscular arms charged at her, wielding a massive chainsaw, the weapon screaming for blood. Akoúo̱ caught the roaring chain-blade, sparks flying as he attempted to overpower her with brute strength. Deflecting his attack with a twist of her arm, she swept his legs before spinning and blasting him in the face with a textbook back kick, the mask cracking as he rolled several feet.

That was his partner.

Jaune rushed in to assist, slamming several of them aside with his shield. The ones without aura fell easily, shouting in pain as shoulders were dislocated from the force of his blows. The ones with aura tried to get back up and attack him, but Jaune made short work of them, Crocea Mors flashing as he disarmed them and sent them sprawling. More White Fang poured from within, attempting to overwhelm them with numbers but it was futile, Nora cleaving several aside with a brutal swing of her hammer while Ren peppered them with bullets. Many of them screamed as the rounds pierced their bodies, blood spraying across the ground as they fell, writhing in agony. Others tried to advance with the protection of their aura, but it was quickly shattered, leaving them just as vulnerable as their aura-less comrades.

“Stay down,” Pyrrha commanded as the muscular man with the tattooed arm tried again, moving much faster than his size would have you believe him capable of. She twirled away from a vicious downward slash before slicing him across the arm. He grunted in pain but did not relinquish his weapon, trying to shoulder charge her and use his superior size to pin her down.

Pyrrha slammed the edge of Akoúo̱ into the underside of his chin, his head rocking back as he stumbled before she picked him apart, punching him in the stomach before kneeing him in the chest as he doubled over. Leaping, Pyrrha stabbed him in the neck, thrusting powerfully before kicking the inside of his knee. He fell into a crouch, shouting now as his aura flared brightly before she unleashed a brutal combo, her arms blurring. Five, six, seven punches rocketed into his covered face.

His mask shattered completely as she finished him with another spinning back kick, rocketing him across the parking lot. He skipped like a stone thrown across a lake before he slammed into what remained of the warehouse wall, falling to the ground as his aura flickered and shattered in a shower of light. His weapon clattered on the ground, rumbling before it died.

“We’ll finish here,” Pyrrha said, turning his way. Some White Fang had climbed up onto the roof and were taking shots from above. Her sword mecha-shifted into its rifle form and she took aim. She hadn’t even broken a sweat. “Go after them!”

Jaune nodded. “Right!”

Sheathing his sword and collapsing his shield, he reattached it to his belt before taking off to the sound of Pyrrha’s rifle letting off sporadic cracks. They hadn’t gotten so far away that he couldn’t follow, the massive mech thundering through the city, the sound acting as a beacon. Jaune ran like he had never run before, legs pumping furiously as his aura carried him at speeds not even the best athletes could match.

All Jaune could hear was the sound of cracking asphalt, and the roaring of blood in his ears as his heart pounded rapidly in his chest.

Thankfully it was late enough at night that the street was clear of civilians, and Jaune quickly caught sight of the mech in the distance. He couldn’t see Blake or Sun, but knew they couldn't have been very far ahead of it. They rapidly passed into the residential area, lights flickering on in the apartments flanking the street as the ground shuddered and windows rattled, Jaune pushing himself harder to catch up.

Somewhere behind him, he heard the sound of sirens as police began arriving on the scene.

When it suddenly took a sharp turn onto the main road, their luck had run its course. Cars slammed on their breaks as they tried to avoid the massive robot suddenly amongst them, wreaking havoc. Jaune grit his teeth as one slammed into a post, another mounting the curb and almost going through the front of a building. A part of him screamed at him to stop and check on them, but he continued by until with horror, he realized where it was heading.

The highway.

“No, no, no,” Jaune ran harder, his lungs burning from the strain.

It was absolute carnage.

Cars were flipped and knocked aside, Jaune hearing their occupants scream in terror. He was running so fast now that he was passing vehicles that hadn’t been tossed over, shoes cracking the road beneath his feet. Closer now, he could see Blake and Sun ahead, leaping from car to car in their desperate bid to escape.

“Jaune~!? What are you doing here?”

A roaring motorbike pulled up next to him and turning his head, he saw Yang and Neptune mounted on Bumblebee, her long blonde hair streaming behind her. Lilac eyes were wide behind her aviators.

“Yang, go!” he shouted and she nodded, pulling back on the throttle aggressively. They shot off ahead of him, Jaune lowering his head as he drew every last ounce of strength from his body. Even with aura, he was beginning to tire, sprinting at full speed for this long, but he wasn’t about to give up.

He watched as they weaved in and out of the cars being tossed into the air like confetti, the crunching of steel and glass meeting his ears. Jaune saw a spinning car coming right for him and made a snap decision, leaping into the air at the last moment and kicking off of it with a burst of strength. He felt the shell of the car beneath his foot crumple.

“Shit!” he shouted as he was carried far up into the air, arms flailing as he went airborne. Soaring up high, he saw Neptune pull out his weapon, some type of pulse rifle and begin firing upon the mech. Long blue streaks of energy slammed into its back, the machine stumbling but remaining upright. Then Neptune’s rifle shifted into a long bladed polearm and then again into a trident with three dangerous prongs. Balancing on the back of Yang’s bike, he leapt into the air and slammed his weapon into the top of the mech, piercing the thick armor plating.

Jaune hit the road hard, his knees screaming from the impact before he took off in pursuit.

Neptune did his best to hold on but the top half of the mech began spinning wildly, attempting to dislodge him. Holding on for dear life, there was a burst of gold as two clones appeared, slamming into the robot from the front. Jaune saw Sun dashing back, no longer running away, jumping from car to car, his staff reared back for a punishing strike.

He was coming back for his teammate and friend.

Only for Neptune to get hurled straight into him, the pair tumbling over the railing with startled yells and off the overpass completely.

Now Blake was alone, Yang having to break harshly as another car was tossed her way, impossible to swerve around. It missed her by a matter of inches, her arm rising to shield her face. Jaune passed her, leaping over another wreck that was tossed back with zero compassion, and the fear Jaune felt in his heart was quickly becoming a furious anger.

These people didn’t warrant this lack of care. They were civilians, heading home from a long day's work or traveling to meet friends, people that had families. Whoever was in that machine had no issue with placing their lives in danger, and Jaune knew there was little chance there were zero casualties. In several of those ruined cars, there were no doubt injuries and death.

They needed to stop that thing. They needed to stop it now.

Something white flashed ahead and Jaune saw someone falling from the overpass above. That someone was Weiss Schnee, and with a bright flare of white light, the road was encased in a thick sheet of ice. The mech’s foot slammed down and slipped, hitting the ground with a crunch as it slid right through one of the hard-light dust barriers on the side of the road, tumbling off much like Sun and Neptune had.

There was a loud rumble as it landed somewhere below, and Yang skidded to a stop near the breach in the barrier, leaping off her bike. By now, Jaune’s legs ached, his lungs fit to burst, his heart jackhammering in his chest so hard it hurt. Joining her on the edge, he saw Ruby down below, quickly joined by Blake and Weiss.

“You ready for this, Vomit Boy?” Yang said, removing her helmet and tossing it aside along with her glasses.

“No,” he said, panting, but then he leapt before he could second guess himself, Yang following him.

Crocea Mors appeared in his hand, the sword rasping as it was pulled from its sheath. They both fell like stones, Yang slamming her fists together and deploying her gauntlets.

“Let’s get it~!” she roared.

They both slammed into the top of the mech, her fists denting the steel plating with echoing bangs while his sword buried itself between a joint. The machine stumbled at the unexpected weight and then much like it did to Neptune, it began spinning wildly in an attempt at throwing them off.

“Woah~!” Yang yelled as she tried to hold on, hair streaming in all directions. Jaune tightened his hold on the hilt of his sword, gritting his teeth.

“Jaune?” Blake screamed in surprise.

“Hit it!” he screamed moments before he was tossed off like a ragdoll, spinning through the air in a dizzying tumble before plowing into one of the support beams for the highway. The concrete cracked from the impact, his aura shuddering as the force passed through his body.

His vision went momentarily white as pain lanced up his back, and then he was falling. He hit the ground with a grunt, cheek plastered to the ground as Crocea Mors clattered beside him.

“Urgh,” he muttered as he tried to stand, the sounds of fighting filling the area. Looking up, he saw Ruby dashing around the machine, her scythe sparking as the curved blade slashed across its legs. Weiss fired a stream of fire at its torso but it weathered the heat, swinging a massive arm at her, forcing her to retreat. Blake flipped in with a series of punishing cleaving strikes but almost got squashed, her clones taking the blow as they pushed her aside.

“Get away from my partner,” Yang roared, delivering a powerful uppercut to the underside of the chassis only to be swatted aside like an annoying bug.

“Team RWBY, assemble~!” Ruby shouted, and they all backed off and got into formation, lining up.

“Feezerburn!” Ruby called, jumping back, Blake following suit. Weiss twirled her rapier before stabbing it into the floor, Yang leaping up into the air. Much like on the highway, ice expanded across the ground in a ring of frost as Yang flipped around, reaching the apex of her jump before falling with her arm reared back. She hit the ice with her fist, fire dust round discharging and creating an instant cloud of mist, billowing out in all directions and shrouding the battlefield.

Jaune felt the ice cold mist wash over him, obscuring his view. All he could see was the very top of the mech and hear the whirling of its targeting systems, red lasers flashing as it attempted to lock onto Team RWBY.

It wasn’t long until explosions rocked the area as the mech fired into the haze, and the clash of steel on steel met his ears. When it began firing rockets in all directions, the concussive force cleared the mist, showing splintered and scorched concrete. Blake and Weiss were engaged in a dangerous dance, their blades flashing as they twirled amongst the mech’s feet, while Ruby blasted close in a cascade of rose petals. She slammed into the front of the machine with a loud clang, discharging her rifle point blank before spinning off and racing away within the blink of an eye. Yang replaced her, landing on top and raining down blow after blow, her powerful blasts rocking the cockpit.

Jaune was overcome with awe as he watched them seamlessly work together, and he felt a welling of pride rise up within, knowing that it had taken them a lot to get to this point.

But the fight was far from over, a massive arm lashing out and slamming Yang aside. She shouted in pain as she slammed through one of the support beams Jaune had hit, and then Weiss was sent tumbling when the ground beneath her feet was blasted by its mounted hand cannons.

“Weiss~!” Ruby screamed, swerving to catch her while Blake duplicated into several clones, running misdirection. Gambol Shroud lashed out, spinning wildly on the end of her ribbon, looping around an arm and helping her vault high into the air. At the apex of her ascent, she flipped around, her feet touching the underside of the overpass overhead. Knees bent, she pushed off with everything she had, nothing but a blur as her weapon returned to her hand, shifting into its bladed form.

The sound of shearing metal was deafening. In a flash of purple, Blake cleaved through the shoulder joint with an aura slash, her blade cutting through steel like butter. She hit the ground with an echoing bang, concrete splintering from the force and the mech nearly tipped over, the sudden change in weight after losing its arm almost upending it.

“Blake, watch out!” Jaune screamed, seeing it happen before it did. The remaining arm swung around, taking aim, and she had no time to move as it fired. Jaune felt his stomach drop – and then realized a moment later that it missed.

It was no longer the real Blake, the clone vanishing in a cloud of smoke.

But that brief spark of relief didn’t have a chance to fade when his brain realized belatedly that he was right in its path. Jaune didn’t even have time to reach for his shield, his world suddenly filled with pain. His whole body screamed as his aura shuddered, his world going black before it was filled with fire.

It scorched his skin and burned, but his aura staved off any damage. The pain was excruciating, though, and he screamed, his lungs struggling for air. He may have been airborne, though he wasn’t sure for how long. When he became aware again, he was laying on his back, staring up at the sky between the two overpasses above. Pitch black darkness, threatening to swallow him whole. Blinking slowly, he struggled to sit up.

Everything hurt.

“Jaune!”

More explosions rocked the area, deafening. Blake scrambled to his side while Ruby was a streak of crimson, Crescent Rose slashing through a hail of missiles. The shock-waves created made Jaune flinch, feeling the power reverberate through his aching bones. While he could hear, everything had a tinny quality to it. His ears were ringing.

Hands hastily grabbed at him, feeling for injuries, Blake’s face distraught. She looked on the verge of tears.

“Are you hurt?” she demanded, grabbing his face. Amber met blue. “Jaune, are you okay!?”

“I’m fine,” he managed to get out, voice rough. He coughed. “I – I don’t think I’m hurt.”

“You don’t think?” she thundered incredulously. “You just got shot by a cannon!”

He wasn’t sure why but he laughed, and she was not amused.

“This isn’t funny!”

There was a sudden rumble and then Yang reappeared in a streak of light, flames pouring off her in waves. Her hair was burning, her fist shrouded in aura as she screamed, and Jaune watched in awe as her fist met the fist of the mech – and won. Steel crumpled with a horrible screech, the fingers deformed as the wrist shattered beneath the awesome force Yang exerted. The robot reeled in panic, and her next punch slammed into the body.

It was blasted to smithereens.

Shrapnel from the ruined machine scattered as it was blasted apart, and a familiar form tumbled from the cockpit, hitting the ground and rolling several feet. Roman Torchwick appeared dazed for a moment before hastily getting to his feet, patting down his white coat and adjusting his hat.

“Well – so much for the latest in Atlesian technology,” he said jokingly, as if he hadn’t just caused untold damage to the city, and likely several deaths in the process. He looked down at his coat, frowning. “I just got this washed.”

Yang cocked her fists, glaring furiously. “You’re mine, jackass!”

She punched forward and a fire dust round blasted from her gauntlet, crossing the distance in an instant. Jaune thought he was going to take a direct hit when out of nowhere, a small woman appeared in a flourish, her parasol shielding them as it tanked the explosive shot effortlessly.

The woman gave her parasol a cheeky twirl before smirking. For someone so small, there was something extremely menacing about her.

“Ladies, as much as I’d like to stay and chat,” Torchwick said while Ruby and Weiss gathered beside Yang, taking up aggressive stances. “I’ve got places to see and people to meet, and all that jazz. I hope you understand. Neo, if you would?”

The woman – Neo – bowed mockingly.

“I don’t think so,” Yang growled, launching forward with a shout. She closed the gap and swung, hitting Neo right in the face – only for her body, and that of Torchwick – to explode in a shower of broken glass, almost as if Yang had just punched a mirror.

“What?” Blake exclaimed by his side before the roar of a bullhead engine filled the air. Looking up, they saw one of similar make to the ones at the docks rocket by, and standing by the open door were Torchwick and Neo, the latter giving a tiny wave as they escaped.

...it was over.

Jaune slowly stood up, Blake hovering around him, her hand short of resting on his back. Crocea Mors was several paces away and Jaune went to retrieve it, wincing as his body protested the movement. A quick look at his scroll showed that his aura was close to being in the red. The consequences of being shot by a massive robot.

He was exhausted.

But while the fight was over, the night wasn’t quite done just yet.

“Who are you calling?” Blake asked as she saw him hit a name in his contact list.

“Pyrrha,” he responded.

It rang once before his partner answered.

“Jaune,” she greeted before her eyes widened. “Jaune? Are you alright?”

What he didn’t know was that his face was covered in soot, his hair blackened in places.

“I’m fine. Yang managed to stop the mech. How is everything on your end?”

“Most of them escaped,” Pyrrha said grimly after getting over her shock at his appearance. “They smoke bombed the entire area and retreated, we couldn’t see a thing. They left behind the injured, and the police are currently questioning them while they’re being treated by paramedics.”

Jaune sighed. “Well, that’s better than nothing.”

“Jaaaune, are you okay?” Ruby squealed as she rushed over, almost running straight into him. Her face was filled with concern. “I saw you get shot by the big cannon!”

Pyrrha’s face darkened. “What is she talking about?”

Jaune laughed awkwardly. “Ah hah – I’ll tell you later?”

Her eyes told him that he better, or there would be hell to pay.

Yang stormed over, her lilac eyes burning crimson. “I can’t believe he escaped again! We had his ass!”

“Yes, well – it appears he has a new henchman,” Weiss tsk’d. “Or is it henchwoman? Without her, we had him cornered.”

Yang crossed her arms. “Damn it!”

Ruby smiled ruefully, patting her sister on the back. “It’s okay, Yang. Sometimes they get away.”

“You could say that… everything fell apart,” Weiss joked while gesturing at the mech that was now scattered in dozens of pieces.

Everyone stared at Weiss.

“What?” she snapped defensively. “It was a joke! You do it all the time!”

“Yeah but that was horrible,” Yang shook her head in disbelief. “Please don’t do that again.”

Weiss scowled. “At least I’m trying!”

Blake was silent, and Jaune could see the worry still reflected in her eyes. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he gave it a squeeze but her return smile was half-hearted.

Somehow, he didn’t think this was the end of the problem.

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And that's all the chapters so far for this story. We are about just under halfway through, and the more chapters should be ready around mid-yearish.