AndrewJTalon said:
For Cowboy Jaune, our heroes find some photos that appear to show Jaune robbing a train of Dust shipments.
Nora: "Hey! It does look like Jaune! But he's wearing a badanna over his face so it can't be him!"
Weiss: "... And what about his horse? That's clearly Orleans!"
Nora: "Nahhh! That horse is wearing a mask! Orleans doesn't wear a mask! Silly Weiss!"
Jaune, when confronted with these photos, simply says: "I can't say nothin' about it. Please leave it be."
So... What did happen?
Not quite sticking to the prompt perfectly but... this came back to my brain, and then IDEAS happened. A few rougher and vague ideas for scenes followed by the "main event" so to speak.
"-but we're supposed to be helping faunus! All faunus!"
"They made their choice. The ones that joined can enjoy the full protection that the White Fang has to offer. The ones that didn't are cowards and traitors."
"And that means just killing them all?"
"Blame human cruelty for transporting them on the same train as the latest dust shipment. That's why the White Fang is necessary. Hopefully others will see this as an example of how there are consequences for cowardice and not showing proper solidarity."
"That's-"
"Enough!... The decision has been made. I don't think I need to remind you why questioning the necessity of our actions is dangerous."
The name of a recently proclaimed "traitor" to the White Fang went unsaid. The ongoing push from further up the chain of command to purge like-minded dissidents from the ranks had hung over everyone else's heads ever since.
"...I understand."
"Glad to hear it, Anna. Now see yourself out."
------------
Anthony Grayson looked out over the sun-lit station from the comfort of his office. Down below, more and more new SDC "employees" were being coaxed into the renovated cattle carriages--just about all the animals deserved, in his well-educated opinion.
"Pardon me for worrying sir, but won't this cause trouble with the upper management?" His secretary asked--a timid young lad, still getting used to how the world worked.
Mr. Grayson couldn't help but sigh. "Now Mr. Tell, why would I need to worry about that? You know as well as I do--as well as those animals outside do, whether they want to admit it or not--that they've already signed the contracts. Why, it can't be helped that lodging and meals for so many refugees need to be paid for somehow. And let's not forget that sometimes you simply have to go where the work is to actually get any work done. If they want to turn around and try and change their minds after the paperwork's already been finalized, well..."
A gunshot rang from the trainyard below. Mr. Grayson didn't even flinch; he merely turned to peer at what had occurred, before returning his gaze to the rattled secretary across from him.
"Oh, quit your shaking, William. 'Was just a warning shot... sadly."
"And... w-what about the White Fang, sir?"
"Hah! As if they gave a damn. Never game a damn as they swept through town after town raising hell and recruiting for their little crusade; never gave a damn when all those weakened towns got torn apart by the Grimm afterwards. If anything, they've been quite the business partner for this little enterprise, whether they're smart enough to understand it or not. Hell, I suppose I owe them a bit of gratitude considering that this latest batch of cheap workers is going to earn me a fine promotion from the higher-ups!"
Mr. Grayson gestured to the suitcase next to his chair.
"All that's left is for me to hitch a ride and present the fruits of my labor in person."
------------
As the noontime sun shone overhead, Jaune took a moment to go everything once more. Sword in the sheath, revolver in the holster, bandanna nice and tight-
"Do you really think a bit of cloth around the eyes is going to do anything?" Asked the faunus girl standing next to him. The brunette had finally been worn down into tossing the White Fang mask and replacing it with something a little less hostile looking, although if the strain in her voice hadn't already betrayed her agitation, then the wolf ears poking out of her brown hair swiveling around would have.
"Well, it always worked in the movies, didn't it?" he replied.
"...Of course. And why does the horse have a mask?"
"Well, Orleans is involved in this too, isn't she?"
The horse whinnied in apparent agreement.
"You're a real dork, you know that?"
"A dork that you weren't able to beat, Miss Oak."
"Only because you-"
The bickering was interrupted by a whistle piercing the air.
"Well," Said Jaune, "'sounds like that's our train. Let's go!"
He quickly climbed on top of Orleans, followed by the now ex-White Fang sharpshooter. With a small kick and a "Yah!", they were off.
"It's going too fast!" Anna shouted as the train sped past.
"Oh no it isn't! C'mon Orly, you and I both know you can do this! Show 'em what you've got!"
Lo and behold, horse's strides became faster and faster. If one were to observe from further away, they might think that the animal had begun to glow with an aura of its own.
Jaune gave his mount a firm pat on the head. "Atta girl, Orly! Good girl!" He turned to look behind him. "You think you can aim at this speed miss oak!?"
She nodded, unslinging the lever-action from behind her back. "Ready when you are!"
It wasn't long before their approach was noticed. A few auto-turrets on the roof of the caboose-turned-security car took aim and began to pepper the speeding mare and her passengers with machinegun fire. Try as they might, however, their target rapidly moved from side to side while Anna took aim. The lever-action rifle thundered as she returned fire, and though the shots initially flew wide it wasn't long before the bullets' paths curved to disable each turret one after the other.
Jaune stared in awe at the display. "...Atta girl- I mean, uh, good shooting Miss Oak!" 'Real smooth there, Arc.' he berated himself internally.
Anna, for her part, chose not to acknowledge the slip-up. The blush did enough of the talking for her anyhow.
The rear door of the guard car opened to reveal a combat drone armed and ready to repel any attackers. A shot from Jaune's own revolver resulted in both the body and the now-detatched head of said drone to fall out, leaving the door wide open. As Orleans pulled closer, this became something of a pattern as two more robots poked out and met a similar fate. SDC rental security--you certainly get what you paid for.
The pattern was quickly broken by the sudden roar of a rocket being launched, forcing the train's pursuers to fall back and dodge the explosion.
Jaune quickly brought his mount next to the rear car before slowly standing up on the saddle. "Miss Oak, cover me from further out! Orleans, lay nice with Miss Oak and keep her safe!" Without further ado, he jumped over to the train and clambered onto the roof.
Jaune could see that much more capable security forces were already on their way to meet him while whoever had launched that rocket was sticking to firing at a target that wouldn't take a good chunk of the train with it. With a steady hand, he drew his revolver and prepared to engage with the oncoming enemies.
------------
"Can't this thing go any faster!?" demanded Mr. Grayson, both worried and aggravated by this unexpected attack.
"I'll try, but the engine can only handle so much extra pressure!"
"Do it!"
------------
Jaune didn't like the look of things. More thugs had made their way topside both ahead and behind him. A few had taken a bullet from either Miss Oak or himself, but it seemed that the guy running this whole operation hadn't been as cheap as previously thought. Then there was the man with the rocket launcher with enough aura to tank the few shots sent his way. Still, an Arc wasn't one to go down easily-
At the sound of another explosion and the sound of both Orleans and Anna screeching, he turned his head and looked while fearing the worst-
....Only to bear witness to his mount and other companion flying upwards from the blast and landing on top of the train. Orleans quickly spun around and sent the rocketeer flying off via a strong kick with her back legs while Anna let several shots fly; each hit their mark on the other goons around him.
Not the strangest thing he had seen, and at least he wasn't surrounded anymore. Best not to question good fortunes, after all.
"Thanks for the help, ladies!" He called out as he approached.
Anna quickly made her way down from Orleans' saddle with shaky legs. "Something isn't right with that horse, Arc! Something is VERY wrong!"
Orleans for her part seemed quite proud.
They were almost at the front of the train by now. Jaune and Anna climbed down a ladder one after the other while Orleans waited up top. Jaune peered into an empty engine car; if there had been an engineer in the cabin, he had long since jumped for it instead of sticking around. He slowly stepped into the engine car, only to take a punch across the jaw from a manic-looking man in a suit.
"You think you can rob me!? Rob the SDC!?!?" The man yelled, throwing another haymaker and sending Jaune crashing into the back wall.
As Jaune worked his way back up from the floor, Anna came in with her gun at the ready. "We're just taking back what doesn't belong to you, scum!"
"Oh, an animal lover, eh!? You think the two of you can get in the way of my business!?"
Jaune smirked for a moment. "Oh, of course not... in fact, we'll lighten your load for the trip!"
With that announcement, he shoved Anna out the door and fired a shot into the drawbar on his way out behind her. Mr. Grayson could only yell and curse in an impotent rage as he realized what had been done and the engine shot ahead of the rest of the train.
As Jaune and Anna climbed back on top of the lead car, a loud explosion thundered in the distance.
"That's the bridge going up; we're running out of time!" Anna yelled.
Jaune triggered the emergency break, but in spite of the painful screeching noise there wasn't much of a difference. He jumped onto Orleans again before pulling Anna up with him. "There's too much momentum; hold on!"
Soon they had once again reached the rear of the train; smoke from the destroyed bridge up ahead loomed ominously in the distance. Jaune hopped off and began climbing down to the rear side of the caboose. Holding onto the railing with one hand, he drew Crocea Mors with the other. He looked at the old blade for a moment.
"My folks are gonna kill me for this..."
With that thought out of the way, he plunged the ancestral Arc sword into the middle of the tracks. His aura flared as he yelled out in pain; one arm held firm to the back of the train while the other grasped Crocea Mors as it tore through the rail and the ground beneath it. He couldn't let go, no matter how much it hurt; lives were on the line as a gaping ravine grew ever closer. Closer, closer, and closer still. Sweat and pain, still holding firm. A terrible screeching noise as the sword's craftsmanship cut through soil and steel.
Finally, the train slowed to a halt, and Jaune tumbled to the ground.
"You did it! We did it!" Anna yelled in jubilation as she jumped from the top of the train, throwing her arms around Jaune in a tight hug. "You did it you amazing dork!"
"W-well Miss Oak, anyone would've-"
And then his attempt to be humble was interrupted by the faunus girl pulling him into a deep kiss. One could forgive him for not pulling away immediately given that he was still more than a little exhausted.
She pulled back herself after a moment. "No. Nobody would've... But you did."
The two of them blushed as they looked into each-other's eyes for a moment.
Said moment was rudely interrupted as Jaune suddenly pushed away. "Sorry, I just need to-" he began before stumbling over to the side of the (now ruined) tracks. The stress of everything had finally caught up with him and the ground was soon painted with the contents of that day's breakfast.
Orleans just remained standing atop the caboose, looking down upon the two and shaking her head in exasperation.
------------
It had been a busy few hours afterwards; first Jaune had tethered Orleans to the back of the train, and to Anna's surprise the horse had proven more than capable of towing it back to the previous station. Another pleasant surprise was the fact that they hadn't returned to a station full of SDC-employed goons; instead, the place had been seized by a marshal from a nearby town that was apparently one of Jaune's (many) uncles. That explained what Jaune had meant when he said he was calling for a little backup.
Apparently Anthony Grayson had taken his borderline-illegal contracts with him to the bottom of the ravine that had nearly claimed the rest of them, and without any binding documentation the lot were free to do as they wished. Settling in their savior's hometown of Radian apparently had more than a little appeal for many of them, especially given how the city in question was relatively free of the influence of opportunistic Schnees and the White Fang radicals that had created so many problems in the first place. Getting the rest of who knows how many free would take time, but it wouldn't be long before word spread and a substantial force of lawmen (and a veritable army of prosecuting attorneys) descended upon the mines that had trapped so many innocent faunus.
Jaune asked not to be named or credited for anything, stupid humble dork that he was.
Anna couldn't help but feel a little defensive as some of the other ladies among the crowd of rescued faunus looked at her- looked at Jaune with visible attraction. Resolving to settle the issue more effectively than trying to chase the rest off, she downed a bit of good 'ol liquid courage that evening and made her way up to the hotel room that the Arc boy was staying in.
She knocked. "Jaune? Could I talk to you for a moment?"
Jaune opened the door to let her in. "Sure Miss Oak, sure... hey, uh, ma'am, I don't blame you for anything that happened. It was a real stressful situation, aaaand what are you doing?"
Anna slowly began to approach with lidded eyes. "Showing you just how much I appreciate what you did."
Jaune took her wrists in his hands to stop her for reasons she didn't quite understand. "No! No need, uh, it was nothing, really!"
"It wasn't nothing to me... and I think you need a little help learning that."
"Look, Miss Oak-"
"Anna. Call me Anna."
"...Miss Anna, I think you might be moving a bit fast..." He took a quick whiff. "Wait... are you drunk?"
"No... Just needed a little extra courage. I want... need to-"
"Now, hold on there Miss Anna. It... it wouldn't be right of me to take advantage of a lady under the influence."
If Anna was feeling confused before, now she was feeling irritated. Slowly but surely she began to push the both of them towards the bed.
"It was just a few shots... Are you scared, mister hero?"
Jaune's face had gone as red as hers.
"...'Wouldn't be right."
"Well, maybe you ought to let me decide what's... oh, that's the right spot..."
As the Arc boy's fingers gently rubbed behind her ears, the wolf faunus was slowly eased onto the bed... before the comforting sensation stopped all of a sudden, followed by the sound of fleeing footsteps. She shot up from the bed flushed with both embarrassment and frustration. Damn it all; that was the second time he'd cheated like that! She rushed to go after him, only to find as she rushed out the front doors he had already mounted Orleans and was making more distance than she could cover on foot anytime soon. A stupidly humble and shy dork he may have been, but he was also too damn fast.
Ah well. As she watched him ride off into the moonlight, she took on a knowing smirk. It seemed that the hunt was on, then... and whether she was working for the White Fang or not, Anna Oak never missed her mark.
Right. That's done. Probably not the best but... it is done! Now pardon me while I quietly go suffer a hundred different thoughts of how it could've been better in retrospect. I'm offloading the task of coming up with a title onto AndrewJTalon
At least I can take pride in writing what has got to be the first rocket-jumping-horse scene on SB.
EDIT: In case it wasn't obvious, Anna Oak is loosely based on Annie Oakley--a rather famous sharpshooter and part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.
EDIT 2: Slightly edited to keep the staff from feeling the need to do some unnecessary oppressing.
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