Arclight Foundries

Jaune's shield came up as he charged, heavy armor clinking and tinkling in his ear and cool mail wrapped around his throat almost soothing him as he did, bracing himself against the answering fire of his enemy as he went. The small caliber rounds slammed home against his heavy b.r.e.a.s.tplate and Twin Mors' hardened surface, exploding in small puffs of shrapnel and vapor but doing nothing more than shaking his arm and occasionally leaving a pockmarked bruise along his stomach where it hit thinner metal and mail, and so he used his Aura to shield him from the lethal part of the impact.

The street was mostly empty, pockmarked by holes from explosions, evaporating Grimm drawn by the fighting and the emotions that came with it, but still unmistakably Valean. Wide boulevards of paving stones with banners flying from light poles, upturned and scorched in places but easily recognizable by the color left on them beyond the clinging Grimm ash, holes and tears from claws or bullets, and soot from the embered buildings that dotted the once immaculate boulevard intermittently on either side and lit the road up all along the length of the road, but cast the world beyond into smoky shadows.

Planting his heavy boot on the trunk of a fallen tree, he leapt high over the huddle forms there that had been peppering him as he approached. Their faces were wrapped in scarves and hidden behind masks made of cloth, and they didn't wear anything more than simple pants and shirts with coats over, clutching shoddy looking rifles that went wide and wild as he landed and they panicked. He turned to the closest and swung across their poorly protected and Aura-less body, cutting them down with ludicrous ease and stepping past them as they fell, smiling ferally behind his helmet as the lither woman behind him seemed to give up on using the shoddily made rifle against him and instead leapt in, swinging her rifle like a club at him.

He caught it on his shield and then stepped in, slamming the rim into her side hard enough he heard the bones give way and she crumpled with a wet whimper. He heard the crack of a heavy rifle a split second before he felt it slam into his bark, jerking his shield-shoulder forward and making him stumble before he turned, looking over it at a small woman kneeling behind a large piece of fallen building, pulling the bolt on the weapon back as another with some kind of machine gun tried to replace the belt by herself. Kicking a boot into the woman on the ground's throat and turning while she clutched at it, he caught the next heavy round on his shield and began to move towards her before her partner could open up again with that heavy machine gun.

A third round slammed against him, but like the others it glanced aside with little more than a dull sting left behind to mark the attack. Raising his sword, he took two steps towards them and laughed, knowing that they'd fall just like the others. On his third step, though, his c.h.e.s.t constricted violently and drove him to his knees where all else had failed to even slow him, as though he'd been stabbed or had his ribs broken.

Wheezing behind his helmet and clutching at his b.r.e.a.s.tplate, his weapons clanged against the ground next to him and he turned, hearing the choking woman from before laying there. Desperate to catch her breath, she pulled her scarf off, and he saw the bright brown eyes and rabbit ears he knew so well before his vision blacked out entirely.

XxX----XxX----XxX

With a strangled sound caught somewhere in the middle of a roar, a shout, and a pained calling of 'Velvet!', Jaune jerked awake with wide eyes and short, painful breaths. Heart hammering in panic from the nightmare, he rolled off the couch and onto the floor, weakly tugging at thin blankets that had wrapped around his legs in his fitful sleep and trying to stand at the same time, a sweaty hand grabbing the edge of the table beside the couch in search of some kind of brace to help him rise.

Sweaty, freezing, and caught somewhere between asleep and awake but short of breath enough to barely be able to think, his hand slipped in the dark room. He slid several inches across the table along with the rest of him, drawing a loud creak from the cheap wood before it cracked and broke loudly, the blonde falling through it and scattering glassware as he flailed for purchase and gasped for air.

"Jaune?!" He heard the voice, distant but recognizable, before he felt hands on him, pulling him up and then cradling him against something warm and soft and smalling of chocolates. "What's wrong? Is it your c.h.e.s.t?"

"Need med-" He coughed and the words were lost, but the woman understood them well enough and he was moving a second later, lifted into the air like a bride and carried quick enough that the wind from it chilled him more.

"Just hold on for a minute, let me-" he heard her yanked open his medicine drawer, rifling through pills for a second before calling out, "Which one? Y-You've got syringes, and ten god damn kinds of pills in here!"

"S-Shot." He stammered, clutching a hand to his c.h.e.s.t where she'd leaned him beside his bed, blearily watching her pale and bandaged back. Turning, she held out one of the dull green syringes and he nodded, gesturing at his neck, "Collar."

Her hands were rough on his chin, but out of affection and fear rather than any malice, forcing his head aside and jamming the needle into the juncture between his neck and shoulder. He felt the cool rush in his neck as the sedative was injected, his body sagging outward as the medicine took hold, and after a few seconds he felt the pain in his c.h.e.s.t easing as the medication forced the adrenaline from the nightmare to abate and allowed his heart to slow its beating before it killed him.

"Do you need anything else?" Coco's hands held his face, her eyes bright with primal panic and fear over pale skin and flushed cheeks. "Any other medicine, water maybe, o-or something like that?"

"W-Water-"

"Okay." She was gone before she'd finished the word, padding off around the corner and into his kitchen. She was back in less than a minute, carrying a small glass of clear water and kneeling beside him, resting an arm around his shoulders and pressing it to his lips so he could sip at it. After a second she pulled it away and nervously asked, "Is that better? A-Are you okay now?"

"Y-Yeah." He let her pull him against her shoulder and wrap arms around him, and then sighed tiredly. "Sorry about that, my damn medicine… Causes bad dreams sometimes, and that gets my hearts going, so I have that next to by bed-"

"Shush, Jaune. It's fine, I just want to make sure you're good. I'm gonna get you some water and set some coffee on while you catch your breath." She stood, turning easily and sitting him on the edge of the bed and looking him over worriedly. She stood, wincing and pressing a hand against her b.a.r.e side under the thin white tank she'd word to bed with a grimace, "And maybe grab some damn aspirin or something…"

"I'm sor-"

"Shush." She bapped him on the head gently, grinning and c.o.c.king her hip with a hand on it over the edge of her little black boyshorts. "S'not your fault you had a nightmare cuz of some damn meds you have to take, s'not your fault you needed me to get your medicine when I took your bed, and s'not your fault that I worried. So just chill, enjoy the view while I get something for my side, and catch your breath."

"But-" Her eyebrows both shot up and her head angled down challengingly and he sighed, holding up his hands in mock surrender. "Alright, alright, you're the boss. I'll come in and we can make breakfast once I have by breath back."

When she turned, sashaying her h.i.p.s showily at him, he flushed weakly and looked away. The small pair of shorts, small enough to leave the barest hint of her curved rear visible at the bottoms, did very little to hide anything worth hiding from him. Between that and the essentially see-through shirt she was wearing in the distinctly chill building, when he reached for the half-empty glass of water to quench his dry throat it wasn't due to his medicine or his dream.

And when he heard Coco laugh quietly and turned, lips on the rim of his glass, to see her leaning against the corner with a small smile and her arms crossed, he knew she'd caught him and understood that.

"You're allowed to look as long as it won't kill you, Jaune." He smiled awkwardly, like a kid caught with his hand in a jar, and she snorted. "What do you want to eat? Figure we were up hellishly late working, it's gone noon almost, and enough is done, so we can stand to take a break for a couple hours and spend some time together."

"I have biscuits and sausage." He suggested, standing on shaky and half-numb legs and waving an equally tingly and numb hand at her when she took a step towards him. "I'm fine now, Coco, just… Gotta get the blood moving normally so the sedative doesn't mess with me. That's all."

"I'll… I'll get the kettle on then and get the stove heating up." He nodded and, after a worried glance across his b.a.r.e c.h.e.s.t, she turned and vanished back around the corner.

Standing there he stretched his arms over his head, ignoring the soreness in his them as the tingling faded away. Rubbing his arms for a second he sighed, bending over to kneed and massage the same tingling out of his legs with a quiet and pained groan. Grabbing a shirt from his dresser and tossing the blue button-up on, he grabbed a thin blanket and went into the kitchen area. Coco was on her hands and knees, half of her body in the cabinet under his sink, and he leaned against the counter to watch her rifling in vain for a few seconds before speaking.

"What are you looking for?" She scooched on the floor, peeking out at him from under the lip of the cabinet, and he smiled. "Or are you trying to give me a show after the little incident a minute ago? Got an insurance policy against me already?"

"One, that's not funny right now." She snarked, wiggling her h.i.p.s up and towards him to give a better, and more teasing, view after a second and then smirking when he flushed and looked away. "Two, it's a million-lien policy. So how about you sit on down, I'll give you a nice show with some music, and make bank. Sound good?"

"Yeah, I need to not try and compete with you… That's gonna get me killed, or even worse, teased until the Grimm settle down and start negotiating with the Kingdoms." He held out the blanket, nodding at her hanging and swaying c.h.e.s.t, flushing even harder as he spoke. "It's, uh, it's kinda chilly up here."

"Such a v.i.r.g.i.n, I swear to Oum I am going to cure you of that one of these days... " She laughed quietly when he flushed and rolled his eyes at her, but she took the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders anyways, smiling up at him before sticking her head back under the sink. "Lookin' for your damn pans, you keep your pots down here."

"Pans are in the warming rack." He jerked a thumb at the bottom of the oven when she turned and the woman gave him a look. "What? They wouldn't fit with all the pots and skillets and, you know, sink stuff down there."

"Men, I swear you lot have no idea how to do things sometimes." She rolled her eyes at his fake offense but stood, winking and blowing him a kiss with one hand while brushing off her knees with the other and then pulling open the warming tray of the oven to find the one she wanted while the kettle bubbled warmly beside the sink. "Settin' everything out ahead of time, got the oven heatin' up for the biscuits and want 'em done at the same time."

"Makes sense, I do the same thing usually." He nodded, turning to rummage in his freezer and the fridge for the sausage and the instant biscuits both. Then he pulled open a drawer and grabbed a small orange bottle, grabbing a couple of the pills in it and popping them into his mouth. "Helps flush out the sedatives so they don't do anything. I can take my regulators in 'bout an hour and be back to normal."

"So…" She leaned against the counter, chewing on her lip for a second and then finally asking in an exasperated tone that spoke of her not finding the proper words she'd looked for. "You're okay now? Like, as okay as normal, at least. Right?"

"Better actually, the sedatives will make me lethargic and kinda weak all day, but it makes regulating my heart easier." He shrugged, watching her coffee brewing idly while he spoke and holding up a hand to show her the slight tremor there. "I'd always use it if it didn't make my hands tremble, and that it can damage my respiratory system even more than it already is."

"Which would probably kill you." She nodded, grimacing at the small smile he gave her and looking at the coffee kettle. "You scared me this morning, Jaune. You know that, right? I thought you were going to die on me. Like, right there, on the floor or in my arms, and there was almost nothing I could do about it."

"I'm sor-" Her flat stare cut that off, and instead he sighed and said. "I know it's scary, and… I don't know what I can do about it except give you a rundown of all my meds just in case. But even then," he added, when she made to speak and almost certainly ask him to do just that, "the only thing I can tell you that would help is how to give that injection, and that CPR won't help me. I'm sorry it scared you, though."

"That has five minutes, the oven needs ten more to heat up and I don't know why you have such a cheap oven." She smiled, a trace of the stress of the morning still there but mixed with acceptance and a teasing tone. Spreading her arms, she waved her hands towards him with the blankets in them and said, "C'mere and make it up to me, Engi. You owe me for giving me the heart attack this morning."

Sore from the medicine and trembling, eyes heavy and throat still kind of dry, using a hand on the counter to help support himself even now, he rolled his eyes and joined her by the sink. His hands settled on her h.i.p.s and her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling his chin into her c.h.e.s.t while she leaned down to press her lips against his, her h.i.p.s pushing out to press against him. They'd kissed a few times now, usually for the fun of it, but this was different than those had been.

Gentler, her hand playing with his hair and the other holding his shoulder, moving her lips softly with his. Comfort, not passion or anything more carnal than that. He tasted salt and dared to crack an eye, spotting tears rolling down her face, and tried to pull away to ask what was wrong.

"Don't, please, Jaune. Stay." She said quietly, voice weak and pleading. Her breath stinking of a need to brush her teeth this morning, like his own he was sure, and both of them reeking of oil, ash, dust, sweat and a myriad of other things, but neither cared. She shook slightly around him, adding, "I've fought literal monsters, and never been more scared than I was ten minutes ago, Jaune. I went down in battle, thought I'd die there, and still wasn't scared like that had me."

"Coco…" He smiled, leaning up and into her again, letting her hold his weight for the height difference and to remind her of it both. A weak sob was lost in his mouth and he felt her tears hit his face, the blonde wrapping an arm around her waist before pulling away. "I'm okay now, Coco."

"I know." She nodded, hair tickling his face, and tried to choke back how upset she was. Forcing an awkward smile, she wiggled her h.i.p.s against him weakly and asked, "I-Is that a screwdriver in your pocket, o-or are you just… Just happy to see me?"

"You don't have to play the strong woman, either." He said quietly, blue eyes meeting brown rimmed in red. She nodded, and when she pushed back against him and buried her face in the crook of his neck, he let her stay there and just ran a hand through her hair. She shook there, and his eyes closed, "I know."

He'd not been terrified in the same way, but that was only because he was used to this. When he was young, he remembered doing this exact same thing. The panic, the fear, the helplessness… And she was feeling it all.

All he could do to help people was make them weapons and armor, and so he did it. All he could do to help Coco, though? Hold her, let her freak out about it, and then move on the way she'd no doubt want to. She was stubborn and willful like that.

The rest of the day passed in relative normalcy. They had breakfast together, took turns showering while Coco teased him about joining her and a litany of other l.e.w.d things, and then they set to work on the last few orders he had. As usual, he told her she didn't have to stay and help him, and just as normal, she told him to shut up and let her help out because otherwise she'd be bored.

Then they'd spent the afternoon and early evening upstairs, watching a flatscreen Coco had bought for them and had installed while they worked, sending messages for people to come for their orders tomorrow. Everything finished up for the week now since the Vytal festival meant all his customers would be busy going forward, they ordered pizzas - Coco loved pizza, he'd come to learn - and settled in to watch the air and ground parades on the first 'real' day of the Vytal Festival itself.

"Know anything about those robots?" Coco asked quietly as they marched in parade formation, Atlesian soldiers at the head of them in their resplendent dress uniforms. She turned her head on the small pillow in his l.a.p, wrapped in the same blanket as earlier and wearing the same clothes, and added, "Atlas has some fancy stuff, looks like something you'd have looked into for your suit."

"I know a little, yeah." His hand was resting on her stomach, tracing a small circle in the firm muscles there to relax Coco after their rather rough morning, her own hands folded below his on her stomach under the blanket. "Those ones are pretty good. Their rifles are air burst, fire shrapnel in little cones at Grimm to kill them, and their armor is decent. You can rip off an arm or leg and they'll crawl after you or try and club you to death."

"Damn." She took a deep breath and rolled onto her side, nuzzling against his stomach comfortably in a way that made him blush and grabbing his hand. "Wake me up when the pizza gets here? I wanna take a nap."

"Sure."

"And play with my hair?"

"Sure." He repeated, his other hand moving to do just that while she hummed pleasantly. Her legs curled under the blanket and, inside a couple seconds, she was asleep. Twirling some of her hair in his hand, he sighed, "Yeah, I know, it can be exhausting dealing with me… A selfless guy wouldn't let you stay around for it. He'd be heroic and sacrifice his own happiness, but..."

"I gave up on being a hero a long time ago. So I'm going to be selfish." He murmured, Coco Staring at this stomach where he couldn't see smiling slightly as her eyes finally closed. "Hopefully you'll forgive me."

She did, of course, and made a note to bop him on the head for being an idiot later when she wasn't so comfortable. And after the Festival too, the tournaments started tomorrow and she was excited to watch them with him.

Not to mention her very, very special surprises she had planned just for him.

XxX----XxX----XxX

"Still, you should not have trusted him with such valuable knowledge. Or such valuable programming, for that matter." The wiry, ancient looking man sighed, easing down into his chair with a tired groan that echoed around the spartan office. "Tell me, what do you think would happen if he sold that armor and enemies of Atlas realized what the programming superstructure within it was? What it could do to the Knight and Paladin programs?"

"It would provide programming knowledge and guide on how to reroute control of the Paladins, Knight-analogue frames, drones, and…" She grimaced, hands balling into small fists at her side where she stood across his oken desk from him. "A-And they'd be able to attempt to control me, as well."

"Indeed, and unless I were to completely unshackle you from your programmed controls and allow you to self-modify, they would succeed in doing so." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose over his bushy white beard, which looked like something a jolly round old man would sport and made for an odd combination with his wiry and wizened frame. "And now we must find a way to deal with the numerous individuals that know what you are."

"T-They are my friends, Father." She said simply, staring at the floor and sparing the man's narrow, probing eyes a glance before she shrank in on herself and went on. "They can be trusted. Ruby and I are… Romantic, now, according to my research and her team's statements. They know what I am because of that, a-and they have no interest in speaking on it for fear of getting Ruby into trouble. They can be trusted not to speak about it, they're good people. The kind you said to look for and make friends with."

"I see. I suppose I can't fault you doing exactly what I said to… Though I had thought you would take longer to trust people enough for this to be an issue." He sighed tiredly, pulling out a thick looking folder and laying it on his desk. Tapping it twice with a long, gnarled finger, he spoke, "General Ironwood has okayed them all. Run background checks on them, and cleared all but the Belladonna girl personally. He wanted her brought in, but I pointed out that would probably set the others off and that Menagerie wouldn't like their daughter vanishing into some hole, so he's… Essentially stated I will b.a.r.e the responsibility."

"Thank you, Father." She smiled gratefully and he returned it, though his smile was stiffer and more weary. "I appreciate everything you do, without you I… Thank you, Father."

"Of course. Android or not, flesh and blood or not, the damn general's opinions or not, you're my little girl." Holding out a gangly arm, he turned in his seat and let her come around the table to hug him in the way they had to do that.

The girl, her physical strength ludicrous enough that even a gentle hold could hurt him, simply leaned against his side and let him hug her and pat her back. Turning slightly and angling the small android towards the desk, he pointed at the folder and continued in a tired tone, "Those papers are non-disclosure and consent forms for your friends to sign. And make sure they understand that, if they speak about what you are, they will be subject to action by the military."

"They will not speak about me, Father." She promised, giving the folders a glance and then nodding. "You… You have not mentioned Jaune Arc yet, Father. What did General Ironwood decide in regards to him?"

"A copy of the form is in there for him." He said simply, grimacing slightly. "If he gets too outrightly aggressive and malicious in spreading your data around, poison that forces cardiac arrest will be administered and he will die." She stiffened and turned to him sharply and he assured her gently, rubbing a circle into her back habitually, "Only if he is selling the secrets, or trying to get you or Atlas harmed with them, Penny. I assure you, he won't be harmed in any way unless he works for it."

"I see…" She gave the old man a look and added, "I am going to inform him of this threat, Father."

"Penny-"

"You will have to expunge the memory data from my head if you wish to prevent it, Father." She cut him off, the first time in her entire life she'd dared - or even wished to he was certain - to do so. "He is my best friend, and I will not allow threats on his life to stand that he doesn't even know about."

"Penny, it's a protocol threat for national security." He said quietly, smiling apologetically as he did so. "Warning him won't do anything, he won't be able to prevent it as they'll just find another. I would ask you to consider if panicking him, needlessly so no less since you tell me he's a good man and wouldn't do anything, over something irrelevant. Because for all his stubbornness, the General isn't going to just murder a young man for no reason."

"I will… Think about it, Father." He nodded and she leaned back against him, letting him hold her once again after their short spat. "Father, you always told me that one day I would find people I cared about as much as you."

"I did indeed."

"I have found them." She said quietly, quickly adding, "I'm happy here, Father. I want to stay here with them."

"Hm." The man nodded slowly, understanding what she wanted and why. In Atlas' various science bases where they stayed, she was surrounded by crisp and cold military types, scientists that treated her as a product, and little else. "I suppose this climate is more comfortable for me in my old age, so I suppose I will just have to request a posting here on a more permanent basis. For my productivity, obviously."

"Thank you, Father!" She turned, pressing a kiss to his bearded and wrinkled cheek several times excitedly. "You cannot understand how happy this makes me!"

"Yes, yes. I'm the most wonderful father on all of Remnant, I know this, calm down before you break something attached to me." She did and he sighed, running his wrinkled fingers through her silken hair. "Now then, tell me about your 'best friend Jaune' and this heart condition he has. In detail, please."

"Why?"

"I believe bribery a more reliable source of controlling people than intimidation." He grinned, spreading his fingers on the table and then drumming them rhythmically. "And I am the single best cybernetics expert in the history of Remnant. I will have to diversify my repertoire into medical matters, but… The challenge shall be enjoyable!"

Smiling, the robotic-woman began to explain everything she knew while the man retrieved a small notebook and took down what she said.

XxX----XxX----XxX

Jaune woke early the next morning, as always, to the dull chiming of his Scroll's alarm on the stand next to his bed. Reaching over, he flicked a finger across the screen to turn it off and then let his arm flop back onto the bed. His nose full of the smell of chocolate and oil, he looked down at Coco, curled up next to him with her arms wrapped around his stomach and her head on his c.h.e.s.t, drooling slightly in a way he somehow managed to find cute. He shifted and she g.r.o.a.n.e.d sleepily, pressing herself against him and making the softer parts mold against him in a way that sent blood rushing north and south both.

"Coco." He reached down, shaking her shoulder gently and making her groan again, nuzzling into his c.h.e.s.t again. Rolling his eyes, and ignoring the hot mounds of soft flesh pressing against him under the blanket, he shook her again, "Come on, Coco. I have to get up and take my medicine."

"But my warm..." She w.h.i.n.ed sleepily, blinking bleary eyes up at him and yawning. Resting her cheek on his c.h.e.s.t, she sighed and said, "I guess mornings are gonna be early for me with you. Yeah?"

"Comes with the territory." He swallowed nervously nodding down at her and flushing as he added, "By the way, uh, your top is riding low. I-I mean, I can feel some silk, you know… From your bra."

"Sorry." She rolled onto her back, stretching spread-eagled under the covers and groaning as the muscles pull comfortably taut. Flopping onto the bed she gave him a look, one brow raised curiously, "So, first time sleeping with a woman. How'd you like it?"

"Why do you have to make it sound dirty…" She laughed and he sighed, rolling his eyes and turning on his side to start fishing out the first pills he had to take. "It was nice though… Cuddling, I mean, I liked it."

"Waking up with someone is nice, yeah. Nothing warms a bed the same way, even if I am usually gone before the guy wakes up." Curious, he tossed the two pills into his mouth and swallowed, then turned and gave her a look. "Hey, a lady has needs, and in my line of work… Well, blowing off stress is important."

"Ah." It made sense, but dry as his throat was, he didn't say anything else and instead stretched.

"Does it bother you?" Coco asked quietly, looking up at him when he turned to give her a look. "That I've slept around. Some guys get upset 'bout it, and wanted to know if you were going to be one."

"Nah, your body, your choice. I don't care about it too much." He shrugged, standing and moving over to his dresser to grab a change of clothes. "I'm gonna grab a morning shower and get dressed, so you can sleep some more if you want to."

"Want me to join you?" She teased, sitting up on the bed and wiggling her eyebrows at him, a hand tugging the collar of her loose sleeveless down enough to show off an expanse of dangerous milky white. "I'm a great shower mate, I promise."

"M-Maybe later." He managed to squeak, good natured laughter following him into the kitchen while he went to get some water and flip on Coco's coffee for the morning. "Setting your coffee on, Coco. Don't let it burn, okay?"

"Won't let it burn unless you ask me to come and give you something to steam up your shower~!" She called in a singsong tone, laughing when he walked through the room with a beet red face.

Blushing beet red and in the bathroom or relaxing in bed, both were content to have a better start to today than they'd had yesterday.