Jaune Arc, huntsman in training, simply could not believe he was actually doing this. What had begun as a simple investigation over a rumor, became like something out of a conspiracy movie. Based on various rumors from the general underworld and from social media postings, many people had said that the Schnee Dust Company was experimenting with some kind of new life form, nothing like humans, or animals, or even Grimm, this was completely different. He really shouldn't have been fussing over this as much as he was, what with the Vytal Festival just a few days away, but there was too much evidence that he had recently found. He had been going on little excursions at night when his team was asleep and he'd found that there was more truth to the idea than he could have ever imagined! He broke into an SDC facility inside of Vale and came across some documents. He couldn't believe what he was reading. Test subjects being fed to these things, genetic scanning, Faunus extermination, really freaky things that he couldn't even hope to understand. He found that they were being held in a facility to the east of Vale at an abandoned factory complex. The place was shockingly easy to break into all things considered, the SDC really needed to get better security for these things. Stealth was far from his specialty, and as such, it was just sad that no one noticed him getting in. He had searched all over the complex until he found the building that he knew contained the thing he was looking for.

He found a room inside which was filled with glass tubes which had metal casings on both ends, keeping whatever was inside in. Jaune thought at first that they contained a liquid, but he soon realized that it wasn't liquid at all. There wasn't anything that was moving it, yet it moved all around trying to find a way out. Jaune came to a startling realization; this stuff was alive! It was actually alive! He looked at all of them as he slowly turned his head from left to right. There were several colors; Red, blue, white, black, green, pink, yellow, and many more. 'How many more does he have?' Jaune wondered as he was about to walk out, he heard a loud hiss behind him, he whipped around in time to only see an indescribable shape lunging at him as it collided with him and sent him into the door. At that instance, Jaune's body erupted into agonizing pain. This was unlike anything Jaune had ever experienced before; it felt like his whole body was on fire. He howled in pain as he slammed a fist into a wall and he collapsed. Jaune couldn't remain conscious any longer, his vision slipped and he blacked out, the last thing he saw was brown crawling up his body up to his head.

Jaune bolted upright in his bed. He looked around in a panic before he calmed himself. Wasn't he just in that complex? Was it all a dream? He wasn't sure what was true and what wasn't. He stood up, but almost immediately fell over. His legs felt like jello and screamed with pain. 'What the-?! What happened?' Jaune demanded mentally as he managed to walk to the sink and got a glass of water. He downed it as he felt a bit sickly. He figured he could shake it off by splashing cold water on his face. He did so as he then heard something. "Jaune…" He whipped around to see… nothing. He was alone in his dorm kitchen. There was nothing. "Am I… hearing things?" He asked himself. "I'm afraid not. You are indeed hearing me speak to you." The voice said again. "Okay! Where are you!?" Jaune demanded as the voice sighed. "I thought you'd know. I am inside your head." Jaune groaned. "Oh perfect, I'm going crazy…" He said as he suddenly heard music being played, some of team CRDL's usual brand of crappy and screechy death metal. However, somehow it actually caused him pain, same with the voice itself. "DAMN IT ALL! MAKE IT STOP!" The voice demanded as Jaune had no choice. He went over to team CRDL's dorm and pounded on the door. One of the members of the team, Sky Lark, opened the door as the music had been stopped briefly. "Who's-? Oh, what do you want Jaune?" Sky asked rudely as he saw Jaune with an annoyed look on his face. "Look, can you please turn your music down? I'm having a bad day, and it's ear grating!" Jaune asked politely as Sky laughed. "What? Is it physically painful?" Sky asked mockingly as Jaune was still dead serious, his eyes narrowed and his face in an angered grimace.

"Yes it is! Now please, turn it down!" He asked again as Sky laughed. "No way, you can't make me." He stated as Jaune couldn't take much more of this. His face somehow morphed into something nightmarish. Unnaturally sharp white teeth filled Jaune's mouth as his eyes whited out and gained a scowling look as though they had always been that way. To top off this nightmare inducing look, he snarled and hissed at the same time, like an animal or Grimm that had been angered. After a second or two, Jaune's face reverted back to his normal self, but also with an angered look on his face. Sky, after witnessing that split second horrific sight, was standing deathly still and standing in a puddle of his own urine. "I'll... I'll turn it down..." He whimpered pitifully as he closed the door and the music resumed, but at a far more manageable level, at least, for Jaune anyway. "Much better." The voice thanked as Jaune had somehow forgotten about it. "Okay, just what the hell are you?!" Jaune demanded, frustrated with how things were going. "I can explain later, when we are in a far safer area to talk." The voice stated. "Because right now, I am hearing someone coming for your door." Jaune heard a knock at the instance the voice said that as he walked over to it. The instant he opened the door, he was pushed back to the middle of the room by armed men in Schnee Dust Company Militia uniforms. One of these men was in an officer's uniform and Jaune recognized him as the head of security at the facility he had broken into.

"Jaune Arc, we need to talk." He said as Jaune gulped nervously. "Who the hell is this?" The voice asked in Jaune's head. "A-about what?" Jaune asked. "You've stolen something from the Schnee Dust Company." The head of security stated. "I didn't steal anything." Jaune rebutted as the head of security sighed. "I don't think you understand. I don't think Mr Schnee would appreciate it if we didn't get his property back." He explained as the armed men raised weapons at him, tasers actually, as Jaune raised his arms in a surrendering fashion. "Whoa! Take it easy!" He exclaimed in a panic. "What are you doing?!" The voice demanded, exasperated over Jaune's cowardice. "I'm putting my hands up!" Jaune said out loud, despite not meaning to. "You're making us look bad! Cease this at once!" The voice demanded as Jaune shook his head. "I will take care of this myself if I have to!" The voice stated while the armed men took it as a sign of cowardice as was expected from the file they were given. "Last chance Jaune; give it up before this gets really messy." The head of security urged as Jaune shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about!" He insisted. The head of security shook his head with a sigh. "Take him down." He ordered as the armed men fired their tasers. Jaune screamed in pain as his muscles convulsed under electrical attack. What no one expected however, was how Jaune threw his right arm towards one of the men with the tazers. A brown tendril shot out of his arm and slammed into the poor man so hard that he was sent crashing through the window.

Jaune was shocked as he reverted his hand back to a normal one. He then whipped it out again as it wrapped around another man's torso and sent him into the ceiling. As the officer was about to step in, Jaune launched two tendrils, one from each arm, and got the officer by the neck and another lackey by the face as he pulled the lackey into the outstretched tendril and effectively clotheslined him. He then pulled the officer in close as Jaune was still in a state of shock. "I'm sorry about your friends!" He said as he still wasn't sure what he was doing. All of this was purely instinctual to him somehow. He then lifted the officer by one hand and slammed him into a table, smashing the whole thing into splinters. He then saw the lackey he threw into the ceiling start to get up, but a tendril came out of his foot and wrapped around the weight set that Jaune had purchased to try and bulk up some and he made a kicking motion that threw it right at the lackey. It slammed into the middle of his chest and sent him into a wall. Another lackey came at him from behind as a brown substance seemed to be stuck to his hands. "What is this!?" Jaune demanded, still freaking out. "Not what, who." The voice said as Jaune reached behind him and wrapped the substance around the lackey's neck, throwing him over his shoulder and slamming him into the floor.

Then, Jaune's foot became covered with it as he jumped and did a corkscrew flip, hitting the officer who was just about to get back up in the face with it. Jaune managed to get back up before he saw someone about to barge in with a lethal weapon. "Aw crap..." Jaune whimpered before a tendril pulled him out of the way before the man could squeeze the trigger. He then kicked another table into the newcomer and another lackey as he then grabbed a stool from the kitchen and swung around, hitting the legs of one of the lackeys as he got back up just in time to get a punch to the nose. As he grabbed his nose in pain, the lackey punched him in the gut and tried to grab him, but Jaune's arm instead grabbed both arms of the lackey as his free arm somehow turned brown and nearly quadrupled in size and muscle mass as he then slammed it into the poor lackey's face and threw him into the officer, who was trying to get up again. "Outstanding work Jaune! Now, let's bite all their heads off and pile them up in the corner." The voice said as Jaune was deeply disturbed by what the voice told him. "Why would we do that?!" He demanded as he was somewhat impressed he took out so many Schnee Dust Company militia all on his own, in his first year of Beacon no less. "Pile of bodies, pile of heads." The voice stated as though it made sense, but it didn't for Jaune. Suddenly, a tendril shot out of his back and slammed into another SDC lackey and slammed him into the door to team CRDL's dorm. "Oh boy, we better run." Jaune said as he bolted out the door and ran, not noticing team CRDL opening the door and seeing the devastation that Jaune left behind.

"You think Jaune did this?" Russell asked as Cardin wasn't sure what to think. 'Either he's reworked his fighting style, or it was something else.' He thought as Jaune ran for the staircase, however, he saw SDC militia coming up the stairs and the lackeys were getting back up, he then saw a window and his legs began to move all on their own. "No no no no no no no don't you dare!" Jaune yelled as he crashed through the window and began to fall, screaming the whole time. At the instant he began to actually fall, more tendrils came out of his back and grabbed some steel railing and he was swung into another window. He just so happened to come crashing into team CFVY's own dorm and outright surprised them. "What the-?!" Coco, leader of team CFVY, yelped in pure surprise and shock at Jaune somehow barging in through the window. Jaune groaned as he slowly stood up. "How did you do that?!" Velvet Scarletina, another member of team CFVY, demanded as she stood a good distance away from Jaune due to the pure surprise of him crashing through the window, pretty much ruining their hang out time. "I uh… have a parasite of sorts." Jaune said nervously as he hear gunshots and his back erupted into a large brown shield of whatever was causing him to have these abilities and blocked every bullet from hitting the team, who immediately ran out of the room. Jaune ran out after the shield retracted and he ran to the garage of Beacon as fast as his legs could carry him. He barged through the access door on that level, finding Yang's own yellow and black motorcycle, Bumblebee to be just parked next to the door. He didn't have much time so he looked in one of the compartments and found the keys to the vehicle and he placed it in the keyhole, twisting it hard, starting the engine. He revved it high as it accelerated very quickly and practically flew out of the Beacon Garage and headed for Vale. The SDC soldiers in Jaune's dorm all managed to wake themselves and they chased after him in their own vehicles. "Do not let him get away, do you understand me!?" A voice on their radio demanded. "Copy, weapons are armed and ready." The officer confirmed.

"Launch suicide drones." He ordered as the top of their van opened and several small drones flew out, all of them small, but having powerful explosives built in for suicide runs. Jaune looked behind him as he saw the drones coming for him. He gave off a high pitched scream as one of the drones exploded next to him. He tried to get off, but Jaune was locked to Bumblebee. His hands and his forearms were covered with the brown substance and had him gripping the handlebars hard. He then accelerated against his will as he saw another drone come for him. He swerved around several cars as he kept trying to escape. "Duck." The voice ordered as a tendril pulled Jaune's head down, making a drone miss him and explode at a safe distance in front of him. "Oh god! Thank you!" Jaune thanked as another drone exploded next to him. "You're welcome." The voice said as they went around a corner. Several more drones exploded as one was about to hit him directly, but a tendril pulled him to the side and made it hit the car in front of him, sending it up into the air and then landing back on 4 wheels again. Jaune rounded another corner as he realized there was no place to dodge in this narrow place. "Oh, god no!" Jaune said in a panic as another brown tendril grabbed the door of a parked car, ripped it off, and held it as a shield against the drone exploding against it. The door was then thrown away by the tendril. Jaune continued to a much wider street where he went onto a sidewalk and a drone impacted a car that was parked next to said sidewalk and it was sent flying, same with the car in front of it. The people who were nearby at the time panicked as they got out of the way and ran for their lives. Jaune then saw a drone coming and no way to dodge. "Holy shit!" Jaune yelped as his hands suddenly gripped the front brakes hard and sent him leaning forward, making the drone miss him. He screamed as he went through the fire and landed on both wheels on the other side. "Did you not hear me!? I said, do not let him get away!" The voice on the radio demanded. "Understood. All ground units, move in!" The officer ordered as several SUVs accelerated and went after Jaune.

Just as one was cutting the street in front of him off, Jaune panicked. "Do something!" He demanded as, whatever it was, decided to listen. He made Bumblebee go on its side and a brown sludge covered the side that would have touched the ground, making it slide as easy as ice, while another tendril grabbed a nearby street lamp, swinging them to another street. The officer's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "What the hell...?!" Was all he could mutter as Jaune still ran from them with two more SUVs joining the chase. "Okay, more friends! Awesome!" Jaune said sarcastically as he turned to an elevated road that went up a hill very steeply. "No! No no no no no!" Jaune denied as he tried to grab the brake, but his hands instead accelerated more. "Are you out of your mind?!" Jaune demanded as the bike went over the hill and went airborne. Jaune screamed his loudest as he lost his grip on Bumblebee and he began to separate from it, that is until several brown tendrils shot out from his body and grabbed Bumblebee and he managed to get his hands around the handlebars again as they landed safely. They continued down the street as they soon came across a fence that blocked off a sudden drop to another street. "Dead end!" Jaune said fearfully. "Not for us!" The voice in his head stated as two brown tendrils shot out and grabbed the metal fence and, just as Jaune was about to hit it, sent Bumblebee and himself up over the fence and they landed on the street again.

"Oho yeah!" Jaune said as he gained a bit of a grin on his face and was actually having a bit of fun, his blood pumping, the adrenaline, the thrill! All of it made this exciting; the good kind as well! The SDC soldiers were still on him however as he still fled from them through traffic. As Jaune rounded another corner, he was headed straight for two cars that were sitting right in the middle of the road at a four way stop area. Two tendrils pushed the two cars apart just enough so that Jaune could squeeze through, but not enough for the SUVs that went after him, they just smashed through the entire blockade. As Jaune continued to flee, two SUVs suddenly came out of nowhere and slammed into him from both sides. The brown substance pushed against the two vehicles as it seemed to be straining. "Oh god! I am going to die!" Jaune panicked as the voice groaned. "You are not going to die!" It stated as two tendrils burst through the windows of the SUVs and grabbed the wheels and sent them in opposite directions, and into cars, sending them airborne. "Wow… that was actually kind of cool. Not gonna lie." Jaune stated as he then looked ahead. "Oh yeah! Nothing can stop-!" He gloated, but was cut off by an SUV hitting him from the side head on. 'Curse my hubris!' Jaune berated to himself as he was thrown from Bumblebee, which had several parts dented or torn off from the collision. Oh, Yang was gonna be pissed. The SUV came to a halt next to Jaune as he lay groaning on the ground and in too much pain to move. Nothing was broken however, it was thanks to his aura for that. "I got him." The officer stated as he got out of the SUV and walked over to Jaune.

"You've been a serious pain in the ass, I hope you know that." The officer stated as Jaune gave a weak chuckle. "Yeah, I aim to please." He stated as suddenly, his arm moved on its own. It turned brown as it grabbed the officer by the neck, the substance spread to all other parts of his body as Jaune began to stand up again, somehow he grew to a towering 7ft tall and had more muscle mass than before. A large piece of the substance went over Jaune's head and covered it. It also formed unnaturally large and sharp teeth and large white scowling eyes. This thing looked like a humanoid Grimm, if it were brown. The new creature spoke. "Eyes… lungs… pancreas… so many snacks… so little time…" It said maliciously as a long and very slimy tongue came out of its mouth and licked the side of the officer's head. Suddenly, the creature flinched as it had been shot in the back by one of the SDC soldiers with a Dust Shotgun. The creature threw the officer away and outright bit the poor man's head clean off and swallowed it. It then jumped onto a car, then onto a wall, then onto a police cruiser and leaped away onto a rooftop and ran until it got to the river and jumped in, swimming away. The police and SDC mercenaries shot at the water, but it was faster than they realized. It had already got to the docks with speed previously unseen from any swimming thing. It jumped out of the water and landed on one of the docks. The substance receded as Jaune stumbled around in confusion. "God! What the-?! What's happening to me!?" Jaune demanded as he sat next to one of the SDC containers and he suddenly saw the brown mass form a face in front of him, he could tell that it was a separate entity.

"What the hell are you?" Jaune asked, not caring if he was to die to this. "I am Paladin…" The creature said. "And you… are mine." It said as it still had a grin on its face. "You bit that poor guy's head off…" Jaune said, still horrified at seeing that. "A fueled attack… but I want you to listen carefully Jaune… you did not find us… we found you… think of yourself as my lide…" Paladin stated as Jaune sighed. "What do you want?" Jaune asked. "We need Jacques Schnee's rocket… you should know him…" Paladin said as Jaune nodded. "He's the head of the SDC… but why build rockets? Dust doesn't work when it leaves the atmosphere. For that matter, how do you know this?" Jaune asked. "I know everything about this whole mess…" Paladin stated. "Also, I am inside your head. You are nothing more than a loser here… despite being accepted into Beacon, with falsified identification papers." He added as Jaune hung his head in shame. "Will you… be killing anyone else?" Jaune asked. "Most likely." Paladin stated. "Oh god…" Jaune groaned. "That is why we are here. Cooperate, and you just might survive… That is the deal." Paladin said as Jaune just had no choice in the matter, but this just wasn't right. If they wanted to bring more of them, then Remnant wouldn't stand a chance. As of right now, he didn't have a choice as it was obvious that this being could take control of him whenever it wanted. He just sighed as he hung his head. "I'll… do it…" He stated in defeat as Paladin grinned. "Excellent. Now, you should get some rest for tomorrow. We have a long day ahead of us on that day." He stated as he vanished into Jaune's body. Jaune managed to pick himself up and tried desperately to find someplace safe to rest.