"All you all ready for today?" Robyn asked her friends

"Yep" May replied

"I'm suited up" Joanna replied, "what about you Fi?"

"Aye! I'm ready lass! don't get your knickers in a twist" Fiona said with a smile

"Alright, good" Robyn said "today's the Rally and we all need to be ready, apparently Ironwood is sending one of it Ace Ops to watch over the rally and make sure everything goes smooth"

"That so? an' here I thought the good ol' general didn't have a heart" Fiona replied with fake happiness

"I know how you all must feel about that and trust me, I don't trust Ironwood nor do I trust his little team" Robyn replied "but we have to deal with it for now"

Robyn then left the room, leaving the three other girls by themselves.

"hey Fi, when are you and that guy going on another date again?" May asked

Fiona rolled her eyes, "for the last time, we're not dating" Fiona replied

"whatever, but why not? I mean he looks like a good guy" May said

"Yeah, why not give him a chance," Joanna said "based on what May told us, I think he's a 1 in 100 kinda guy"

Fiona thought about it, Jaune was indeed a good guy not to mention he wasn't like most of the men here in Mantle, he had some class and was very sweet to her, not to mention he was raised by 7 sisters and she was sure that they would de-man him if he ever broke a girls heart, but then again, she was sure her brothers would do the same thing to him of he did something to her. Fiona had never met a guy like him before, he was always worried about others and not to mention when she looked in his eyes, she could see a strong will inside of them, she could see how determined he was to make the world a better place.

"Aye, your right" Fiona told them, "I think I'll give him a chance"

"atta girl!" May cheered "you can ask him out when you see him again, or just text him"

"Right," Fiona said, "but for now, let's get going, We should really get that place set up for the rally"

May and Joanna nodded and the three walked out from their base and headed to the warehouse where the rally was gonna take place.

.

.

.

Today, Teams RWBY and ORNJ had a day off, and thankful most had plans. Yang and Blake were going to a local club, Weiss along with Oscar were gonna go to the movies, while Ruby, Penny, and Jaune were going to the Rally, and Ren and Nora were going on an actual date-date. Jaune, however, was very happy to be going to the rally, just to see if Fiona was going to be there. Ruby and Jaune got on a Bullhead that would take them to Mantle.

"Excited to see your girlfriend~?" Ruby asked

Jaune groaned but his smile never left his face, "Ruby, she's not my girlfriend" Jaune replied

"wait? Jaune has a date?" Penny asked

"Oh, I didn't tell you?" Ruby said "Jaune went on a date with Robyn's Lieutenant"

"Well good for you Jaune!" Penny said with excitement

Jaune groaned, "I swear, one day I will have my revenge" Jaune told her

Ruby giggled, "whatever you say"

After the short Bullhead ride, they got off and Jaune ran as fast as he could to the nearest trashcan as he felt as if he was gonna throw up, however, by the time he reached it, the sensation of puking his guts had vanished

Jaune took a deep breath, "I-I think I'm starting to get the hang of it" Jaune told himself

"You ok over there vomit-boy?" Ruby asked

"Peachy" Jaune replied

Jaune moved away from the trash can and walked back over to them and they walked to where the rally was being held. Jaune noticed that the mood of Mantle had worsened, Jaune couldn't help but feel bad for these people, and then he remembered Fiona's words

"I realized that everyone up there, in Atlas, they don't give flying fuck about the people down here"

Jaune could now see what she meant. If Atlas really did care what happened down here then it would be just as good here as it was up there, everyone had it good up there, yet, no one was willing to see the problems here in Mantle, both Human and Faunas had it hard down here, not to mention with the SDC closing until that bastard Jaques won, people didn't have jobs and there was no way to earn money down here, not to mention Jaune had seen how some of the soldiers down here treated the people. Hell, even some of the women around here sold their bodies for money, he was even sure that one of the kid's mom's was working that way, he couldn't blame her either. She was just doing what she needed to do for her kids.

"Jaune? you ok?" Ruby asked

Jaune turned to her, "I'm fine Ruby" Jaune replied

"Really? you looked like you were thinking pretty deep" Ruby told him

"yes, my scanners indicate that your facial expressions were indeed showing that you were having some internal conflict" Penny replied "sorry, old habits"

Jaune just gave a soft smile, "I'm fine, I promise" Jaune said

They continued to walk and Jaune's thoughts went to a certain sheep faunas. He remembered how much his friends were bugging him about how it was a date and he knew it was a date-date, but yeah, he understood that it was possible, maybe, a date. Jaune had no problems with dating Fiona. he thought about it and a smile crept its way on his face, there was a lot to like about her, she was indeed kind, funny, beautiful, and he related to her a lot and understood what she stood for here in Mantle, She was an amazing person and maybe, just maybe, he could ask her on a date?

Finally, they arrived at the rally and a lot of people were already here. Jaune looked around to see that it was just a standard warehouse pretty much, Ruby looked on stage to see Marrow.

"Hey, marrows here!" Ruby told them

Penny and Jaune looked to see that it was indeed true, Marrow was on stage. They walked over to him.

"Hey, Marrow!" Jaune called out

Marrow turned to see them, "Jaune! Ruby! Hey guys!" Marrow said

"What are you doing here man?" Jaune asked

"I got orders from Clover as well as the general to be here to make sure the Rally goes as planned," Marrow said

"Cool!" Ruby said, "wait, where are the others?"

"Their off doing another mission" Marrow replied

the three nodded and then a high pitched squeal came from their right, the four looked to see both May Marigold and Fiona Thyme. Ruby looked Fiona and then back at Jaune, her eyes becoming wide.

"Look Jaune/Fi it's your boyfriend/girlfriend!" Both Ruby and May said

"We are not dating!" Both Jaune and Fiona cried as blushed crept on their faces

both stopped and turned to each other

"Hey Fiona" Jaune said with a smile

"'Ello Jaune" Fiona replied

"We'll just leave you two alone," May told her

Everyone nodded but Marrow stayed where he was while Penny and Ruby walked off somewhere with May, thus leaving the two alone. Jaune and Fiona smiled at one another while they walked off, Fiona was supposed to open for Robyn, but the rally didn't start for another 30 minutes, allowing the two to catch up.

"So how are ya?" Fiona asked

"I'm doing fine, you?" Jaune asked

"I'm alright" Fiona replied

"Good," Jaune said

"yeah," Fiona said

there was no talking for a while, both trying to come up with something to carry on the conversation.

"So I-"

"I was wondering-"

Both said at the same time, they stopped and looked at the other before chuckling

"You first," Fiona told him

"No, please, you first," Jaune told her

Fiona smiled, "always the charmer eh? well, I was wondering if, ya know, after the rally, you and I could maybe... do something?" Fiona asked with a blush

Jaune's heart almost stopped out of surprise, "A-As in l-like a date?" Jaune asked

Fiona nodded and her ears flapped, which once again, Jaune thought was cute.

Jaune sighed in relief, "yeah! d-definitely!" Jaune replied

"R-Really!?" Fiona asked

"of course!" Jaune said, "wow, I-I was gonna ask you the same thing!" Jaune told her

"That so!?" Fiona asked with a smile "w-wow! that takes a lot of me chest"

"Good" Jaune told her "so, do you have any place in mind?" Jaune asked

Fiona began to think, "there's this amazin' Vacovian food restaurant just down the street from 'ere and I know you'll love it," Fiona told him

"Vacovian huh? Sounds good!" Jaune told her

Fiona nodded before her scroll buzzed and saw that the rally was about to start.

"I-I gotta go, the rally's 'bout to start and I gotta open for Robyn," Fiona told him "see you after the Rally"

Jaune waved her goodbye and went to see the rally, the lights dimmed and the first person to appear on stage was of course Fiona. She was about to speak but then the mic screeched and everyone covered their ears as did Jaune, She looked embarrassed but she looked to the crowd to see Jaune giving her a dorky smile and she resumed her speech

"Haha, well, that worked" Fiona chuckled "I know that, like me, that all you lads and lassies are thrilled that we chose Robyn as our voice in Atlas!"

the crowd cheered

"No one has fought harder for Mantle than she... and I know that Robyn will continue that fight on the bloody council!" Fiona cheered "She will do what none of those tools in Atlas can! She'll give them a good ol' kick in the arse!"

The crowd cheered again with a bit of laughter too. Jaune smiled and he could see that Fiona was indeed having a great time as well.

"Well now! let's introduce the lady of the hour!" Fiona replied

Robyn then got on stage and Fiona handed her the mic, Robyn was beginning her speech and Jaune was listening, she was a pretty good talk, but Jaune wanted to know if she could keep those promises that she made to the people of Mantle. Jaune was sure both Ironwood and Jaques would say whatever they needed to say to get voted, but the problem with that was that most people knew how both men acted.

Jaques was a cruel man and only cared for power and money, anything to expand his empire of cruelty.

While Ironwood was a whole different story, Ironwood was a man of action, however, that was also his problem, he liked to take to much action and never listen, once his mind was made up, he would go through with it, not to mention that he abused his power a little, not too much but a little.

This was Politics, however, Jaune knew better than that, the fight between Salem wasn't a game with politics, it was a game of chess. Salem didn't care how she made the kingdoms fall, all she cared was if it worked and how it could work in her favor. This was why it never worked in Ozpin's favor, for one, he never took action which made his moves more mysterious, but again, he never took action back in vale and look where that got them, however, Ironwood was to much action, moving his pieces in plain sight it was so easy to tell what he was planning. Salem was just the right amount of Action and Inaction, she could be in the shadows while at the same time be in the daylight.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when he saw something that he didn't expect to see, he saw a metal scorpion tail wag in the distance. Jaune's feet moved as fast as they could, he walked to the where he saw the tail and just as the Polls were about to be held, Jaune could hear laughter, very familiar Laughter

"The shows about to start~!" Came the voice Jaune would never forget

Jaune's fear had come true, standing right in front of him was none other then Tyrian Callows.

Suddenly, all the lights went off.

and all hell broke loose...